MANHATTAN, Kan. – (11/11) K-State needed an extra five minutes on Thursday night, but the Wildcats were perfect in the extra frame to hold back the upset bid from Iowa State, 87-79, at Bramlage Coliseum.
With its win on Thursday night, K-State secured the 28th 20-win season in program history. This is the fifth 20-win season under the direction of head coach Jeff Mittie.
K-State extended its home court winning streak to 14 games. This is tied for the eighth-longest win streak overall in program history and tied for the fifth-longest in Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State (20-2, 8-1 Big 12) featured five players in double figures led by senior guard and All-America candidate Serena Sundell with 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting, eight assists, four rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
Sophomore guard Taryn Sides came off the bench to fill up the stat sheet with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting including a perfect 4-of-4 from distance, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Sophomore guard Zyanna Walker recorded 11 points, seven rebounds, a steal and a block, while seniors Temira Poindexter and Jaelyn Glenn each tallied 10 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Iowa State (15-8, 6-4 Big 12) trailed by seven, 71-64, with 2:46 to play following an Imani Lester jumper. The Cyclones used a 7-0 run to close out the fourth quarter to square the game and missed a buzzer beater to pull the upset.
- K-State would overwhelm the Cyclones with a 6-of-6 performance from the field in overtime to capture the frame, 16-8. The Wildcats took control of overtime five seconds into the session with a corner three-pointer from Glenn.
- After two free throws from Iowa State, Glenn finished a floater in the lane to give the Wildcats a 76-73 lead. After a defensive stop with 3:22 to play in overtime, Sides buried her fourth 3-pointer of the night from the left wing for a 79-73 lead.
- Another defensive stop from the Wildcats led to a layup from Sundell with 2:14 to play and an Iowa State timeout.
- Following an Iowa State layup, K-State faced a rapidly descending shot clock. Lester dished to Sides who took a dribble to the baseline and beat the shot clock with a jumper in front of the K-State bench and angled from behind the backboard bringing the 5,497 in attendance to their feet and give K-State an 83-75 advantage with 1:26 to play.
- The Wildcats pushed its lead to 10, 85-75, after an acrobatic layup from Sundell with 48 seconds left. Sides and Sundell would each make one free throw to ice the game.
- Defensively, K-State forced Iowa State into 23 turnovers including 18 by way of a Wildcat steal.
- The Wildcats shot 47.3 percent (35-of-74) from the field including 42.9 percent (9-of-21) from beyond the arc.
- Iowa State shot 43.1 percent (28-of-65) including 33.3 percent (12-of-36) from long range.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series, 55-49. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 9-19 in his career against Iowa State. The Wildcats are 29-19 in games played in Manhattan between the schools.
- The Wildcats are 240-243 (.497) in Big 12 games.
- K-State is 410-156 (.724) in its 37-season history inside Bramlage Coliseum, including a 14-0 record this season. This is the 34th season in program history with 10 or more home wins in a season, including the 26th season at Bramlage Coliseum.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 664-372 (.641), including a mark of 210-137 (.605).
- K-State owns a record of 268-97 (.734) as an AP ranked team. K-State is 32-5 (.865) all-time when ranked 11th in the nation.
- The Wildcats are 266-194 (.578) in games played in the month of January, including a 14-2 record over the last two seasons. Under Mittie, K-State is 46-42 (.523) in games during the first month. K-State has notched a .500 or better record in the month of January 35 times.
TEAM NOTES
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards: Zyanna Walker, Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell; forwards Temira Poindexter and Kennedy Taylor. This was the third time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 125th career start for Sundell, the 121st career start for Jaelyn Glenn, the 109th career collegiate start and 22nd at K-State for Poindexter, the 44th career start and third at K-State for Taylor and the 22nd career start for Walker. Sundell remains in fifth in program history for career starts. With her 121st career start, Glenn remains in 10th in program history for career starts.
- The Wildcats held a 36-32 lead at halftime on Thursday. Under Mittie, K-State is 169-19 (.899) when leading at halftime. The Wildcats have led at the half in 19 games this season (19-0).
- K-State is 19-0 this season when scoring 70 or more points, including a 13-0 mark when scoring 80 or more points.
- K-State has scored 20-or more points in a quarter 46 times this season, including the second quarter on Thursday. Since the start of the quarter-system in 2015-16, the Wildcats are 152-62 (.710) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter of a game.
- K-State shot 50.0 percent or better in a quarter in the third quarter and overtime on Thursday. The Wildcats have 52 quarters this season, which are the most in program history for a full season, of 50.0 percent or better shooting.
