NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - WASHINGTON ST. VS KANSAS ST.

March 18, 2022

Jeff Mittie

Serena Sundell

Ayoka Lee

Kansas State Wildcats

Media Conference

Q. Just want to ask how you're feeling, being in Raleigh, getting ready. What's the excitement level, nervous level. Talk us through some of the emotions.

AYOKA LEE: Yeah. I think our team is really excited. I think, yeah, I think it was getting here was a goal we had from the beginning of the season, so just being able to do it I think is really exciting. I think the team is excited. I'm excited for our freshman to have this experience.

SERENA SUNDELL: Yeah. I think it's a huge opportunity for our program and to come out and represent K-State. This is my first postseason ever, so just to be in the tournament at all is really exciting, and we're just excited to take advantage of this opportunity we have.

Q. Serena, could you tell us what you know about Washington State at this point?

SERENA SUNDELL: Yeah. We've gone over scout. We know they are a good competitive team. They have a good inside presence and some shooters and whatnot. We're just really going to focus on what we have been working on this whole season and stay to the kind of play that we've done this whole season.

Q. Ayoka, you have had a lot of individual success, a tremendous amount of individual success, how do you compare that to team success in terms of what's most important?

AYOKA LEE: Yeah. I think I wouldn't have any of my success individually like without my teammates just because it is a team sport. And I can't get myself a ball. So really need the guards to help me with that. I am just really thankful for the guards I have around me, I'm thankful for just the way that we've all come in and just bought into the playing style, the culture and just executed it well.

Q. You talked about the guards. Could you say a little bit about Serena. It's rather unusual to have a freshman up here. She must have something going for her. Could you talk about that?

AYOKA LEE: I love Serena as a person, as a player. I think from the moment she got on campus she wanted to work hard and just listen to what coaches had to say, to what veterans had to say. And I'm really proud of everything that she's accomplished. I'm really happy that she picked K-State and she's my point guard. Yeah, she's a great player and always works hard. She's going to do her job. Just proud of her. Happy she's here with me.

Q. Serena, how much easier does it make your life having her in the paint?

SERENA SUNDELL: So much easier. I haven't ever really played with a post player as talented as Ayoka, believe it or not. It makes it hard for defenses, too. They have to choose if they want to guard inside, guard our guards. They struggle most of the time to guard her with one player. So helps me get some assists. But she's just super fun to play with and she's very humble, which is something I've looked up to a lot this season. After her 61-point game there's nothing about her that would ever tell you that she just scored 61 points. She's been a big role model to me throughout this whole season.

Q. Ayoka, you are at the top of team's scouting reports a lot of times. Washington State's coach said earlier today, they haven't seen a player like you this season. What are you expecting them to throw at you?

AYOKA LEE: I think this season -- we've played enough games to know that teams can throw a lot of different things at us. I think they could really throw anything at us, but I don't think it would be anything that we haven't seen before or anything that we can't make an adjustment to. So I think right now my focus, our team's focus is just on the things that we can control, the things we can do well. We'll go from there I think.

Q. Ayoka, I noticed you have been posting on social media with Wingstop and seem to have some deals. This is obviously the first year that athletes have been able to have the name, imagine, and likeness deals. What has that been like for you?

AYOKA LEE: It's been crazy. It's been really crazy. Just really thankful for the opportunity just to have the opportunity to do an NIL deal as well. Just to represent female athletes. When it was passed or whatever, I think a lot of the deals that were happening were with male athletes. It took women just a little bit longer to be able to get big deals and to utilize that. So it's been exciting, it's been fun. And I think overall I think it's just really cool to be able to kind of inspire that next generation and represent female athletes.

Q. Serena, you and the Glenn twins are all freshman from Missouri from a similar area. Why do you think you three have this quickly been able to make an impact? And you can speak for yourself and if you want to talk about your teamates as well.

SERENA SUNDELL: I have known the twins for a long time. We are all from Missouri and we played on the club team for a little bit. We have a connection. We know how we play together. We play well together. We know what we're doing, kind of what the next person is thinking for the next step. Why we have been able to make an impact, I think we just came in and we started working hard. There was a lot of unknowns coming off of COVID. Last season for Kansas State there was some players out and things for COVID. We wanted to come in and work hard and just take any advantage that we were given, and I think we came in and listened to coaches, and we were just new to everything. We didn't know what to expect, and we just took any opportunity that we were given, and we have fun doing it.

Q. I was wondering if you could reflect on yourself this past year that you have had going to a high school in Northwest Missouri and now playing in the NCAA Tournament. And obviously with big aspirations.

SERENA SUNDELL: It's pretty unreal to be sitting up here right now in the media of March Madness. It's kind of something you dream about growing up. My family is a big basketball family. We always do things with our brackets at home and watch it on TV. Just to be up here coming from a small town, small-town basketball to the big stage it's a really neat opportunity. Super grateful.

Q. Ayoka, I've read some of the things that have been written about you this year. The one thing that I have seen multiple times is you like to bake, you are a big baker. Can you tell us what your specialty is, what you like to bake, and why do you like baking?

