MANHATTAN, Kansas - Sitting on the precipice of 600 career wins entering the 2022-23 season, Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie saw his Wildcats dominate the second half on their way to an 83-43 win on Monday night in Bramlage Coliseum.
With the win, Mittie secured the 600th win of his 31-year head coaching career. Beginning his ninth season at K-State, Mittie owns a mark of 146-110 (.570) during his time in Manhattan.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Holding a 41-26 lead after the first half, Kansas State used a 15-2 run to increase its advantage to 56-28 with 4:21 remaining in the third quarter.
- K-State newcomer Gabby Gregory led the charge with seven of the 13 points.
- Gregory, a senior guard from Tulsa, Oklahoma, ended the night with game-highs of 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and a team-best seven rebounds.
- Gregory's 19 points in her K-State debut are the most in a Wildcat debut since Kaylee Page carded 21 points at Tulsa on November 13, 2015.
- The Wildcats held the Sugar Bears to just nine points on 4-of-16 (.250) shooting in the third frame and won the quarter, 25-9, and a 66-35 advantage entering the fourth.
- K-State shot 5-of-9 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the line in the fourth quarter to cap the victory, as 11 of the 12 Wildcats to see the floor tallied three or more points.
- In total, the Wildcats outscored UCA in the second half, 42-17.
QUICK FACTS
- Kansas State is 44-9 (.830) in season openers and have won 20 of the last 22 season openers, including 11 straight.
- The Wildcats have won 28 of its last 30 home openers in Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats are 45-9 (.833) all-time in home openers and 30-4 (.882) in openers in Bramlage.
- K-State owns a record of 365-150 (.709) during its time in Bramlage Coliseum. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 95-42 (.693) in home games with the Wildcats.
- K-State has won 11 straight non-conference home games dating back to December of 2020. The Wildcats were 11-0 in non-conference home games in 2021-22. Kansas State is 211-29 (.879) against non-conference foes, while Mittie is 57-8 (.877).
- K-State is 4-0 in the series against Central Arkansas.
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards: Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn, Gabby Gregory and center Taylor Lauterbach. This was the first time this starting five has been used.
- Over the last 20 seasons, Kansas State is 123-3 (.976) when holding opponents to 49 points or less. K-State has held six of its last seven season-opening foes to 49 points or less.
- Jaelyn Glenn tallied 13 points and a game-high four steals. This was Glenn's seventh career game with 10 or more points and her fourth career game with four or more steals.
- Brylee Glenn chipped in with 12 points and four rebounds. This was Brylee's 11th career game in double figures.
- As a team, K-State shot 50.0 percent (31-of-62) from the field. In the Mittie era, K-State is 28-4 (.875) when shooting 50 percent or better for the game.
- Kansas State handed out 23 assists on Monday night. Over the last 16 years, K-State is 79-7 (.919) when handing out 20 or more assists in a game. Last season, K-State had eight games with 20 or more assists.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening Statement...
"I thought tonight was okay. I thought it was a good first game. There was some sloppy play early, too many turnovers early. I felt like the pace that Central Arkansas wanted to play was probably frustrating us a little bit. We're going to have to rebound the ball clean in those kinds of games where a team wants to slow the pace and we want to get the pace up. The only way to get the pace up is to create some offense from your defense, rebound the basketball. I thought in the second half the positive for me was just seeing the players really share the ball. We really saw some extra passes. We saw some players knock some threes down and thought it was a little bit better in the second half."
On what he's learned in his 600 wins…
"My wife would tell you not much, I'm a slow learner. I just love coaching. I don't think the 18 to 22 year olds have changed that much. I think the world has changed in some areas but they haven't changed. They still want the same things. They want to have fun in college, they want to get a degree, they want to have fun playing basketball, they want to compete. None of those things have really changed. Coaching them has changed because a lot of things in their world are different than when I started coaching. I enjoy being around this age group, my wife and I included. She's got 600 wins too so we've enjoyed every bit of being on college campuses our entire career, and I've loved every bit of it."
On the defense tonight…
"I thought it was okay. I thought too often we were late on some calls, I still think we're trying to grow in that area of seeing things when it's not drill work. They're seeing things good in drill work but when it's happening on the floor, they're maybe not seeing it as quick as they need to. I do think that in the first half they were getting us pretty deep in the first and second quarter so they were getting a lot of step through moves, a lot of getting to the foul line. We talked about stopping them earlier, you look at the shooting percentage in the second half for Central Arkansas, that's where I thought the biggest improvement came."
On his 600th career win…
"I'm competitive. Honestly, when I first got into coaching I wanted to win every game, I kind of couldn't figure out when it would be okay to lose. You're in it long enough that you lose some and you win some but I do take pride in the fact that during my career, my assistant coaches, the players that we've recruited have all rallied to have good seasons and play in the postseason. We're not like baseball where they count everything, but I think as you are in the profession longer you learn to appreciate it a little bit more. I've really enjoyed my time here at K State. I've really enjoyed the fan base here. I was actually excited that it was a doubleheader opportunity because I just felt like for our players to play the first game where they might have some fans here that don't normally see a women's basketball game, that it would be fun for them to have the student crowd that was here the second half and even the ones that showed up for the first. That really didn't have anything to do with the 600 but it had to do with their first game. For me, I'm just glad it's over with."
FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Senior Guard Gabby Gregory
On playing in the K-State jersey for the first time…
"I was just super excited. I've obviously played in Bramlage before, But I felt kind of like a freshman again. Coming out you don't know exactly where to go and you don't know exactly how everything goes in warm ups and things like that. But yeah, I'm just so excited to be here and I'm just so excited that we got the win."
On what she wants K-State fans to know about her…
"I would just want them to know that every night I'm gonna come out and I'm gonna play my hardest. I'm gonna give it everything I have and I'm going to do everything in my power to help my teammates and help this team get a win."
On her feelings about her game…
"Even people texting me and saying things like, 'you look like your old self' and I think that's how I feel. I feel like I'm confident again, I have that swagger, I have everything back in my game. I feel like I just fit perfectly in with the way that we're playing and my teammates and everything. It just feels good."
UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to action on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., as K-State faces Wisconsin in the Brew City Battle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The game will be played at American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. Friday's game can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.