Firepower On Display in Spokane

By: D. Scott Fritchen

As Jeff Mittie sat at the table surrounded by NCAA Tournament, Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight signage during his news conference at Spokane Arena on Friday, the Kansas State head coach said that he hasn't taken time to think about the significance of the Wildcats' accomplishment.

"I think those things are for after the year," he said. "Bottom line, you get right back into the grind of it."

Coming off an 80-79 overtime thriller against No. 4 seed Kentucky in Lexington to advance to its first Sweet 16 in 23 years, No. 5 seed Kansas State, 28-7, now finds itself on the cusp of reaching its first Elite Eight since 1982 if the Wildcats can get past No. 1 seed USC, 30-3, in the Spokane Region 4 regional semifinal at 7:00 p.m. (CT) Saturday at Spokane Arena. The game will be televised on ESPN.

Mittie's grind has entailed breaking down a USC team that will play without star JuJu Watkins, who suffered a season-ending injury in the first quarter of the Trojans' 96-59 win over No. 9 seed Mississippi State. The 6-foot-2, sophomore guard is the fastest USC player to reach 1,000 career points and averages 23.9 points and 6.8 rebounds while averaging 33.9 minutes in 33 games this season.

"There's not many clips out there with her not on the floor," Mittie said. "That's been a real challenge. Yeah, there's maybe a hundred total. And they played so well without her. In terms of our preparation, it's a challenge for us because there's going to be an element of the unknown."

USC, which has reached 30 wins for the first time since 1986 and will look for its second straight Elite Eight appearance, have weapons with All-American Kiki Iriafen, a 6-foot-3 forward who had a season-high 36 points and nine rebounds against the Bulldogs. Freshman guard Avery Howell matched her career highs with 18 points and four 3-pointers and had a career-high six assists. Freshman guard Kayleigh Heckel had a career-high six assists. Freshman guard Kennedy Smith had five steals.

In USC's opening-round 71-25 win over UNC Greensboro, 6-foot-4 senior center Rayah Marshall had a career-high seven blocks. Marshall has 1,225 points, 1,126 rebounds and ranks third all-time with 301 blocks. She also has 39 double-doubles.

The Trojans' 96 points against Mississippi State were their most points in a NCAA Tournament game since 1988 and they improved to 27-0 when scoring at least 70 points in a contest.

Iriafen, a graduate transfer from Stanford, averages 18.6 points and 8.6 rebounds while averaging 29.7 minutes in 33 starts this season. Named to the preseason All-Big Ten Team, was named 2024 McClain Power Forward of the Year at Stanford. She has scored at least 20 points in five of the last eight games.

"Great player," Mittie said. "A player they can move all around the floor. She played so well the other night and obviously that's not a surprise because of her ability. But they can post her up, they can move her on the perimeter, she can face up. She's a mismatch problem in every area of the floor.

"I don't know if there's one — we'll try to do our best to keep things really tough on her. We'll try our best to do that, but I don't know that there's one formula to be able to do that, but a heck of a player."

K-State has firepower of its own and it was on full display against Kentucky in the first game back for All-American senior center Ayoka Lee, who had 16 points and nine rebounds. K-State is 20-1 on the court when it has Lee, who is the K-State all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks.

"We are super excited to have her back," All-American senior guard Serena Sundell said. "We're simply a better team with her on the court and back at a hundred percent. I think we all are confident that we can beat anybody in the country, but we also kind of have that underdog vibe around our team where not a lot of people are expecting, and I think as a player, you couldn't ask for anything better.

"Like, you don't have much to lose, but you also know that you're a very capable team, and you have confidence. So, I'm excited to be able to play free and play together, so I think we're in a really good position."

Senior forward Temira Poindexter at Friday's news conference was all smiles after hitting eight 3-pointers against Kentucky.

"Coming to K-State, I was just so excited to be able to play with these two and it just means a lot," Poindexter said. "I'm so grateful and it's really a blessing."

Sundell, whose 14 assists against Kentucky made her the K-State all-time assist leader, tried to put the experience into perspective.

"It's just super special for this group," Sundell said. "I know none of us have advanced this far into the tournament, so we're just enjoying every little moment with each other and grateful to be here and excited that we've represented Kansas State well and excited to continue to play together, knowing that we have so many seniors and each game could be our last.

"It's super cool to make history for our school, and I know we all love Manhattan and love K-State, so it's been a really fun week back home, too."

March Madness means so much for so many different reasons. For Lee, reaching this stage with a Sweet 16 appearance is a dream come true after a celebrated career that incurred twists and turns and will now feature at least one game under the lights at Spokane Arena.

"It's all pretty cool," Lee said. "The whole experience — we've never been here, and we know there are only 16 teams left playing in the NCAA Tournament. That's pretty cool that we're one of them."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ayoka Lee

Temira Poindexter

Serena Sundell

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