Kansas State University Athletics
K-State's Jeff Mittie Previews Creighton Game
Nov 12, 2024 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – In advance of Thursday evening's matchup with Creighton, K-State women's basketball head coach Jeff Mittie met with the media in the Ice Family Basketball Center. A transcript of the session follows:
On the status of Lee and Sides...
"Lee's a little bit further ahead than Sides. Sides, we've tried to keep controlled contact a little bit so, but Lee's further ahead. Lee really hasn't had any restrictions, other than just not wanting to go too long with her. But with a veteran, you don't have to. It's not like she needs the reps. She needs a few reps and get her out. I feel pretty good about both of them, but Lee's further ahead than the Sides."
On the progress of the team through the first two games...
"I've been pretty pleased overall. I think our ball movement, from an offensive standpoint has been good. I think that our spacing has been better than I expected at this point of the season. I think that passing has still gotten in our way. We've been sloppy at times, and that has hurt us offensively, and sometimes it doesn't show up in turnovers. You go back and you look at, oh, we had a wide open shooter, and we gave them a pass that wasn't where they were able to shoot it. We gave a post player a pass that put them in a bad position. So we've got to clean up those things. But I like the early part. I think we're moving the ball fairly well. I'd like to clean up those things defensively. I think we've been pretty good. I think we've been decent. I think when we still go back at times, I thought against Belmont, they had too many layup attempts. They had a large number of layup attempts. That is a sign that we're not defending. We're not building our defensive wall far enough out. I felt like that was a problem, even though they didn't punish us for it. Going back on film, I didn't like it. I also didn't like the fact that defensively, they got more open shots than maybe they made. I think our efforts good. I just think our angles and things that we're emphasizing we've got to get much better at."
On Kennedy Taylor...
"I think she's continued to get better every day in practice. She certainly has shown a knack for it all year long. Showed a knack for getting offensive rebounds, a knack for getting position down low. I think her physicality has improved over the course of the fall, it was an area that I didn't like early, that I think she's continued to work on. I think defensively, her defensive work has been better. So, yeah, I feel good about where she's going. She's made good improvements, and she's off to a good start."
On Creighton...
"Well, they are a really good team. Jim's had a great program for a long time. You know, they were ranked early here. We're certainly familiar with South Dakota State, so we know how good they are. That's their only loss. They got a good win over a Drake team last night. They play fast. They have the ability to shoot the three. They've got a couple elite scorers in Jensen and Maly. Both are really talented, talented players, and they've got just a good overall roster. They're certainly not the only ones you look back at, you know, a year ago, they've got the majority of that roster back off a team that got beat by UCLA in the second round. Heck of a game. So they've got an excellent team."
On Temira Poindexter...
"I've said early on that she has just done such a great job of acclimating with our group, right? You come into an established locker room and we recruit her for a reason, she has a scoring ability. She's got the instincts. She's continued to get more aggressive in our offense. She seems to be more comfortable every day in that I've liked the way she just continues to come in every day and work defensively. I like to see her get more consistent. I think there's been too much great and too much not so great. You know, we gotta level that off some but she's a heck of a player, and she's been fun to coach and has been a great addition to our team and locker room."
On being ranked 10th this early in the season...
"I don't know that makes any difference whether you're 13th or 10th. You know it looks good when you put it out there that you're in the top-10, right? I think it's so early that I think those things don't validate where we feel like we're at as a team. Are other people going to look at it? Sure, we know that. I'm going to guess that every team coming in will look at it. Belmont and Green Bay look at it as an opportunity. But for us, I mean, our emphasis is on, are we getting better every day? We know we're going to get people's best shot, but I would expect that we've been through that going into last year, you know? So what we control is how we approach the game. What we control is, what are we dictating? What are we establishing in each game? And that's what our focus is on."
On the doubleheader on Thursday...
"I think it's always good. The doubleheaders are fun for us. One, I think it's always fun for us to be able to support the guys and watch them. We're not always able to do that, right? You know, sometimes there's our schedule we're on the road, sometimes they're on the road, so, and I think it's a good opportunity for our fans to be able to see both where maybe they don't always get to do that. We're excited that our game is on ESPN2, and excited that we're playing a doubleheader."
