Makol Mawien lifts K-State past Vandy with surprise 15 points ... and other thoughts

The Kansas State Wildcats defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores 69-58 on Saturday at Sprint Center.

It was an important victory for K-State (9-2). Bruce Weber’s team had all kinds of trouble in its last game without star forward Dean Wade in the lineup. Vanderbilt (7-3) seemed like one of the hardest non-conference games on its schedule. But the Wildcats won by double digits.

Here are some thoughts from the basketball game:

Another Sprint Center surprise from Mawien

It’s safe to say Vanderbilt didn’t fathom K-State forward Makol Mawien would be much of an offensive threat.

When asked what Mawien did most effectively on his way to 15 points and five rebounds, Commodores forward Matt Ryan wasn’t even sure who he was.

“He hit a three, right?” Ryan said before saying anything more. “That hurt.”

Mawien was not considered a major threat on the scouting report. Vanderbilt players were much more focused on Barry Brown, Xavier Sneed and Kamau Stokes.

“We were not expecting him to have 15,” Ryan said. “Obviously, we have to be better and we have to take out role players. We were keyed in on their main guys and held them to solid numbers. But when Mawien has 15, that is going to make it tough to win.”

Indeed, Mawien proved he can be a X Factor for the Wildcats by playing his best offensive game of the season. He scored his season-high 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. His highlights included a driving, left-handed slam in the first half and a three-pointer in the second half that gave his team a 47-25 lead.

The game was effectively over at that point.

It had been a mostly disappointing season for Mawien until now. He entered this game averaging 6.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He was more likely to disappear from the offensive game plan than reach double digits.

K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber had grown impatient with him. So much so, that he asked Mawien for a special Christmas gift — consistent play.

“I’m happy for him,” Weber said. “We talked the other night after Georgia State, him playing 28 minutes and being plus-33 (while he was on the court) and not scoring. Tonight he scored and defended. So I would think his plus/minus was pretty good. His (challenge) is consistency. That’s the big thing moving forward with him and our whole team.”

Mawien is capable of playing like this on a more regular basis, especially without Wade in the lineup. The last time he played at Sprint Center he erupted for 29 points against Kansas in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.

Surprised as Vanderbilt players may have been, this doesn’t come out of nowhere.

The Wildcats would love to get more games like this from him.

“Tonight should be a regular thing for him,” senior guard Brown said. “Fifteen points, maybe a couple more rebounds and just playing hard. He is more vocal on defense, especially about being in the right gaps and being in the right spots. That’s just Makol. I hope he can continue doing what he has been doing.”

Bruce Weber should keep scheduling December games in KC

Since Weber took over as K-State’s basketball coach, the Wildcats have posted some of their best non-conference victories a few days before Christmas at Sprint Center.

They beat Florida here in 2012, Texas A&M here in 2014 and Washington State here two years ago. Add Vanderbilt to the list and Weber is a perfect 4-0 in this building during the month of December.

That hasn’t happened by coincidence. The Wildcats enjoy playing in Kansas City, because a large and rowdy crowd (at least when compared to early games at Bramlage Coliseum) shows up to cheer them on. And they feed off the environment against a name opponent.

“Our guys haven’t played in front of that many people cheering against them all year,” Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew said. “It was a learning environment for us.”

The same has happened when K-State plays at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, save for a narrow loss to Tulsa last season.

It’s a shame K-State can’t schedule more non-conference games like this on campus. Marquette next year at Bramlage will be fun. But as long as it gets these results and these crowds in Kansas City, the games are worth scheduling.

This should remain a holiday basketball staple for the Wildcats.

Hack-a-Trice

Austin Trice is not a good free-throw shooter, and Vanderbilt knew it. That much was obvious late in the game when Drew instructed his players to foul the K-State forward away from the ball quickly on three straight possessions in the second half.

It was like NBA teams going out of their way to foul Shaquille O’Neal, a famously poor shooter from the line, and, more recently, Oklahoma doing the same against KU forward Udoka Azubuike.

Vanderbilt opted to send Trice to the line for five free throws with the Commodores in comeback mode, and he didn’t make them pay by missing all but one of the foul shots.

After the first two fouls, Weber told Trice to run to the corner and Vanderbilt was hit with an intentional foul. Eventually, Weber pulled Trice from the game and the Commodores went back to playing normal defense.

Trice has now made just 8 of 28 free throws this season.

It will be fascinating to see if other teams follow suit. The strategy didn’t work on Saturday, but it could have, had Vanderbilt scored after any of Trice’s misses.

Weber said he will need to be smarter about how and when he uses Trice late in games from now on.