Barry Brown evolving into a dangerous scorer for Kansas State

The last time a Kansas State basketball player scored 38 points in a conference game, Jacob Pullen led the Wildcats to a memorable victory over then No. 1 Kansas in 2011 that led to a court-storming and a six-game winning streak.

Barry Brown was understandably thrilled to duplicate Pullen’s scoring feat during Kansas State’s 86-82 victory over Oklahoma State on Wednesday at Bramlage Coliseum. The junior guard played with extra intensity and attacked the rim like never before on his way to a career-high 38 points. But will his big game lead to bigger things as the Wildcats (12-4, 2-2 Big 12) continue their march through the nation’s most rugged conference?

That’s the only question he seemed interested in afterward.

“It’s great for me, an individual accomplishment, but it’s on to the next one now,” Brown said. “We have got KU next, and that is all we are focused on.”

If Brown can continue to play the way he did against the Cowboys — or even come close to it — the Wildcats will take their chances, even with starting point guard Kamau Stokes sidelined indefinitely with an injury to his left foot.

Brown did it all in this game. He scored on set plays, he created for himself, he made step-back three-pointers and he converted tough shots in transition. At one point, he made one of his six steals at midcourt and beat three defenders for a transition layup.

His highlight, though, came on a sprint to the basket against Oklahoma State star Jeffrey Carroll. Brown stripped the ball from him near midcourt, outran him to the rim and made a twisting layup while being fouled. The bucket gave him 20 points and K-State the lead with 15:37 remaining.

“We knew that with Kamau Stokes being out that Barry had to step up,” Carroll said. “He is a great player. He made great plays for his team tonight, and it showed.”

The crazy thing about Brown’s stat line: it should have been better.

Fatigue got to K-State’s leading scorer as the game went on (K-State coach Bruce Weber said he played through bronchitis) and he only made 11 of 16 free throws.

“He could have had 40 if he had made his free throws,” redshirt freshman guard Cartier Diarra said.

“It was light,” added Xavier Sneed. “That’s all I have to say about it.”

But was it sustainable? We’ll see.

It will be hard for him to flirt with another 40-point game, but nothing should prevent him from playing with this same amount of aggression moving forward. Oklahoma State defenders switched on ball screens, and Brown drove to the basket every time that happened.

He has been on a scoring tear lately and is averaging 24 points over his past five games.

“I have been working on my touch a lot around the rim in practice, just trying to (improve),” Brown said. “I have been working with (graduate assistant) Shane Southwell just finishing in different ways, off different feet, floating away from the basket, going to the basket. I think it is paying off right now. But I have to keep at it.”

No Stokes? No problem

All eyes were on Cartier Diarra in this one, and the redshirt freshman responded with his best game of the season.

Not only did he replace the 13.4 points and 4.6 assists starting point guard Kamau Stokes averaged in K-State’s first 15 games, he did more.

Diarra scored a career-high 17 points on top of four rebounds and four assists.

“He is a good player and he is going to be a good player,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “Obviously, he has got a lot to learn, because it is a hard league to play in. He was thrown into the fire and he helped his team win tonight, so hats off to him.”

Diarra would have been forgiven for playing with nerves in his first start, but he played strong from the start.

It was reminiscent of an 80-69 victory over then No. 2 Oklahoma in 2016, two games after Stokes suffered a season-ending knee injury as a freshman. The Wildcats played for their injured teammate at home and pulled off a big win. That team lost six of its next eight once the adrenaline wore off, though.

For Diarra, the challenge will be backing up his strong debut.

“I think he can,” Weber said. “He wants to be successful. When you have that desire to be successful, good things will happen.”

Gutless

While Weber referred to K-State’s victory over Oklahoma State without one of its best players as “gutsy,” Boynton said the exact opposite about the Cowboys.

“It was a pretty gutless performance by my team,” Boynton said. “I have never been more disappointed than I am today since I became the head coach at Oklahoma State. Our fans deserve better.”

He went on to say his team played “lifeless.”

“We lacked toughness, we lacked pride, we lacked competitive spirit,” he said.

Ouch. It must have been a long trip home for the Cowboys (11-5, 1-3), who must now try to climb out of big hole against a difficult schedule.

This story was originally published January 10, 2018 at 11:13 PM with the headline "Barry Brown evolving into a dangerous scorer for Kansas State."