K-State takeaways: How Dean Wade regained confidence at ideal time for Wildcats
The Kansas State Wildcats defeated the Baylor Bears 66-60 on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum to stay tied with Texas Tech atop the Big 12 standings.
K-State, at 12-4 in the conference, is now two victories away from clinching at least a share of its first conference championship since 2013.
Here are some thoughts on the basketball game:
Dean Wade is back to doing Dean Wade things
The most positive development out of K-State’s hard-fought victory over Baylor, aside from the final score, was the encouraging play of senior forward Dean Wade.
Not only did he score a game-high 20 points to go along with four rebounds and three blocks, he did so in electrifying fashion. Wade threw down several dunks, something he has been scared to try in recent games while playing through a foot injury, including a ferocious tomahawk slam that sparked a game-changing run in the second half.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for him to do that,” senior teammate Kamau Stokes said.
He even showed some emotion afterward, saying he was trying to celebrate harder than Barry Brown.
For the first time in weeks, Wade looked like the dynamic player who was named Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year. The injuries and confidence issues he has been dealing with of late no longer seemed like a concern.
“This is probably the best I have felt in a long time going into a game without having to worry about injuries or anything like that,” Wade said. “It is a big step for me.”
Same for the Wildcats. It’s been hard for them to play their best without a healthy Wade. When he played passively in recent games against Iowa State and Kansas it showed, and K-State lost both contests by double digits. But when he plays like this, the team is hard to beat.
Wade hopes his injury troubles are behind him. Matter of fact, he’s not ready to blame his recent struggles on injuries. They were part of the problem, sure, but not practicing bothered him more than anything.
It was hard for him to get into rhythm, and he doubted himself. That changed this week when he returned to practice and entered this game with confidence. That’s something that has been sorely missing from his game.
“Right after I got hurt I wouldn’t say I had a lack of confidence in myself as a basketball player, but I had a lack of confidence in my foot,” Wade said. “I was second-guessing. You can’t do that in college basketball. You have to go with your first instinct. If you don’t, you make mistakes, and I think that is where I was kind of going wrong. I was just too worried about my foot. It feels good to finally be out of that stage.”
Wade attempted 15 shots against Baylor and made nine of them. If he keeps firing away like that in upcoming games against TCU and Oklahoma, the Wildcats will take their chances. They haven’t lost a conference game all season when he reaches double figures.
Another good game from Kamau Stokes
Not to take anything away from what he has accomplished in K-State’s other games this season, because he has been good all year, but Stokes has been a legit playmaker for the Wildcats this week.
He was K-State’s best player during a road loss at Kansas and followed that up with a tremendous outing against Baylor, finishing with 16 points, five assists and four rebounds.
“Kamau’s line was unbelievable,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said.
Brown and Wade are the two main catalysts for this team, and that’s not going to change. But Stokes is playing with a high level of urgency as his college career nears its end. And that is leading to some impressive results.
Best of all, his turnovers have nearly disappeared. He is directing the offense at a high level.
Baylor coach Scott Drew made sure to compliment him as a vital member of K-State’s senior class after the game was over.
“I will be glad when they graduate,” Drew said.
Don’t worry about Barry Brown
At this time last week, Barry Brown was a prime contender for Big 12 Player of the Year honors. Now, after consecutive off games, he is trying to play catch up.
Brown had 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists against Baylor, but he only made 2 of 10 shots and left fans wanting more considering he was on the court for 40 minutes. Add on his four-point clunker against Kansas earlier in the week, and there’s suddenly reason to at least wonder if the senior guard is in a slump.
“He wants it badly,” Weber said. “He has just got to let the game come to him. We have got to get him in some transition, get him some layups, but he missed a dead layup today and he rarely misses those kinds of plays.”
Brown has been playing with a wrap on his left knee for the past month, and that seemed to bother him against Baylor. He wore a thick purple wrap during warm-ups and then changed to a lighter white one at some point in the first half.
His pregame routine seemed off, because of it. But Weber shrugged off the notion Brown is dealing with any kind of injury. Bumps and bruises? Maybe. Otherwise, he’s fine. He played 40 minutes, after all.
That will be something to monitor as K-State prepares for its next game at TCU. As good as it is for the Wildcats to have Wade back at full strength, they need Brown there, too.
This story was originally published March 2, 2019 at 11:17 PM.