- K-State improved to 108-8 (.931) when handing out 20 or more assists in a game. The Wildcats have dished out 20 or more assists in 16 games this season (16-0).
- Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 28-1 when registering a combined 20 or more blocks and steals in a game. K-State equaled its season-high for steals with 18 and carded two blocked shots.
PLAYER NOTES
- Sundell owns 1,558 career points and moves into 10th on the K-State career scoring list. This was Sundell’s 17th career game and her second this season with 20 or more points. Sundell notched her 89th career game with 10 or more points.
- Sundell’s eight assists on Thursday improved her career total to 710. She is the second player in program history with 700 or more assists (Shalee Lehning, 2005-09; 800). This was her 83rd career game with five or more assists and her 18th this season.
- Sundell hauled in four rebounds on Thursday to improve her career total to 517. She moved into sole possession of 30th on the career rebounds list.
- Sides reached double figures for the 10th time this season and the 13th time in her career.
- Sides knocked down four 3-pointers on Thursday. She has made four or more 3-pointers in a game four times in her career. This was her 23rd career game and her 15th this season with two or more connections from long range.
- Sides pocketed a career-high four steals. This was her eighth career game with two or more steals.
- Walker reached double figures for the 18th time in her career and the seventh time this season.
- Walker tied her career-high with five made free throws on Thursday on a career-high seven attempts.
- Walker pulled in seven rebounds against the Cyclones. This was her 18th career game with five or more rebounds.
- Glenn reached double figures for 51st time in her career and the 12th time this season. Glenn moved into 39th on the K-State career scoring list with 1,063 points.
- Glenn connected on two 3-pointers on Thursday. This was her 61st career game with two or more 3-pointers made. She improves her career total to 196 three-point field goals made and remains in eighth in school history.
- Glenn pulled in five rebounds on Thursday. She improved her career total to 569 and ranks 23rd in school history for career rebounds. This was her 54th career game with five or more rebounds.
- With her 10 points on Thursday, Poindexter increased her collegiate point total to 1,837 points (1,560 at Tulsa; 277 at K-State).
- Poindexter made two 3-pointers on Thursday. This was her 69th career game and her 15th this season with two or more connections.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Overall thoughts…
“Great game. Obviously, that's an understatement. Both teams made a lot of shots. Proud of our group because when you have the lead in regulation and you feel like you missed an opportunity, it's not always easy to come back out of that, but our group stayed really confident. Jaelyn (Glenn) hit a big shot to get us off on the right foot, but I thought we had the right balance of aggressiveness. There's a couple plays in regulation where Jaelyn (Glenn) gets the steal. It's in the scrum (and) she can't get out of it in about one minute and fifty, where we've got the lead and we can control the ball, but it's just two teams playing hard. So those are hard plays to pull the reins back on. We came into this game saying ‘chaos was good for us’, and I think we got enough of that to get an open floor.”
On coming back and playing well after a loss…
“It was quiet on the plane ride home. The disappointment of not playing well really stung. The last time we lost, there wasn’t time to dwell on it, since we had to play DePaul less than 24 hours later. But this time, we had to sit with it for a couple of days. In the Big 12, we always talk about not letting one loss turn into two. You have to get back up, practice well, and do the right things. I thought we practiced better as the week went on. Right after Colorado, we didn’t practice well, but as the week progressed, I felt better about our preparation.”
On the impact of pressing for the majority of the game…
“I thought we did well. Honestly, we didn’t feel like Audi would give us too much trouble down there, and we wanted to see if we could gain an advantage. Plus, it gave us an open floor to create some easier buckets. Against Colorado, we didn’t have any fast break points, but tonight we ended up with 22. That was a big part of our game plan coming in.”
On Kennedy Taylor’s performance tonight…
“No, it really was just a feel. Who had a good feel, who looked good. We did want to run Audi (Crooks). So there was a couple times we tried to steal a couple possessions with (Gisela) Sanchez, she had those wide open threes at the top of the key that she didn't make. You're trying to steal a few here or there, right? So (Eliza) Maupin, I thought, ran her–you know, that's one of the things we wanted to do, was run her and make Iowa State get to the rim and and the minutes were just more a product of (Imani) Lester playing well, Maupin has the speed that's going to run. There were times in the game where I just felt better with that, but I thought Kennedy battled. I thought Kennedy did some good things. So I think it's just going to be that way with this rotation right now. We don't have a player in that rotation that's a 25-30 minute player. So it's going to be the feel that I have, or what we want to run, and Imani runs more of the offense that we needed to run late in the game, better than the other two, because she's a passer, so that gave us some options late in the game that we liked.”
