ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

She said it

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ coach Adia Barnes on K-State: “They're a great team; a great post player inside (Ayoka Lee). They spread the floor, they have shooters, and they're going to have a tough crowd. It's just a tough environment, tough trip, freezing.â€�

On the sidelines

The 3: Three questions with No. 11 K-State coach Jeff Mittie.

How would you describe your playing style?

A: “We want our players playing free and trying to encourage them to continue to play as free as possible. Our offense when it's really good, the ball is really moving. When it's really good, we've got a lot of balanced scoring. I want our players to cut loose offensively and defensively we want to play the same way. I would say defensively, we have more rules of where we want our line of defense, where I'm wanting our gap defense to be. There are more rules at the defensive end. Offensively, we talk constantly because we've got good balance about making the right play, making the right play in our flow offense. Because when we're doing that, we're taking what the defense has given us. We're dictating where we want the basketball to move and we've got, I think we've got, enough balance to play that way.�

How important is it for your squad to have senior Serena Sundell at point guard (more than 1,000 points and 500 assists; averaging 12.7 points, 4.5 assists per game)?

A: “Veteran point guards, they’ve been through it all, right? I think what Serena has continued to improve is from an offensive standpoint of why we're doing what we're doing, who needs to get the ball? How do we play off of what we call gravity? Where is the gravity? Ayoka Lee is a lot of gravity. The defense is going to gravitate towards her. What are my reads off of that? And Serena's got that veteran ability. I think the other thing Serena has is she just knows … she knows me. She knows when my tone is a certain way, I'm wanting this. When I'm wanting her to cut loose, she knows how I'm going to coach her. I always say that I think there's a trust factor over time that you know when I'm irritated with Serena, she can trust that I still trust her. She knows that she's got free reign as a player to do things. There's a trust factor that's been built up over the four years that she's been here.�

Would you call Serena your glue?

A: “That's an interesting question. You hear that all the time about who's the glue, right? Who's the glue? I think Serena is the director, and I think Yoke (Ayoka Lee) is the glue. I think Jaelyn Glenn from a steadiness is part of that glue. Because we can move Jaelyn around and plug a gap when we need to. Jaelyn is the one who has also been here four years and she knows that if I need to move her to a more ball handling spot, or if I need to move her to guard a different player, she kind of fills that gap for us.�

Going home: This is Jada Williams’ week. She is the latest Wildcat going home. This season, Skylar Jones has played in her hometown of Chicago. Breya Cunningham played in hers — San Diego (yes, Williams played two seasons of high school ball with Cunningham at La Jolla Country Day, but she’s a Kansas City gal). Then, Isis Beh played close to her hometown of Murray, Utah, when the Wildcats played at BYU in Provo.

Expect to see lots of the extended Williams family in the stands for both of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s matchups this week.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s opponent on Sunday, Kansas, is around 40 minutes from Williams’ hometown.

K-State, which is in Manhattan, Kansas, is just under two hours from Kansas City.

“Jada Williams is a player that is from my hometown, so that's a player that I've known since she was in like sixth grade,� Mittie said. “It's been fun to watch her career. I'll be excited to see her and her family. I'm sure they're coming to Manhattan, and she's having a good year, so I'll be excited about this one.�

When asked if he recruited Williams, Mittie said, “She just flat turned me down. I mean, apparently, I wasn't that good of a recruiter.�

Toe to toe: Cunningham went toe-to-toe with one of the best sophomores and best centers in the country last week in Iowa State’s Audi Crooks and held her to the lowest scoring of the season — 11 points. Crooks is averaging 23 points per game.

Tuesday night at Adia Barnes Radio Show, Cunningham joked that she was “still tired� after that performance.

Cunningham added that the hardest part of battling with the All-American “is that she doesn’t move. She’s not a fast or like a mobile post player.�

The next opponent for Cunningham is Lee, another top center in the country who has scored nearly 2,500 points, pulled down 1,224 rebounds and swatted nearly 350 blocks in her five-year career.

By the numbers

3: In the last few weeks, three Wildcats have made ESPNW’s highlights for clutch shots. First, it was Williams who made a wild 3 with time ticking off the shot clock at UCF. Next, it was Beh making a buzzer-beating shot to send the Baylor game into overtime — off a perfect inbounds from Mailien Rolf. Finally, it was another buzzer-beater: Lauryn Swann’s half-court shot leaving her fingers before the halftime horn.

47: K-State has shot 50% or better in 47 of the 72 quarters (65%) played this season.

2: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is second in steals in the Big 12, averaging 11 per game.