K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber stresses toughness ahead of Baylor rematch
It’s hard to imagine a basketball matchup changing more than Kansas State vs. Baylor has in the past month.
When the Wildcats defeated the Bears 70-63 on Feb. 9 at Ferrell Center, they had a numbers advantage.
Baylor guards Makai Mason and King McClure were injured and didn’t play, while everyone on the K-State basketball roster was healthy. The Bears played inspired much of the way and led 48-41 at the 9:50 mark of the second half, but the Wildcats wore them down and dominated late.
Things will be reversed for the rematch on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum. This time, Baylor expects to have everyone available other than center Tristan Clark, who had a season-ending injury in early January. Meanwhile, K-State starters Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade will continue to play through foot injuries and Cartier Diarra will watch the game in street clothes because of a broken finger on his shooting hand.
Now the Bears have a numbers advantage.
“It makes a little bit of a difference,” K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber said. “It gives them more depth. That’s the biggest thing. And it takes away from our depth. That means everyone else has to step up and do a little more and be a little more efficient.”
Winning games with two ailing starters, and without a key reserve, has been tricky for the Wildcats lately. They have split their last four games, with the victories coming against the two worst teams in the Big 12 (West Virginia and Oklahoma State) and the two losses coming to teams in the upper half of the league standings (Iowa State and Kansas).
Wade only played 11 minutes against the Cowboys and then had a forgettable outing against the Jayhawks. It’s fair to wonder what kind of performance the Wildcats can expect from their star senior forward on Saturday.
At the same time, K-State has owned Baylor over the past three seasons. The Wildcats have won five straight in the series and will be motivated to extend that winning streak with a Big 12 championship up for grabs.
“This is Big 12 basketball and it doesn’t matter who is going to be on the court,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “Everybody has got more than capable people to step up from the bench. You look at all the (personnel) losses that every team in the Big 12 has had this year and yet how competitive the league is and still being ranked No. 1 in the RPI. It shows what a great job the coaches do and how great the players are.”
Drew went on to say he won’t prepare for K-State any differently than he did in the first meeting. He watched the Wildcats reach the Elite Eight while only getting eight minutes from Wade in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Once again, he expects K-State to be resilient.
“I know (Diarra) is a very good player,” Drew said. “But I know whoever Coach Weber puts out there is going to be more than prepared.”
Weber is also downplaying injuries to his team.
Instead, he will stress the same things he was always does against Baylor.
“We have competed with them toughness-wise,” Weber said. “They kicked our butt before that. You start looking at the numbers and you see zone and this and that. It’s about toughness. These guys are probably tougher than his other teams … If we are going to continue the streak we are going to have to match their physicality and intensity.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 2:08 PM with the headline "K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber stresses toughness ahead of Baylor rematch."