Looking to Continue with a Special Group
Mar 21, 2025 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
On the eve of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie wasn't prepared to show any emotion. Not toward his loyal senior class. And not toward a team that enjoyed one of the winningest regular seasons in program history yet now embarks upon a new journey where tomorrow is never promised.
When No. 5 seed K-State, 26-7, meets No. 12 seed Fairfield, 28-4, in Friday's 1:30 p.m. tipoff at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky, Mittie, who has taken the Wildcats to the tournament six times, is focused on keeping the season alive for at least one more game.
"My mind really doesn't wander to those things in terms of the emotional side of things," he said. "My job is to prepare them the best I can because we want this to go as long as it can."
K-State has its most victories since 2008-09 and with a win would secure the program's third-highest single season win total. If K-State can get past Fairfield, it would face the winner of the No. 4 Kentucky-No. 13 Liberty matchup on Sunday. A win there would give K-State its first Sweet 16 berth in 23 years.
"I'm excited," All-American senior guard Serena Sundell said. "Every team wants to be playing at this time of year. It's about being grateful to be in this opportunity, being present, and also knowing we're very capable. It just gets me fired up."
"Fired up is a good word for it," added All-American senior center Ayoka Lee. "For me, it feels like there's so much basketball left to be played, and I think that's what the rest of the team feels like. So, yeah, we're excited."
Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between K-State and Fairfield, which has won 22 of its last 23 games and is 59-6 in the last two seasons. This is the seventh NCAA Tournament appearance for the Stags and the second straight after making the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Fairfield comes armed with the nation's 14th-best winning percentage, including victories from squads from the SEC, ACC and Big East, and it boasts one of the nation's most exciting offenses, ranking top-20 in 3-pointers per game (8.9), assists (17.7), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.30), and field-goal percentage (.464).
"We know the ultimate goal is to win the MAAC Championship year after year, but this team is hungry," Fairfield head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "Since March of last year, we talked about the number 33 — the amount that we lost to Indiana by (in the 2024 NCAA Tournament). That's been our motto to close that gap, and we're excited about the team that we have. We know that we've got our work cut out for us, but this team is ready to go and is hungry."
Mittie has nothing but respect for the Stags, who drained 15 3-pointers in a 76-53 win over Quinnipiac to claim the MAAC Championship title. Meghan Andersen had 27 points and made six 3-pointers to earn the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honor. Sydni Scott had a career-high 18 points and went 6-for-6 from beyond the arc.
"Fairfield plays a style that we don't see a lot in terms of just how fast they play and how much they shoot it," he said. "They're top-15 in the country in field-goal attempts from 3. They're efficient at it. They play at a pace that will challenge all our centers. At the other end of the floor, we've got to make them pay. They don't have a lot of centers like Yokie."
The Wildcats have reached this point with a talented cast led by Lee (133 career games started) and Sundell (136), who along with senior guard Jaelyn Glenn (132) have proven mightily difficult to handle when all are healthy.
The 6-foot-6 Lee is the school's all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks, Sundell ranks second all-time in assists, and Glenn is a top-30 scorer.
The big question looming concerns Lee's health as the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year makes her return after missing action due to a fractured foot. K-State is 18-1 with Lee this season and 8-7 with her out of the lineup.
"I feel like I'm 100%," Lee said on Thursday. "I'm in a good spot. We haven't really discussed minutes. I don't think it's really much of a discussion. I'm really excited. It's been a while since I've played in a game. It's a great opportunity just to be here and do it with this team one last time."
Asked about the task of guarding a healthy Lee along with Sundell and the rest of the Wildcats, Thibault-Dudonis said, "They're a handful."
"You can probably argue why they, with Lee, are not a 5 seed," she continued. "But regardless, I think that we've got a specific game plan and some wrinkles to try and be disruptive. We know we can't just sit behind and allow them to do whatever they want whenever they want. But we also know that they have a game plan for a lot of what we're going to do as well.
"I don't think we're necessarily going to pitch a shutout and keep them to a couple points a quarter, but I think for us, too, also we have to strike a balance still playing with our pace and not allowing them to get in a rhythm from playing inside/outside and kind of popping the ball wherever they want to go."
For K-State, hopefully that's going to the hoop, and traveling deeper into March than any K-State team in the last two decades.
Which brought Mittie back to the specialness of this spot in the season's journey.
"You've got a group that has committed to both the good and the bad," Mittie said. "And that's why this group has meant so much because in a college experience, you're going to have both. And in a world where sometimes when things aren't perfect, players are transferring at the first sign, this group has stayed together — the Jaelyn Glenns of the world, Serena Sundell, you even go down the line of Eliza Maupin, Gisela Sanchez. These are player that have been in our program.
"Yokie and Serena have obviously been here the longest, but our staff's job is to prepare them the best they can, so it gives us the best opportunity to continue to practice together, have more practices together, have more film sessions together, have more meals together. This has been a special group, so we want it to continue as long as it can."
