How Gabby Gregory became a perfect fit for Kansas State after starting at Oklahoma

If you didn’t know anything about Gabby Gregory other than what you have seen from her on the basketball court the past two seasons at Kansas State, you might think that she grew up dreaming about wearing a Wildcats uniform.

This is the senior guard who came up with the idea for “Gap Goat,” the team’s famous unofficial mascot. This is also the talented player who has campaigned harder than anyone for fans to gobble up tickets and sellout Bramlage Coliseum for March Madness games this weekend. She bleeds purple.

And she just led K-State to a 78-65 victory over No. 13 seed Portland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by hitting big shots, scoring 22 points and pumping up the crowd with her celebrations.

“Playing in front of that crowd and hitting big shots is what you dream about when you are a little kid,” Gregory said. “It was a lot of fun.”

She will get an opportunity to do it again in a second round game against No. 5 seed Colorado at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

But here’s the deal: Gregory did not grow up in the Sunflower State. She is from Tulsa. Nor did she picture herself playing big minutes for the Wildcats when she was young. She favored the Sooners coming out of high school and began her college career at Oklahoma.

The idea of suiting up for K-State didn’t happen until later, when she realized what she was missing out on.

“Even when I was at Oklahoma we always liked to play here,” Gregory said. “That was especially true my freshman year, because they always had a huge crowd and we always thought that was so cool. That wasn’t really something I experienced at my old school. I knew if I came here we would have big support from the state and the community.”

She also was a great admirer of K-State center Ayoka Lee and thought they could form a dynamic duo in Manhattan.

Gregory was a steady contributor at Oklahoma, playing in 72 games and making 46 starts. She averaged 11.3 points as a freshman and then 16.6 points as a sophomore. But she decided to transfer after a junior season that was filled with injuries and much less production.

Where would she go? She was open to most possibilities. But she hoped that she would hear from Jeff Mittie and K-State.

Turns out, she didn’t have to wait long.

Only minutes after her name appeared in the NCAA transfer portal she got a call from K-State assistant Ebony Gilliam, who Gregory recalls was “yelling and super excited” at the thought of adding her to the roster. Hang tight, Gilliam told her, and Mittie would be in touch.

“Sure enough, as soon as I got out of my next class Coach Mittie called me and asked what I was doing the rest of the day,” Gregory said. “I told him I was done with class and he said, ‘I’m driving to Norman to meet you and your family.’ So things went pretty fast. After that I kinda knew this is where I wanted to go. It’s crazy how it worked out. I was only in the portal for a few days and then I committed to K-State. It was pretty awesome.”

Gregory fit in quickly once she arrived in Manhattan.

She became fast friends with her new teammates and made a big impression on the court by averaging 18.5 points and 5.3 rebounds while Lee missed all of last season with an injury. K-State missed the NCAA Tournament, but the Wildcats showed much more grit than many expected without Lee.

Mittie credits Gregory for much of that success because she wasted no time establishing herself as a hard-worker and go-to player during summer workouts.

“She was all-in from the start,” Mittie said. “I think she had a good idea of what our program was about before she got here, so I think that gave her an even better opportunity for her to come in here and immediately fit in.”

It also helped that she had played well against K-State in the past. She was already respected.

Teammates say she added swagger to the locker room.

“One thing that is great about Gabby is that she isn’t afraid to say what she thinks,” K-State guard Serena Sundell said. “She is very outgoing and wants to get to know people and she’s going to share her opinion. You feel like you know her right away. She’s also confident and comfortable showing emotion. Watching her play with passion gets us all fired up and makes us want to show that passion too.”

Gregory enjoyed her first season at K-State so much that she wanted to come back for an extra year of college basketball.

No way was she going to pass on the chance to compete for a national championship with a healthy Lee in the lineup. More than anything, though, she just wanted to spend more time in Manhattan. This is clearly where she belongs.