The stat that best sums up K-State’s losing streak and how Bruce Weber can correct it
If you’re searching for a statistic to summarize Kansas State’s 66-63 loss to Saint Louis on Saturday at Sprint Center, look no further than the plus/minus chart.
There you will see that all five members of the Wildcats’ starting lineup finished with negative numbers. The Billikens were by far the better team when Antonio Gordon, Makol Mawien, Xavier Sneed, Mike McGuirl and Cartier Diarra were on the floor together.
St. Louis outscored K-State by nine points when Antonio Gordon was on the floor, by five points when Makol Mawien was in the game, by four points when Xavier Sneed was out there, by three when Mike McGuirl played and by 15 when Cartier Diarra ran the point.
That’s … not good.
But that chart gets even more interesting when you compare those numbers to the four K-State reserves who saw action in this game. All of them finished with positive numbers, including backup point guard David Sloan, who once again made coach Bruce Weber look foolish for not featuring him in the original game plan. K-State outscored Saint Louis by nine when he was the court.
Long story short: The Wildcats were at their best with their starters on the bench.
“It’s hard to be on the billboard and to be the focal guy and the No. 1 guy on the scouting report,” Weber said. “It’s hard. I think all those older guys are learning that.”
That raises several alarms as the Wildcats try to break the “Groundhog Day” cycle of losses that leaves them with a 6-5 record as Christmas arrives. The team that threw up its arms in outrage when it was picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 preseason poll looks nothing like a NCAA Tournament contender.
Weber compared the situation to an Oprah Winfrey quote about traveling in a bus instead of a limo.
“Right now, our limo has got a flat tire and we have got to get on the bus,” Weber said. “We have got to stick together and do the dirty little things that are important.”
It’s hard to see them doing that until Weber settles on a lineup that can play consistently together and produce in crunch times. Some alterations might be coming to K-State’s starting five in its next game against Tulsa.
Weber is already considering some changes.
“Oh yeah,” Weber said. “I don’t think there is any doubt.”
Levi Stockard and Sloan have both made strong cases for expanded roles.
Stockard, a junior forward, has outplayed senior Makol Mawien in consecutive games and was by far the team’s top big man against the Billikens, scoring a career-high 17 points on just five shots.
At the least, inserting Stockard into the starting lineup might light a fire under Mawien, who had two points and three rebounds. At the most, giving Stockard extra minutes could bring much-needed stability to the front court.
Weber is also running out of reasons to keep Sloan on the bench. He has been hesitant to play the junior-college transfer during important stretches because he is still learning how to play defense at the Big 12 level. But he is a difference-maker on offense, and he proved it in this game.
K-State looked like a different team when Diarra went to the bench with two fouls midway through the first half and Sloan took over at point guard. The offense runs much more crisply with him distributing the ball. He set up his teammates with several good scoring looks against Saint Louis and finished with an impressive seven points, eight assists and one turnover.
That was far better than Diarra, who had no assists and six turnovers in by far his worst game of the season. It might be better for everyone involved to move Diarra to shooting guard and let him create from that position while Sloan gets the ball to him.
Still, the Wildcats had an opportunity to beat Saint Louis when Stockard tied the game at 63-63 with 2:15 remaining. They weren’t far off. They simply crumbled with the game on the line. That tends to happen when the rotation is out of whack.
This story was originally published December 21, 2019 at 10:40 PM.