Why K-State coach Bruce Weber is considering a new starting five against Texas Tech
Don’t be surprised if Kansas State alters its starting lineup when the Wildcats take the court against Texas Tech on Wednesday night at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock.
K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber says he is toying with the idea of deploying an all point guard backcourt of Cartier Diarra and David Sloan, a move that he hopes will provide the Cats with a boost on offense and help it avoid an early road deficit for the first time during its current five-game losing streak.
“You never know what can happen,” Weber said. “It helps offensively, I’m just not sure defensively. We have been talking about it as a staff, to be honest with you. For the starts of games, do we need better offense or better defense? I guess that will be our decision at game time tomorrow.”
The backcourt combination of Diarra and Sloan would certainly give the Wildcats their most versatile scoring lineup. Sloan, a junior college transfer, is the team’s best passer and pure point guard. He is averaging 5.2 points and 2.6 assists per game. Diarra, a redshirt junior, is the team’s top pure scorer and could potentially benefit from moving off the ball and surrendering control of the offense to Sloan.
Weber used both of them together at times during K-State’s last game, a 68-57 loss at TCU, and the team had some of its best moments with multiple point guards on the floor.
Sloan had 11 points, three assists and three steals. Diarra had 10 points, two assists and two steals.
Perhaps the Wildcats stumbled upon something positive.
“It’s definitely something that me and him like a lot,” Sloan said, “because he can handle the ball very well and I can too. (I like) helping him out and taking the pressure off him, because he is more of a scoring guard, so I think that just helps him a lot and the offense flows.”
This wouldn’t be the first time K-State has started Diarra and Sloan together. Weber paired them together for games against West Virginia and Kansas last month while Mike McGuirl was recovering from a concussion.
But it didn’t last. Diarra went to the bench for five of the next seven games, and when he was in the starting lineup he wasn’t playing alongside Sloan. Weber has rotated them in and out of the lineup, while freshman guard DaJuan Gordon has started the past seven games.
That may come to an end against the Red Raiders. After bringing valuable energy to the court in his first few starts, Gordon seems to have hit the proverbial freshman wall lately. He went scoreless against TCU and only managed two points against Oklahoma State.
Perhaps coming off the bench would help him regain his form.
“I really believe he has just got to worry about what he can control and play hard,” Weber said. “When he has played well, what did he do? At Alabama, he had eight rebounds, four offensive, getting a put back here or there, stealing a basket, stealing the ball. He didn’t play much the other day because he got some fouls. Then when he got back in there, he tried to make plays. We have got to make plays for each other.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 3:58 PM.