K-State takeaways: Kamau Stokes shines, Wildcats dominate inside in exhibition win

The Kansas State Wildcats defeated the Pittsburg State Gorillas 79-39 in an exhibition basketball game on Friday at Bramlage Coliseum.

Here are some thoughts on K-State’s final tuneup before the regular season begins next week against Kennesaw State.

Kamau Stokes is back

K-State’s starting point guard was never the same after he broke his left foot against Texas Tech last season, but he looked stronger than ever in this game.

Stokes took it to Pittsburg State from the get-go, hitting his first three shots to propel the Wildcats to a 19-5 lead. He found the bottom of the net from all over, making shots from the outside and crossing over his defender on his way to the rim.

It’s obviously hard to put much stock in an exhibition game against a Division-II opponent, but it’s safe to say Stokes is back at full strength. The senior led all scorers with 14 points and also had six assists.

No, that stat is not a typo

The Wildcats absolutely dominated inside. Every time K-State basketball players got the ball in the paint, it seemed like they scored.

Check out the final for points scored in the paint: K-State 50, Pittsburg State 8.

At halftime, the Wildcats had 32 points in the paint while the Gorillas had zero. K-State coach Bruce Weber will take more of that when the real games begin next week.

Mike McGuirl sure throws a good lob pass

K-State’s two best highlight dunks of the night came off of lob passes from reserve guard Mike McGuirl.

The first was a pass from the right baseline to the other side of the rim, where Dean Wade rose up and slammed home a tomahawk jam.

The next came on a high-arcing pass from the left wing to the other side of the basket. Cartier Diarra caught the ball with both hands and emphatically threw it down.

Three-point shooting was a negative

There was little to be disappointed about from a K-State perspective in this game. The Wildcats looked every bit the part of a top-15 team while tearing apart Pittsburg State.

But the biggest negative of the night has to be three-point shooting. K-State was hardly impressive outside, where it finished 4-20 (20 percent). Diarra, Stokes, Wade and Shaun Neal-Williams were the only players to make shots from beyond the arc. The Wildcats need to improve in that area.

Barry Brown sat out this game for precautionary reasons

Don’t be alarmed by the absence of starting shooting guard Barry Brown.

He was kept out of Friday’s exhibition game for precautionary reasons as he deals with a sore foot. A team spokesman said he would have played had it been a regular-season game.

K-State found a classy way to honor Tex Winter

The Wildcats will honor one of their most iconic former basketball coaches in stylish fashion this season. They debuted a special patch on their uniforms Friday that will make everyone who sees them fondly remember Tex Winter. The patch is the shape of a triangle, and it features an old-school Wildcat logo used during his coaching days. It also includes the letters T-E-X.

Winter died recently at the age of 96, but he had an incredible impact on the sport of basketball. Known as the architect of the triangle offense, he led K-State to eight conference championships and was affiliated with all four of their Final Four trips. He later went on to win 11 NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant coach.

K-State has already named one of the roads leading up to Bramlage Coliseum after Winter, but this is another fitting honor for the legendary coach.