K-State Rewind: Lingering thoughts from 70-56 loss to KU

Bruce Weber wants more from Xavier Sneed.

The Kansas State basketball coach made that clear following a 70-56 loss to Kansas on Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.

“We need him to play well,” Weber said.

Sneed scored 10 points against the Jayhawks, but it was far from an efficient night for the sophomore wing. He needed 12 shots to reach double figures and misfired on all but one of his seven attempts from three-point range.

He appeared content to play like a spot-up shooter, and his shots weren’t falling.

“I told him in a couple huddles to go get some put backs, go get some layups, find some other ways to score if that three is not going,” Weber said. “It can’t be your one and only focus.”

Weber might as well have been telling Sneed that he needs to get back to being … himself.

Not long ago, Sneed looked like the most improved player on the K-State roster, an athletic guard with the versatility to score inside and out while also providing strong defense.

He was the star when K-State beat Vanderbilt last month. In that game, he scored a team-high 21 points on 11 shots, and only four of them were from three-point range. He was aggressive and a big reason why the Wildcats escaped Nashville with an 84-79 victory.

Sneed also eclipsed 20 points against West Virginia and Southeast Missouri State.

But he looked like a different player against Kansas, often missing badly on open shots and making poor choices in transition. KU guard Svi Mykhailiuk blocked him from behind on a dunk attempt in the first half, and Sneed missed a contested layup in the second half when he could have floated a pass to Cartier Diarra for an easy alley-oop dunk in the second half.

Credit him for contributing at any level while battling cramps on a night when few other K-State players were scoring. Still, he is capable of more.

K-State coaches like to call Sneed the team’s X-Factor. It’s a clever play on words, but it’s also a nod to his versatility. A former four-star recruit, Sneed can drive and dunk and shoot. He is at his best when he has a hand in everything.

Lately, he has settled for too many threes.

“I thought for a while there he was starting to do other things,” Weber said. “He needs to get in the gym and shoot the ball … He had some open threes, he just didn’t make them.”

Keep shooting

Dean Wade has come a long way from the days of teammates begging him to take open shots in practice. The junior forward attempted a career high 18 shots against the Jayhawks, and he led the Wildcats with 20 points.

It was another positive step for a maturing player, who has now scored 20 or more points in five straight games, but he could have been even more aggressive.

Seriously, would anyone have complained if he took 30 shots?

On a night when few teammates were playing well offensively, the ball should have flowed through him at every opportunity. He is averaging 16.4 points, while making 56.6 percent of his field goals and 45.8 percent of his three-pointers.

The Wildcats should treat him as their top scoring option on every possession.

Cold as ice

Much was made of K-State’s offensive struggles against KU’s zone defense, but the Wildcats were every bit as bad against man.

They made two of their first 12 shots and trailed 32-25 before the Jayhawks switched to a zone defense late in the first half.

K-State made 25.7 percent of its shots in the first half (against mostly man and some zone) and then made 40 percent of its shots in the second half (exclusively against zone).

Brown was particularly cold, making just 4 of 16 shots. The junior guard did a decent job of attacking the rim, but he was unable to finish with his normal efficiency. He played a full 40 minutes in three consecutive games heading into Monday and played another 38 against Kansas. He leads K-State in scoring, but has only put up nine points in his past two games. Has a heavy workload caught up with him?

One thing that would have helped: fast-break points. The Wildcats had trouble finding cheap points in transition, even with the Jayhawks losing 16 turnovers. K-State finished two points in transition.

Another problem: K-State players fell in love with deep threes.

There’s nothing wrong with taking three-pointers, especially against a packed defense, but there is something flawed about jacking up NBA threes in a college arena. Too often, the Wildcats settled for three-pointers that were well beyond the arc.

“We probably took too many threes, and then we took threes off the line,” Weber said. “We kept saying, ‘Why are we off the line five feet?’ You have to get on the line. When we did get it in the paint and get it inside, we were able to score.”

Strong defense

Looking for a positive? Here’s one: K-State was really good on defense in the second half.

The Jayhawks made 14 of 20 shots in the first half, but the Wildcats mixed things up after intermission and held KU to 7 of 26 shooting in the second half.

Point guard battle

K-State point guard Cartier Diarra was too passive. That much is obvious when you realize he only attempted four shots. But it goes beyond that. He rarely drove to the basket and didn’t act as a facilitator. He finished with five points and three assists.

Compare that to KU point guard Devonte Graham, who had 16 points and 11 assists, and it’s clear who won that matchup.

This story was originally published January 30, 2018 at 2:21 PM with the headline "K-State Rewind: Lingering thoughts from 70-56 loss to KU."