Sometimes when you’re a coach, you just need to wear a yellow bodysuit

When Wichita State women’s basketball players exited the team bus for a 7 a.m. shootaround in Memphis over the weekend, they had to do a double-take when they saw their coach.

There was Keitha Adams — dressed in a yellow bodysuit, a WSU hat, and a black shirt with team’s “Go Get It” mantra on it — screaming encouragement and demanding a high-five from every player in the morning darkness. When senior Angiee Tompkins didn’t supply a satisfactory high-five, Adams made her come back to meet the requirement.

Wichita State defeated Memphis 77-64 on Saturday, winning its fifth straight game in the American Athletic Conference hours after the debut of Adams’ alter-ego, which she already has a nickname for.

“That was actually the ‘Go Get It Gal’ and we were pleasantly surprised that she came all the way to Memphis to surprise us for shootaround,” Adams said in a phone interview following the win. “I think the Go Get It Gal knew it was going to be a really early morning, so we really needed to wake up fast and get up and get going. I think the players were excited and very much awake when they saw her.”

Five days had passed since WSU’s monumental 64-56 win over South Florida, which was ranked No. 23 in the coaches’ poll and was WSU’s first win over a top-25 team since 1998 and just third in program history.

Adams figured her players could use a jolt on the road.

“You’re always concerned about an emotional let-down whenever you’re coming off a real big high and a big win like that,” Adams said. “I think actually having those days off may have been to our advantage. Sometimes when you start to get attention like we did last week, everybody starts talking about it and it makes it a little harder to stay in your routine.”

In Memphis, Adams challenged her team at halftime to live up to its “go get it” mentality. In the second half, WSU outrebounded Memphis 19-10 and tracked down eight of 14 possible offensive rebounds as the Shockers pulled away for a 13-point victory.

WSU will have another opportunity to extend its winning streak on Tuesday at East Carolina (11-10, 3-5 American).

“We turned the page (on the Memphis win) before midnight,” Adams said. “We’re already thinking about our game plan for East Carolina. I think this team is getting in the groove with how we’re approaching who we’re playing and our game plans.”

Will the “Go Get It Gal” make another appearance in Greenville, N.C.?

“I’m not sure, I think she’s only going to come out for special occasions,” Adams said. “I think we’ve started this new thing with ‘go get it’ and our team has really picked up on it and our fans are staring to pick up on it. I’ll be interested to see the next time the ‘Go Get It Gal’ comes back.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Sometimes when you’re a coach, you just need to wear a yellow bodysuit."