AYOKA LEE: Specialty that has been talked about the most is my banana bread, which my coaches just had the pleasure of having a couple of weeks ago. I like to bake. It's something that I always loved to do growing up. Something that my mom taught me how to cook, always had these recipes where she never needed instructions for. I'm not at that point yet. So it's just something I've always loved to do, and I think during the season things get so crazy and busy, it's important to have things that you love to do that don't require a lot of extra work mentally and stuff. It's just something that I've just loved to continue to do, especially just to have something fun to do and bring it to other people, because they love it.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could please make an opening statement for us.

COACH MITTIE: Well, like the 68 teams that were able to get into the tournament, we're excited about that opportunity. It's kind of cliche to say that. This team started off in the summer coming off a year that many of them weren't even a part of. We had young ones that you guys talked about. They have been a part of our recruiting prior to that. They have been a part of our program for a while. They came in right away and worked extremely really hard. The group returning was able to go play in the three-on-three tournament at the start of the summer. That was a big deal for us to get some experience, and I think, kind of erase last year and set us up to have the kind of year that we've had. This particular team, I would tell you this: We're not surprised by being here. I'm not surprised at all by being here because we could see it very early on that they had the work ethic, they had the chemistry, they understood what was necessary to invest in being good. They understood that very early on. We didn't have to prod them. We didn't have to get them into the gym. Many times at night if I went back to the gym -- July recruiting is obviously big. You come off the road, you go to the office at 9 o'clock at night, and you hear the ball bouncing, and you have two or three freshman, and they are shooting at 9 o'clock at night. If you catch your players doing right things enough, you can sort of sense that they get it. And this group did. I also want to say that I appreciate the questions picking up with our student athletes because I think you guys have to tell the story. And I think that you got to do it better, too. Because you've got a second team All-American, you have a first team All-American on other teams. You have a national record holder here. You have a player that's been named -- and you guys have to tell the stories. I can't tell them. And they are the ones -- I appreciate the question on the NIL deal because Ayoka Lee is one of the top female athletes, not in Kansas or North Carolina, but in the country. And those stories have to be told for other female athletes to reap the benefits of the NIL. It's not just a male situation for those athletes. And they are deserving of it. They are well worth it. So I appreciate that the questions picked up. I was a little concerned at the start of the press conference that they weren't going to pick up the way that I felt like these athletes deserve it. We're excited to be here, and I think that we were in Raleigh early. This is a talented region and we know there are a lot of talented teams here.

Q. You mentioned the NIL deal. I wonder as a coach how you handle that with your players? Do you let them do their own thing, or do you have any guidance in that?

COACH MITTIE: It's an interesting gray area that we're having to balance as coaches. Because we have young people that want our advice, but we've got to be careful there. And so, you know, Ayoka was fairly reluctant to do this in that she's a pretty private person. But the 61 points, you don't get to be private after that. Kind of catches people's attention. And so we talked about how to best manage that. And my role with the NIL deal is more just giving her guidance about how to manage it the best way she can. And she's very particular about her brand. She's going to be a sports psychologist. That matters to her. She's in her masters program now, and it matters to her that the things that she represents, the companies, that it's going to be really important that she represent the right people. But yeah, mine has just been -- I think as a coach we're trying to navigate, help them. You know I had somebody tell me this one time. It's so true right now. In anything, this age group can get information everywhere. They can get any information. It's up to us adults to help them decipher this information. They can go get it anywhere. It's up to us to guide them and help them in that. That's kind of my role with Ayoka.

Q. You are talking about how important it is to tell the stories of female athletes. Obviously a big story is the fact that this is called March Madness this year and the fact that there are 68 teams. What do you think about the changes the NCAA has made in the past year for the women's tournament and what you would like to see going forward?

COACH MITTIE: I think it's a good first step. I don't know what took so long. It's really a shame that if we're really being truthful would it have happened if Sedona Prince didn't put out video stuff? Would it happened if we weren't in the bubble? Probably not. So those things have been positive for our game, and I think what you're seeing is there's more of a light shined on some of the viewership things that are going to be important for TV deals, and I think they are going to see that women's sports is entertaining to a lot of people out there. And valued more than the sports were given credit for. But I think it's a good first step. I'm glad that those changes are being made, and I applaud them for making them. It just took longer than I think it should have. And I think everybody agrees with that.

Q. Just talking a little more about Ayoka Lee, and I know that she had an injury in high school, she red-shirted that first year. Obviously 6'6". She's got talent. You can see that. When did you realize that she could be a legitimate game-changer, and what else should we know about her in terms of telling her story?