On the eve of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie wasn't prepared to show any emotion. Not toward his loyal senior class. And not toward a team that enjoyed one of the winningest regular seasons in program history yet now embarks upon a new journey where tomorrow is never promised.
When No. 5 seed K-State, 26-7, meets No. 12 seed Fairfield, 28-4, in Friday's 1:30 p.m. tipoff at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky, Mittie, who has taken the Wildcats to the tournament six times, is focused on keeping the season alive for at least one more game.
"My mind really doesn't wander to those things in terms of the emotional side of things," he said. "My job is to prepare them the best I can because we want this to go as long as it can."
K-State has its most victories since 2008-09 and with a win would secure the program's third-highest single season win total. If K-State can get past Fairfield, it would face the winner of the No. 4 Kentucky-No. 13 Liberty matchup on Sunday. A win there would give K-State its first Sweet 16 berth in 23 years.
"I'm excited," All-American senior guard Serena Sundell said. "Every team wants to be playing at this time of year. It's about being grateful to be in this opportunity, being present, and also knowing we're very capable. It just gets me fired up."
"Fired up is a good word for it," added All-American senior center Ayoka Lee. "For me, it feels like there's so much basketball left to be played, and I think that's what the rest of the team feels like. So, yeah, we're excited."
Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between K-State and Fairfield, which has won 22 of its last 23 games and is 59-6 in the last two seasons. This is the seventh NCAA Tournament appearance for the Stags and the second straight after making the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Fairfield comes armed with the nation's 14th-best winning percentage, including victories from squads from the SEC, ACC and Big East, and it boasts one of the nation's most exciting offenses, ranking top-20 in 3-pointers per game (8.9), assists (17.7), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.30), and field-goal percentage (.464).
"We know the ultimate goal is to win the MAAC Championship year after year, but this team is hungry," Fairfield head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis said. "Since March of last year, we talked about the number 33 — the amount that we lost to Indiana by (in the 2024 NCAA Tournament). That's been our motto to close that gap, and we're excited about the team that we have. We know that we've got our work cut out for us, but this team is ready to go and is hungry."
Mittie has nothing but respect for the Stags, who drained 15 3-pointers in a 76-53 win over Quinnipiac to claim the MAAC Championship title. Meghan Andersen had 27 points and made six 3-pointers to earn the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honor. Sydni Scott had a career-high 18 points and went 6-for-6 from beyond the arc.
"Fairfield plays a style that we don't see a lot in terms of just how fast they play and how much they shoot it," he said. "They're top-15 in the country in field-goal attempts from 3. They're efficient at it. They play at a pace that will challenge all our centers. At the other end of the floor, we've got to make them pay. They don't have a lot of centers like Yokie."
The Wildcats have reached this point with a talented cast led by Lee (133 career games started) and Sundell (136), who along with senior guard Jaelyn Glenn (132) have proven mightily difficult to handle when all are healthy.
The 6-foot-6 Lee is the school's all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks, Sundell ranks second all-time in assists, and Glenn is a top-30 scorer.
The big question looming concerns Lee's health as the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year makes her return after missing action due to a fractured foot. K-State is 18-1 with Lee this season and 8-7 with her out of the lineup.
"I feel like I'm 100%," Lee said on Thursday. "I'm in a good spot. We haven't really discussed minutes. I don't think it's really much of a discussion. I'm really excited. It's been a while since I've played in a game. It's a great opportunity just to be here and do it with this team one last time."
Asked about the task of guarding a healthy Lee along with Sundell and the rest of the Wildcats, Thibault-Dudonis said, "They're a handful."
"You can probably argue why they, with Lee, are not a 5 seed," she continued. "But regardless, I think that we've got a specific game plan and some wrinkles to try and be disruptive. We know we can't just sit behind and allow them to do whatever they want whenever they want. But we also know that they have a game plan for a lot of what we're going to do as well.
"I don't think we're necessarily going to pitch a shutout and keep them to a couple points a quarter, but I think for us, too, also we have to strike a balance still playing with our pace and not allowing them to get in a rhythm from playing inside/outside and kind of popping the ball wherever they want to go."
For K-State, hopefully that's going to the hoop, and traveling deeper into March than any K-State team in the last two decades.
Which brought Mittie back to the specialness of this spot in the season's journey.
"You've got a group that has committed to both the good and the bad," Mittie said. "And that's why this group has meant so much because in a college experience, you're going to have both. And in a world where sometimes when things aren't perfect, players are transferring at the first sign, this group has stayed together — the Jaelyn Glenns of the world, Serena Sundell, you even go down the line of Eliza Maupin, Gisela Sanchez. These are player that have been in our program.
"Yokie and Serena have obviously been here the longest, but our staff's job is to prepare them the best they can, so it gives us the best opportunity to continue to practice together, have more practices together, have more film sessions together, have more meals together. This has been a special group, so we want it to continue as long as it can."
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