Print edition: 
MANHATTAN — When Kansas State plays with energy and a sense of purpose, it shows the potential of being an upper-level Big 12 basketball team.
But playing with that energy and finding a sense of purpose has been difficult in the Wildcats' first four games.
A 69-56 victory over George Washington tonight at Bramlage Coliseum was a perfect example. When they pushed the tempo on offense and defended like the game was on the line in the second half, the Wildcats outclassed the Colonials. But when they did not early on, they found themselves in a tense locker room up 32-29 at halftime.
K-State coach Frank Martin couldn't explain all the reasons behind the drastic change in play, but he knows what he will stress in practice.
"When we play on offense like we play on defense — as a unit, we execute what is called, play together, help each other — we're a good basketball team," Martin said. "When we play selfishly on offense, the way we did for the majority of the game today, where it's not about the team and whoever has it shoots it, we're not a very good team."
K-State (4-0) has made a habit of showing its bad side early and its good side late. Some of that has to do with the natural transition the team is making on offense. It takes time for every new group of players to jell on the court, and it might take time for K-State to improve on the 37.5-percent shooting effort it had Thursday, which included 17 of 22 three-point misses.
That doesn't explain the team's generally strong second half play, though. K-State has decisively won the final 20 minutes of every game.
Maybe it's a focus issue playing in front of noticeably empty seats, which was again the case Thursday. Maybe it takes the Wildcats realizing they are in a close game. Or perhaps they simply respond better to Martin's halftime coaching.
Whatever the case, there's no doubt Martin would like his players going it from start to finish, especially on offense.
A few players did that against George Washington (4-2). Freshman forward Thomas Gipson led all scorers with 17 points and added 13 rebounds. He has clearly come a long way since coming up with no rebounds in the opener.
"Gipson was just a man amongst boys out there tonight," said George Washington coach Mike Lonergan. "He dominated the game. He's tough. We've got a freshman trying to guard him and we've got some other guys who aren't exactly big and tough inside. That's just a bad matchup for us.... He's a heck of a player. He really just manhandled us."
Senior forward Jamar Samuels, who scored 10 points and snared 10 rebounds, was also productive early and ended the first half with seven rebounds.
Then the whole team seemed to catch up in the second half. After trading baskets early in the second half, the Wildcats took control of the game with a 20-5 run and cruised the rest of the way.
Spradling, who scored 12 of his 14 points during that surge, made a three-pointer to get the run going and finished it out with nine straight points. More than anyone, he experienced how much better K-State can play when it is energized.
"We just got in a good rhythm," Spradling said. "We were running offense and that opened up a lot of shots, opened up a lot of driving lanes. We were making the extra pass, which we weren't doing in the first half."
Consistently duplicating those efforts in a difficult stretch of games, which begins Sunday in the Wildcats' first road game against Virginia Tech and includes West Virginia and No. 12 Alabama, is now K-State's challenge.