COACH MITTIE: She ACLed her last game of her high school career. She was not 100% going to red shirt but she came in, I think it's different for centers. So we decided to red shirt her. So I want to say January 15th she got cleared of that red-shirt year to practice contact. So on January 16th we knew. It was like, oh, wow. And we could tell in drills. But then when we saw her get into contact and we saw her, we're like, oh this kid really gets it. This kid likes it. This kid likes the contact. You know, those kind of things. So it didn't take long. I've told people this many a times, if it had been a COVID year where it was a free year, we would have played her January 17th and she would have started for us. Unfortunately, we didn't have that. I think that what I said earlier about Ayoka --and Serena alluded to it -- of how humble she is. I think a lot of this is kind of a dream to her. And she's such a humble kid. 61. She had no idea. She had no idea during the game. She had no idea. She kind of knew that people were yelling loud during the game. If you saw some of the stories written about that game. She wasn't any different in practice two days later than she was. And I didn't even question that. I have a lot of people who don't know Ayoka say, "What are you going to get her feet back on the ground, and what are you going to get the head of the clouds?" That was not an issue. I think for her it was more of an issue of kind of managing kind of all the attention because she can be a private person at times and enjoys those quiet moments. And there wasn't a whole lot of quiet moments the first couple weeks after that. She's a humble person. Great teammate. Teammates love her. She's easy to root for. If you see the video of her scoring it, that's pure joy on our sideline for her. And she said it right away in this press conference, you don't score 61 as a center without your team being happy for you. You don't get the ball. I'm not going to get my -- we're up 20 in that game at some point. Her teammates love her and that's just the kind of person she is.

Q. Again reading more about that night. And your quote where you said you didn't even look up until you saw 58. That she had 58. What was going through your mind as a coach in that situation and who told you, or were you already aware the record was 60?

COACH MITTIE: Randy Peterson -- noise was starting to happen behind the bench. Then the word got to me that 60 was the record. She was on the freethrow line at this time and I just kind of was looking up just to kind of check the time. We had made a good push to start to get the game away, and Oklahoma is one of the top-scoring teams in the country. They could come back in a heart beat. I looked up and saw 58, I thought it looked weird. I had not seen that on a score board before. And then started to hear some of the chatter. And so decided to leave her in. And then I have been asked the question, did you think about leaving her in longer? You know, not really. Not really. I think it was the right moment to pull her. I think it was the right moment for her, the right moment for our fans. Yeah, it was pretty cool though to give her a hug coming to the sidelines. And it was pretty cool to watch the team's response later . But like I said, that's just kind of the team we've had this year and kind of the connection that this group has had.

Q. Just looking ahead to tomorrow. What kind of challenges does Washington State represent? What are you expecting? What have you seen on film from them?

COACH MITTIE: Quality team. Quality team out of the Pac. They are disciplined. They have good balance across the board. They have got veteran guards. They have veteran inside players that have really been very, very good. I think they are solid at both ends of the floor. I think they are able to play at a couple of different paces, too. They can play a faster pace if they want to or they can play a disciplined game if they want to. We know they are a really good basketball team. It doesn't surprise me with -- we've played teams in the Pac and obviously the Pac has been the strong league and certainly expect anybody that comes out of the Pac to be a good team.

Q. I feel like most coaches think, well, he has Ayoka Lee, that has to be a good situation. I have to imagine you have seen some defenses thrown at you that maybe you haven't seen before? What's the craziest way you have seen a team try to guard Ayoka Lee and how do you counter that and what have you worked on specifically?

COACH MITTIE: I think that when you have a center like her, I compared her to Griner in terms of when she was at college in Baylor and everybody did different things, whether they double teamed her, sandwiched her, whether they bring help. The one thing with Lee is she doesn't put the ball down to the floor much. People have generally gone to don't let her touch it is the way they have tried to. They have sandwiched her. They haven't guarded certain players on our roster. And we saw that -- we didn't see it as much early. She had some big games early. She had 43. That was a size mismatch. But when she started putting up numbers against other size that's when we saw people go, okay, we're going to have to commit other people. I think we're kind of ready for everything right now. Everybody has -- much like we do with a great player at the top of the scouting report, you start asking the questions, what can we do within our defensive system to best stop her and not get away from what we're good at but also what can we do? We've seen a little bit of everything.

Q. You have ties to Missouri Western obviously with Coach O and Coach Nick. Can you speak about what those mean? And then what it means seeing them where they're at if you've been able to keep up. And also Serena Sundell from Maryville, just how impressive is her doing what she's doing so early in her career?

COACH MITTIE: It's been great to have Serena. I haven't done this many interviews with Northwestern Missouri in about 30 years. It's been great to go down memory lane. Serena has been great to have on the team. I'm going to have a book of Serena-isms by the time I'm done. She has been a lot of fun to coach and great competitor. I've referenced numerous times, is the kid that never has not asked to come out of the game one time this year. And she's played 49 minutes in a double overtime game. Played 40 numerous times. And she just never asks to come out. And then I think you mentioned Missouri Western going to the Elite Eight this year. I follow the MI AA. My wife and I played in the MI AA. Our daughter played at fort Hayes. When it gets to February, I lose a little bit of track of other things. But I actually caught the last 12 seconds of Missouri Western's victory over Hayes. Only because my wife came into my home office and said, hey are you following this on Twitter. Hayes is down one and Hayes went up one. They have had a great run. Good luck to them in the Elite Eight. It's good to see them back in it.