On Imani Lester’s performance…
“Huge, her passing ability. She makes a great play to Serena on the post-up late in overtime and hits a couple of big jumpers. She's a different kind of post player because you can run a lot of action through her. But I loved her defense on Crooks, she slid around for a couple of steals and was really active all night.”
On playing in prime time on ESPN…
“Well, it's a great night for K-State. It was a great game. I've already received a bunch of texts saying how exciting it was to watch on ESPN. Now, those are K-Staters, so they probably have their purple glasses on, but that's okay, I do too. But I think when both teams are scoring, playing well, and doing good things, people enjoy watching. It's a great indication of how strong our league is. Iowa State is always one of the top teams, so for us to get this win tonight, it's a big one for us.”
Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
Opening Statement…
“That was obviously a great game. Both teams played as hard as they could. Great play, great crowd, I think a great representation on television for the Big 12. Obviously, we need to make a couple more plays, but proud of our kids' effort, proud of the way we hung around, just couldn't make the shots when we needed to make them, but credit to them.”
On the great games that K-State and Iowa State have played in recent years…
“We've had a lot of great games. Like you said, we had two great games with them last year. A lot of familiar faces, you know, they have a very mature, old group that understands what they need to do. They play with great physicality, they defend well. You know they're not going to beat themselves, and you hope that you can play through it. Obviously too many turnovers for us, but you got to give them credit for that. The physicality of the game on the perimeter was tough, and we made some bad decisions with the ball. That's a really, really good defensive team. And you know, we scored enough points to win the game. Defensively we really struggled at times, and that's kind of been the problem when we have had some close games that we just couldn't pull through.
On Serena Sundell…
“I'm a huge Serena fan. I could be president of her fan club. If I was voting tonight, I think she's the player of the year in our league. She just knows how to play. She plays the game the right way. The game looks easy to her. She doesn't do anything out of what she's good at. She defends and she handles the ball. I've told a lot of WNBA teams they'd be crazy not to draft her. She's just one of those kids that I think has impacted not just K-State basketball, but our league, and just a tremendous player and I'm glad she's a senior.”
FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Sophomore Guard Taryn Sides
On her shot to beat the shot clock in overtime…
“I knew time was running out, and I was thinking, we need to get a shot up. Amani was sitting there, and I wasn’t sure if she was going to shoot, so I took it into my own hands. Someone cut through or something, so I came off it and thought, “Man, this might hit the backboard, not gonna lie.” Then it went in, and I was like, ‘Nice, nice.’”
On the defensive performance…
“I came in with a different mindset today, and I have to credit girls like Zy [Walker], who really get after it. When she does, it makes me want to do the same. That was our game plan, to apply pressure and make them handle the ball. I think we executed that really well today.”
K-State Sophomore Guard Zyanna Walker
On playing press defense for the majority of the game…
“Oh, it was really fun. We just went after it. Everyone brought a different level of defense, jumping into passing lanes, getting steals. I remember when Audi Crooks was dribbling, and you [Taryn Sides] came from behind and tapped the ball away. That moment really gave us the push we needed.”
On seeing Imani Lester have a great game…
“I was just so happy for her, all smiles. Just to see her take the flow of the game and just play her game and do what she knows to do. And she just has so much confidence out there. So I was very happy for her.”
K-State Senior Guard Serena Sundell
On what impressed her after seeing today’s box score…
“I was looking at Jaelyn [Glenn]’s numbers, she played 40 minutes tonight and is just so consistent for our team. I don’t think she gets enough credit. Her shots in overtime were huge, she came out right away, hit a three, then a floater, and gave us an instant lead. That kind of start gives you confidence because you don’t want to be playing from behind, like Iowa State was. Just looking at her numbers, she’s such a key piece of this team. So [I’m] proud of her.”
On the reverse layup that she scored in overtime…
“I was struggling to hit that turnaround jumper, so my teammates did a great job of finding me in a different way in the post, like with that lob when I had a smaller defender on me. That’s a credit to Taryn, I think, for making that pass. She saw there was no backside help, and I had the whole other side of the rim to finish. That was a fun play. It was fun being in the post with that senior mentality.”
On if this game meant more to her and the other players…
“Yeah, definitely. They got us twice last year, and like I said, that's a good team. We've always played them super close during my four years here, and I'm excited to see them again in Ames. That game just means a little more to me and the girls here.”
UP NEXT
K-State will play the first of its two Dillons Sunflower Showdown games on Sunday, as the Wildcats travel to Lawrence to face Kansas at 2 p.m.