Claessens is Just Beginning Her Best Basketball
Feb 09, 2026 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
She's smiling as she talks. In 2023, Nastja Claessens, the daughter of Belgian basketball coach Fredric Claessens and former Belgian Cat Irina Medvedeva, became only the second player in Belgian women's basketball history to be voted Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
That seems big.
She smiles.
"You've done your research," she says.
There's so much more to uncover about this 21-year-old overseas basketball talent, who heard about Kansas State women's basketball for the first time in April, and who traveled 4,613 miles to Manhattan in July.
She started competitive basketball at age 15 for Ion Basket Waregem (2020-23), then played for Castors Braine (2023-24), and then she was selected 30th overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2024 NBA Draft, and then she opted to stay overseas while also carrying the possibility to playing collegiately in the United States. She played with IDK Euskotren (2024-25), and most recently helped the Belgian Senior National Team win the 2025 FIBA Women's EuroBasket in June.
Claessens also arrived at K-State with Olympic experience on her resume, as she was a member of the 2024 Belgian National Team at the Paris Olympics.
It's an incredible story, really.
Tonight, Claessens, a junior transfer and the first Belgium-born women's basketball player in K-State history, put together her best performance of the season, and so she sits alone in the postgame news conference at Bramlage Coliseum following a 77-52 win over BYU and puts it all into perspective.
"I tend to overthink a lot," she says. "When I don't overthink, like today, I tried not to think, and that's the best way to play. It's a work in progress. It doesn't work every day, but that's what I try to do."
Claessens, a 6-foot-1 forward, playing inside and outside against the BYU defense, scored a season-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers. She added four rebounds, four assists and two steals in 36 minutes. It marked her 13th game scoring in double figures and topped her previous high of 21 points at Green Bay on November 22.
Tonight's game was far different than it was three days ago at Arizona. Claessens had two points on 1-of-5 shooting in 26 minutes.
"It always sucks not to deliver and to not give your best or be able to give your best for the team," she says. "Today, I was just trying to play freely and give everything I had, and it worked, so that's great."
With her stunning performance against BYU, Claessens ranks second on the team with 11.4 points on a team-high 52.9% shooting from the floor and 36.6% on 3-pointers, and she ranks second with 4.5 rebounds.
She thinks back to her path to the United States, to this journey across the ocean and through the prairie to K-State, for an opportunity to expand her game under head coach Jeff Mittie in Manhattan.
"We had a talk with Coach Mittie," she says. "I really had a great feeling with him. He's a great coach and a great human, which is also important in a coach. K-State is really a family community. After the game, fans come up and talk to us. It's really great. That really convinced me to come here."
For Mittie and K-State, identifying and acquiring Claessens began with the transfer portal.
"At some point in April, the portal was pretty thin and there weren't a whole lot of players available and we were still looking," Mittie says. "I asked the staff about getting outside the box and where we might find a player. Her name came up as a player who was potentially wanting to go to college. We had to go through the NCAA process, but she was already in the clearinghouse, so that was a positive. There was a real time constraint at that time.
"Compliance did a great job, and Nastja was phenomenal in that because she had to go through the whole process. I'm glad we got it done."
Claessen's reflects back on her previous honors, achievements, the big games and the places she's been — rarely. She's spending her time these days trying to help K-State, 13-12 overall and 6-6 in the Big 12 Conference, win games before March. After reaching the Sweet 16 with a roster that featured two All-Americans last season, K-State is a young team this year, one of the youngest teams in the nation, and prior to the season opener only junior guard Taryn Sides had ever scored a point in a K-State uniform.
Several newcomers have stepped up. And Claessens is helping lead the way.
"I don't really look back that often," she says. "I just try to look forward and try to be better. But sometimes, when you're having a tough game, or when it's going harder, you have to think about the things you've already achieved in your career and be grateful for that, and remind yourself of the player you are, and then keep moving forward, and progressing, and trying to be a better player."
She hasn't reached her potential.
"She's a great teammate, competitive, and very coachable," Mittie says. "She wants to do whatever the team needs. In terms of her game, she'd been playing with older players (overseas), so her role was a little different. We're starting to see that aggressiveness come out of her. When she plays with the Senior National Team, she's playing with Olympians, and she played a little bit. She was in a different role. She played with players who had 10 to 15 years of experience. Her role on that team is not near the activity level that her role is with us.
"We're just starting to see her best basketball. We're just starting to see her be more assertive in that area. She's played with a lot of great players. The challenge of that is always that you let the older players play. Defensively is where she came in right away because, obviously, you have to play at that defensive end. Offensively, we're starting to see her be more aggressive."
Near the end of the game, Claessens went to the bench for a final time to cheers from K-State fans after her stellar effort against BYU.
"It's just nice that the fans come out and to deliver something to the fans and play well," she says. "It really means something, and they keep cheering you on. It's really nice to end the game like that."
Mittie knows there's more to come.
"She needs to improve on physicality," he says. "She needs to be more physical and improve the post-up game. She must improve ball handling because that changes your position. As the 4, you have to play more physical, and as the 3, you can play on the wing. Those are things that we got to continue to improve."
That'll no doubt come.
As Claessen's concludes her postgame interview after her best game at K-State, she is asked what she has learned most during her journey, from the time she began playing competitively at age 15, and on through the professional ranks, and on through the individual honors, and on through her first season at K-State.
She says, "I've learned not to be as hard on myself."
She pauses.
"We're all athletes, and everybody wants to be the best of themselves and give the best every day, but we're not robots — we're humans," she says. "One day we'll be better and the other day might be a tough day. So, I've learned not to be as tough on myself."
She has two parents in Belgium who are plenty proud.
And a team and purple nation of fans who, good day or not-so good day, will always love her in the Little Apple.
