K-State Defense Suffocates Kansas City
MANHATTAN, Kansas (Kansas State Athletics) – (24/25) K-State forced its most turnovers in the Jeff Mittie era, as the Wildcats throttled Kansas City on Wednesday night at Bramlage Coliseum, 72-45.
K-State (9-1) has won 17 consecutive non-conference home games with its last loss coming against Idaho State on Dec. 8, 2020.
The Wildcats forced Kansas City (3-6) into 33 turnovers and K-State turned those opportunities into a 32-3 advantage in points off turnovers. The previous top mark for turnovers in the Mittie era of 27 came against UT Arlington on Dec. 7, 2016.
The 32 points off turnovers are the most since scoring 34 against Central Arkansas on November 9, 2021.
Of the 33 turnovers forced, K-State pocketed a season-high 20 steals. The 20 thefts were the most since K-State snared 24 steals against Abilene Christian on December 22, 2014.
K-State saw four players reach double figures, as senior guard Emilee Ebert tallied 14 points, while senior Gabby Gregory added 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Also in double figures were sophomore Brylee Glenn with 11 points, five assists and four steals and freshman Eliza Maupin with 10 points. Glenn and Maupin led a bench effort that outscored the Roos, 30-5.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– Kansas State held a two-point advantage, 15-13, after the first quarter. The Wildcats proceeded to overwhelm the Roos in the second quarter, 24-11, to build a 39-24 halftime lead.
– K-State shot 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from the field in the second frame and added a 5-of-6 (.833) effort from the foul line.
– K-State continued its defensive pressure in the third quarter, holding Kansas City to 2-of-8 shooting in the frame and outscoring the Roos, 25-7, in the third to construct a 64-31 lead entering the final quarter.
– Of the 25 points scored by the Wildcats in the third quarter, 19 came off of 14 Kansas City turnovers.
QUICK FACTS
– K-State leads the series with Kansas City, 12-3. The Wildcats have won nine straight in the series. Jeff Mittie is 7-0 in his coaching career against Kansas City.
– The Wildcats are 49-5 all-time against current members of the Summit League.
– Kansas State owns a 235-101 record in the month of December including a 34-16 mark in the Jeff Mittie era.
– K-State head coach Jeff Mittie is 101-42 (.706) in his K-State career in games played in Bramlage Coliseum.
– K-State is 6-0 this season when leading at halftime and own a 120-16 record under Mittie when leading at the break.
TEAM NOTES
– Wednesday’s starting five was Sarah Shematsi, Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Gabby Gregory and Emilee Ebert. This was the first time this group started a game together this season.
– K-State has scored 70 or more points in nine of its 10 games this season.
– For the game, K-State shot 36.4 percent (24-of-66) from the field. The Wildcats have made 24 or more field goals in eight games this season.
– The Wildcats were 20-of-22 (.909) from the free throw line. This was the fourth time this season K-State made 20 or free throws in a game. This marked the fifth time the Wildcats have shot 80.0 percent or better from the charity stripe.
– Kansas State pocketed 10 or more steals for the third time this season.
– K-State tied its season-high with eight blocked shots.
PLAYER NOTES
– Emilee Ebert scored in double figures for the second time this season and the 13th time in her career. This was the first in her career in which she led K-State in scoring.
– Ebert was 4-of-4 from the foul line and extended her consecutive free throws made streak to 32, which is the third-longest streak in school history. Ebert is 24-of-24 from the foul line this season and made her last eight free throws in the 2021-22 season.
– Brylee Glenn reached double figures for the sixth time this season and the 16th time in her career.
– Her four steals on Wednesday tied her career-high, which she has reached two other times this season.
– Gabby Gregory tallied her 50th career game in double figures for points and her ninth at K-State. Gregory is 13 points away from reaching the 1,000-point mark in her collegiate career.
– Gregory pulled in five or more rebounds for the 30th time in her career and the sixth time this season. She led K-State on the glass for the fourth time this season.
– Gregory tied her career-high with three steals on Wednesday night.
– Eliza Maupin scored in double figures for the second time in her career.
– Junior center Taylor Lauterbach tallied four blocked shots on Wednesday. This was Lauterbach’s second career game with four or more blocks and her 10th career contest with two or more blocks.
– Sophomore Jaelyn Glenn pocketed four steals on Wednesday. This was her third game this season and the sixth of her career with four or more steals.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening Statement...
“Not a very good night offensively for us but I thought the defense picked us up. Got a lot of steals, got a lot of free plays, but yeah, certainly I think that things I talked to them about is, you know, we’ve got to play more consistent, be a little sharper. We just seemed a little out of sync but I loved our energy in the third quarter. That needs to be something that we’re not turning on and off like a faucet. We need to have that energy for longer stretches. But the energy in the third was really big and really stretched the lead out.”
On the team’s full court press…
“We haven’t had a lot of practice time. That’s the one thing we continue to talk about coming back off the six games in nine days. We just haven’t had a ton of practice time. I did feel like Kansas City has struggled with some turnovers, so I felt like it would give us some good film of our rotations and things I wanted to see our 22 defense a little more. Our zone was not good early. We’ve got to play that much better. Or man to man was decent in stretches. So I did want to get a look at both of them.”
On lacking in the offense…
“The fourth we went the last five minutes and didn’t score and we had a lot of decent looks. There were a lot of in and out threes that you know, I just think we’ve got to find a better balance there. We’re attacking a zone inside out where we’re getting our feet set. We just got to find a better balance here. But I didn’t feel like we were particularly sharp all night long. You know, I said at halftime that we were just a little bit off. I did feel like the third quarter we seemed locked in with each other. I will say this, we shared the ball fairly well. So I think I’ll be curious to watch the film because sometimes when you’re in the game, you can think some things aren’t as good. So one of the things that I do continue to think our team is doing is they’re looking for each other. We made a lot of good cuts tonight, but boy, we blew layups tonight. So we’ve been working on the cuts, so I’m going to feel like that’s a positive, but we were just a little out of sync tonight most of the night.”
On the scoring from the bench…
“We got a lot of different combinations out there tonight. And then I think that was good for us to get a look at. I thought different players gave us a different lift at times I thought Heavenly Greer gave us a lift, had a good stretch. I thought Eliza Maupin had a good stretch there. I thought [Emilee] Ebert had a good feel to the game. She was the one I felt like had the best feel to what was going on out there. I thought Brylee [Glenn] had good stretches where she was really playing well. So you know it’s when you shoot 4 of 24 from three it’s hard to score a lot of points. And I will credit our team once again though. We missed a lot of threes and a lot of layups, but we continued to get to the free throw line. And on nights when you have rough shooting nights you have to get to the free throw line and our team has continued to do that.”
FROM THE FLOOR
BRYLEE GLENN, SOPHOMORE GUARD
On her four steals…
“We knew going in that we really wanted to play aggressive defense, we knew that we could take advantage of some of the things that we did. I’m proud of my teammates for going out there and getting steals and then especially taking advantage of them like running the floor and being able to make plays off of that.”
EMILEE EBERT, SENIOR GUARD
On leading the team in scoring…
“I kind of just go into every game the same but, yeah, personally I didn’t shoot the ball well last game so you know, I got shots up today early and credit to my teammates, finding me when I’m open and making the extra pass.”
UP NEXT
K-State faces South Dakota State on Saturday afternoon in Kansas City in Municipal Auditorium at 1 p.m. For tickets, call (800) 221-CATS or visit kstatesports.com. Saturday’s game will be aired on the K-State Sports Network and on the Varsity app.
