This was different. Here was Ty Smolinski sitting in the coaches' meeting room at the head of the gray table in the black leather swivel chair where Kansas State head coach Pete Hughes usually sits. The 20-year-old sophomore wears his white ballcap with purple brim and a purple T-shirt with an old-school Willie Wildcat holding a baseball bat, he still wears purple supportive tape around his left wrist and lower forearm, and thick lines of eye black applied many hours ago begin to fade.
Kansas State isn't ready to return to the Little Apple. The bracket-busting, record-setting, hold-onto-your-seat Wildcats are having way too much fun during the most improbable run in the history of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament.
One day after Kansas State hit a Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament record 17 3-pointers to beat Cincinnati, the 12th-seeded Wildcats used some of their most stifling defense in recent memory to fuel a 58-51 comeback victory that bounced No. 5-seed and 21st-ranked Texas Tech out of the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
After watching his team scorch the nets from long range better than any team in the history of the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament and witnessing the continued growth of the nation's youngest Power 4 squad as No. 12 seed Kansas State coasted to a 91-66 victory over No. 13-seed Cincinnati on Wednesday, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said, "That was a lot of fun to watch."
Newsletter
Love K-State?
Join the K-State newsletter to receive Sports Extra stories, updates, ticket information, special offers and more!