She's smiling as she talks. In 2023, Nastja Claessens, the daughter of Belgian basketball coach Fredric Claessens and former Belgian Cat Irina Medvedeva, became only the second player in Belgian women's basketball history to be voted Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
That seems big.
She smiles.
"You've done your research," she says.
There's so much more to uncover about this 21-year-old overseas basketball talent, who heard about Kansas State women's basketball for the first time in April, and who traveled 4,613 miles to Manhattan in July.
She started competitive basketball at age 15 for Ion Basket Waregem (2020-23), then played for Castors Braine (2023-24), and then she was selected 30th overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2024 NBA Draft, and then she opted to stay overseas while also carrying the possibility to playing collegiately in the United States. She played with IDK Euskotren (2024-25), and most recently helped the Belgian Senior National Team win the 2025 FIBA Women's EuroBasket in June.
Claessens also arrived at K-State with Olympic experience on her resume, as she was a member of the 2024 Belgian National Team at the Paris Olympics.
It's an incredible story, really.
Tonight, Claessens, a junior transfer and the first Belgium-born women's basketball player in K-State history, put together her best performance of the season, and so she sits alone in the postgame news conference at Bramlage Coliseum following a 77-52 win over BYU and puts it all into perspective.
"I tend to overthink a lot," she says. "When I don't overthink, like today, I tried not to think, and that's the best way to play. It's a work in progress. It doesn't work every day, but that's what I try to do."
Claessens, a 6-foot-1 forward, playing inside and outside against the BYU defense, scored a season-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers. She added four rebounds, four assists and two steals in 36 minutes. It marked her 13th game scoring in double figures and topped her previous high of 21 points at Green Bay on November 22.
Tonight's game was far different than it was three days ago at Arizona. Claessens had two points on 1-of-5 shooting in 26 minutes.
"It always sucks not to deliver and to not give your best or be able to give your best for the team," she says. "Today, I was just trying to play freely and give everything I had, and it worked, so that's great."
With her stunning performance against BYU, Claessens ranks second on the team with 11.4 points on a team-high 52.9% shooting from the floor and 36.6% on 3-pointers, and she ranks second with 4.5 rebounds.
She thinks back to her path to the United States, to this journey across the ocean and through the prairie to K-State, for an opportunity to expand her game under head coach Jeff Mittie in Manhattan.
"We had a talk with Coach Mittie," she says. "I really had a great feeling with him. He's a great coach and a great human, which is also important in a coach. K-State is really a family community. After the game, fans come up and talk to us. It's really great. That really convinced me to come here."
For Mittie and K-State, identifying and acquiring Claessens began with the transfer portal.
"At some point in April, the portal was pretty thin and there weren't a whole lot of players available and we were still looking," Mittie says. "I asked the staff about getting outside the box and where we might find a player. Her name came up as a player who was potentially wanting to go to college. We had to go through the NCAA process, but she was already in the clearinghouse, so that was a positive. There was a real time constraint at that time.
"Compliance did a great job, and Nastja was phenomenal in that because she had to go through the whole process. I'm glad we got it done."
Claessen's reflects back on her previous honors, achievements, the big games and the places she's been — rarely. She's spending her time these days trying to help K-State, 13-12 overall and 6-6 in the Big 12 Conference, win games before March. After reaching the Sweet 16 with a roster that featured two All-Americans last season, K-State is a young team this year, one of the youngest teams in the nation, and prior to the season opener only junior guard Taryn Sides had ever scored a point in a K-State uniform.
Several newcomers have stepped up. And Claessens is helping lead the way.
"I don't really look back that often," she says. "I just try to look forward and try to be better. But sometimes, when you're having a tough game, or when it's going harder, you have to think about the things you've already achieved in your career and be grateful for that, and remind yourself of the player you are, and then keep moving forward, and progressing, and trying to be a better player."
She hasn't reached her potential.
"She's a great teammate, competitive, and very coachable," Mittie says. "She wants to do whatever the team needs. In terms of her game, she'd been playing with older players (overseas), so her role was a little different. We're starting to see that aggressiveness come out of her. When she plays with the Senior National Team, she's playing with Olympians, and she played a little bit. She was in a different role. She played with players who had 10 to 15 years of experience. Her role on that team is not near the activity level that her role is with us.
"We're just starting to see her best basketball. We're just starting to see her be more assertive in that area. She's played with a lot of great players. The challenge of that is always that you let the older players play. Defensively is where she came in right away because, obviously, you have to play at that defensive end. Offensively, we're starting to see her be more aggressive."
Near the end of the game, Claessens went to the bench for a final time to cheers from K-State fans after her stellar effort against BYU.
"It's just nice that the fans come out and to deliver something to the fans and play well," she says. "It really means something, and they keep cheering you on. It's really nice to end the game like that."
Mittie knows there's more to come.
"She needs to improve on physicality," he says. "She needs to be more physical and improve the post-up game. She must improve ball handling because that changes your position. As the 4, you have to play more physical, and as the 3, you can play on the wing. Those are things that we got to continue to improve."
That'll no doubt come.
As Claessen's concludes her postgame interview after her best game at K-State, she is asked what she has learned most during her journey, from the time she began playing competitively at age 15, and on through the professional ranks, and on through the individual honors, and on through her first season at K-State.
She says, "I've learned not to be as hard on myself."
She pauses.
"We're all athletes, and everybody wants to be the best of themselves and give the best every day, but we're not robots — we're humans," she says. "One day we'll be better and the other day might be a tough day. So, I've learned not to be as tough on myself."
She has two parents in Belgium who are plenty proud.
And a team and purple nation of fans who, good day or not-so good day, will always love her in the Little Apple.
Players Mentioned
G
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