K-State takeaways: Cartier Diarra comes through in clutch as Wildcats beat Tulsa
The Kansas State Wildcats defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 69-67 Sunday at Bramlage Coliseum.
It was a much-needed victory for Bruce Weber’s basketball team, which had lost five of its previous seven games and was searching for momentum before Big 12 play begins next week.
Here are some thoughts from the win, which improved K-State’s record to 7-5.
Coming through in the clutch
K-State did something against Tulsa that it failed to achieve in its first 11 games of the season. The Wildcats made clutch plays with the game on the line.
The biggest one of the night occurred with 21.9 seconds remaining when Cartier Diarra drained a deep step-back three with a defender in his face to give his team a 69-66 lead.
Weber called a timeout to set up the play and got the ball in Diarra’s hands with seven seconds on the shot clock. It was an easy decision to let the junior guard create his own shot, as he led all scorers in this game with 25 points. But the odds of him pulling off a play with that degree of difficulty seemed low given that no one on K-State’s roster has been able to do so this year.
K-State faded in close games against Pittsburgh, Marquette, Mississippi State and Saint Louis and lost all four in disappointing fashion, but it changed its fortune by knocking down an important shot against Tulsa.
The Wildcats also stood tall on defense with the game on the line when Makol Mawien blocked a last-second driving layup from Elijah Joiner that could have tied the game. There appeared to be some contact on the play, but no foul was called.
The home crowd roared in approval. K-State finally made the plays it needed to make and won an important game.
A step forward?
During his postgame interview on the ESPN+ broadcast, Weber seemed optimistic about what the Wildcats might be capable of during the Big 12 portion of their schedule.
“Hopefully this will be the day we start moving forward,” Weber said.
It seems unlikely that a victory over Tulsa will change much for K-State in the grand scheme of things, but it is a significant win for this team. The Golden Hurricane (119) are by far the highest rated team the Wildcats have defeated this season, according to Ken Pomeroy’s ratings system, and K-State was unable to beat Tulsa in either of the past two seasons.
Perhaps K-State players will enter Saturday’s game at Oklahoma with newfound confidence and begin conference play with a victory.
Big game from big three
Another reason this was a promising game from the Wildcats: Their three most experienced players all had strong efforts at the same time.
Diarra led the way with 25 points, seven assists and five rebounds. But Xavier Sneed came up big with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Makol Mawien had nine points and seven rebounds.
In previous games, K-State has relied too much on freshmen and reserves. That changed here, with both of its starting seniors playing well and Diarra carrying the scoring load.
That is something Weber will need more of during conference games. All three of them have been on teams that have played in the Elite Eight and won a Big 12 championship. When they are at their best, so are the Wildcats.