On the status of Lee and Sides...
"Lee's a little bit further ahead than Sides. Sides, we've tried to keep controlled contact a little bit so, but Lee's further ahead. Lee really hasn't had any restrictions, other than just not wanting to go too long with her. But with a veteran, you don't have to. It's not like she needs the reps. She needs a few reps and get her out. I feel pretty good about both of them, but Lee's further ahead than the Sides."
On the progress of the team through the first two games...
"I've been pretty pleased overall. I think our ball movement, from an offensive standpoint has been good. I think that our spacing has been better than I expected at this point of the season. I think that passing has still gotten in our way. We've been sloppy at times, and that has hurt us offensively, and sometimes it doesn't show up in turnovers. You go back and you look at, oh, we had a wide open shooter, and we gave them a pass that wasn't where they were able to shoot it. We gave a post player a pass that put them in a bad position. So we've got to clean up those things. But I like the early part. I think we're moving the ball fairly well. I'd like to clean up those things defensively. I think we've been pretty good. I think we've been decent. I think when we still go back at times, I thought against Belmont, they had too many layup attempts. They had a large number of layup attempts. That is a sign that we're not defending. We're not building our defensive wall far enough out. I felt like that was a problem, even though they didn't punish us for it. Going back on film, I didn't like it. I also didn't like the fact that defensively, they got more open shots than maybe they made. I think our efforts good. I just think our angles and things that we're emphasizing we've got to get much better at."
On Kennedy Taylor...
"I think she's continued to get better every day in practice. She certainly has shown a knack for it all year long. Showed a knack for getting offensive rebounds, a knack for getting position down low. I think her physicality has improved over the course of the fall, it was an area that I didn't like early, that I think she's continued to work on. I think defensively, her defensive work has been better. So, yeah, I feel good about where she's going. She's made good improvements, and she's off to a good start."
On Creighton...
"Well, they are a really good team. Jim's had a great program for a long time. You know, they were ranked early here. We're certainly familiar with South Dakota State, so we know how good they are. That's their only loss. They got a good win over a Drake team last night. They play fast. They have the ability to shoot the three. They've got a couple elite scorers in Jensen and Maly. Both are really talented, talented players, and they've got just a good overall roster. They're certainly not the only ones you look back at, you know, a year ago, they've got the majority of that roster back off a team that got beat by UCLA in the second round. Heck of a game. So they've got an excellent team."
On Temira Poindexter...
"I've said early on that she has just done such a great job of acclimating with our group, right? You come into an established locker room and we recruit her for a reason, she has a scoring ability. She's got the instincts. She's continued to get more aggressive in our offense. She seems to be more comfortable every day in that I've liked the way she just continues to come in every day and work defensively. I like to see her get more consistent. I think there's been too much great and too much not so great. You know, we gotta level that off some but she's a heck of a player, and she's been fun to coach and has been a great addition to our team and locker room."
On being ranked 10th this early in the season...
"I don't know that makes any difference whether you're 13th or 10th. You know it looks good when you put it out there that you're in the top-10, right? I think it's so early that I think those things don't validate where we feel like we're at as a team. Are other people going to look at it? Sure, we know that. I'm going to guess that every team coming in will look at it. Belmont and Green Bay look at it as an opportunity. But for us, I mean, our emphasis is on, are we getting better every day? We know we're going to get people's best shot, but I would expect that we've been through that going into last year, you know? So what we control is how we approach the game. What we control is, what are we dictating? What are we establishing in each game? And that's what our focus is on."
On the doubleheader on Thursday...
"I think it's always good. The doubleheaders are fun for us. One, I think it's always fun for us to be able to support the guys and watch them. We're not always able to do that, right? You know, sometimes there's our schedule we're on the road, sometimes they're on the road, so, and I think it's a good opportunity for our fans to be able to see both where maybe they don't always get to do that. We're excited that our game is on ESPN2, and excited that we're playing a doubleheader."
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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