What K-State said about playing USC in NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Kansas State women’s basketball will begin their push for the Final Four tomorrow, playing No. 1 seed USC in the Sweet 16.

As one of the top teams in college basketball, the Trojans have handled business all season behind the dominant play of guard JuJu Watkins and center Kiki Iriafen. However, the Trojans will be without Watkins on Saturday after she tore her ACL against Mississippi State.

K-State is looking to advance to their first Elite 8 since 1982 when there were only 32 teams in the tournament. That season, the Wildcats beat independent Old Dominion in the Sweet 16.

On Friday, head coach Jeff Mittie, guard Serena Sundell, forward Temira Poindexter, and center Ayoka Lee previewed K-State’s matchup against the Trojans. Here are the notable quotes from the press conferences.

On preparing for USC without JuJu Watkins…

“There’s not many clips out there with her not on the floor. That’s been a real challenge. Yeah, there’s maybe a hundred total. And they played so well without her. First off, you know, I would just say you feel bad for JuJu. I said this in our presser earlier in the week, just the sense that anytime there are injuries, and in our game, in women’s basketball, there’s more than we like, right? We dealt with it with Ayoka Lee, and it’s tough. It’s tough.

In terms of our preparation, it’s a challenge for us because there’s going to be an element of the unknown. So we’ll have to — there may be in-game stuff that they’re running more stuff, that they’re running who they put in the activity. Obviously, Kiki had a terrific game, and she can do a lot for ’em, so we feel like there may be some things that they do there. There may be some things that they do with their shooters differently. So we’ll have to be prepared for all of that.”

“That’s been one of the things that we’ve been proud of, just our program in general, is the development of players like Serena that maybe aren’t the five stars coming out, but my staff sees something in them, we see something that we can develop them in the weight room, develop them in their skill set. Serena is exactly the type of player that we’ve had a lot of success with: players that come every day, want to work, want to learn, and want to get better.

Yeah, with a lot of pride, I watch her and her teammates be in this moment and know all the hard work that they put in to get here. So, her in particular, she’s had a great senior year. Her game has changed from the freshman year dramatically to being able to run the offense at that point and now we can run the offense through her at times, and we can run the offense to her. You saw that at the very end of Kentucky. We ran to her at the very end to send that thing to overtime, and that’s a play that, as a freshman, early sophomore year, probably doesn’t make.”

On K-State playing with Ayoka Lee in the lineup…

“There’s definitely a confidence there with her. She impacts both ends of the floor, and most people think of it, I think, offensively in the sense that they see her record of 61 points in a game, they see the efficiency numbers, but she’s one of the best defensive communicators I’ve coached, she’s one of the best rim protectors I’ve coached. She plays with a nastiness down low, a physicality that we’ve missed, we’ve missed.

As much as Kennedy [Taylor] has given us a lift, she doesn’t have that shot-blocking ability, that maybe communication — although Kennedy’s pretty good, when I’m talking about an elite communicator back there, you go back to the first two games of Lee in this tournament, we thought Fairfield was a nightmare matchup for the game for her to come back because she’s playing a five out, shoot the three, she’s going to have to defend the three line. All of the above is stuff that we don’t see a lot of in our league. We see more traditional post-play. And then you go to Kentucky’s great size.

So we do have a confidence with her out there, and we also have a confidence with her not in the game. And I think that’s been a big difference in this team because when we hung in there in the second quarter at Kentucky. So there’s a confidence both ways with our group that maybe we haven’t had in the past.”

On USC center Kiki Iriafen…

“Great player. A player that they can move all around the floor. She played so well the other night. And obviously, that’s not a surprise because of her ability. But they can post her up, they can move her on the perimeter, she can face up. I thought her face up game just continues to get better.

Yeah, she’s a mismatch problem in every area of the floor. I don’t know that there’s one — we’ll try to do our best to keep things really tough on her. Try to do our best to do that, but I don’t know that there’s one formula to be able to do that but a heck of a player.”

On defending Iriafen…

“Kiki’s a great player. She will definitely be a focus for our team, has been in our scout. Yeah, I think just putting her in positions that she isn’t comfortable with, not giving her the looks that she wants. I think the film is awesome. We can see what they’re capable of. So I think just trusting the film, trusting our scout and our coaches and using that to prepare well.”

On helping lead K-State to the Sweet 16…

“It means a lot to finally just accomplish these big goals that we’ve had because it has been frustrating in a lot of ways. So, to finally see some things come to fruition is just really exciting. And to get to experience these things with my teammates, too, is just memories that I’ll just cherish forever.

Coach Mittie always talks about not always realizing the full impact of what you’re doing until five years down the road, so just remembering that and soaking it all in while we are here.”

On K-State making the Sweet 16…

“I think it’s just super special for this group. I know none of us have advanced this far into the tournament, so we’re just enjoying every little moment with each other and grateful to be here and excited that we’ve represented Kansas State well and excited to continue to play together, knowing that we have so many seniors and each game could be our last.

So it’s super cool to make history for our school, and I know we all love Manhattan and love K-State, so it’s been a really fun week back home too.”

On Ayoka Lee…

“I came in as a freshman only expecting to play with her for one year, so sitting here as a senior and being in the Sweet 16 is just a cool moment for us. She’s been through so much and battled so much adversity and been in treatment for hours upon hours and has just worked her butt off her entire career. It’s one of those things, too, where not everybody in her position is going to keep fighting. She could have easily hung up her shoes last year, but she decided to come back because this is where she wanted to be.

And even this year, battling through one surgery and then another surgery and maybe going to make it back for the March Madness tournament, she could have easily been done, but she was like, nope, just put her head down and was like, I’m going to come back. It’s not when you want it, but I’m going to be back on the court again. And she was very determined. So just to see that hard work, determination, all the things pay off, I’m just super happy for her.”

On having Lee back in the lineup…

“We are super excited to have her back. We’re simply a better team with her on the court and back at a hundred percent. I think we all are confident we can beat anybody in the country, but we also kind of have that underdog vibe around our team where not a lot of people are expecting, and I think as a player, you couldn’t ask for anything better. Like, you don’t have much to lose, but you also know that you’re a very capable team, and you have confidence. So I’m excited to be able to play free and play together, so I think we’re in a really good position.”