How Kansas State moved past historic loss with encouraging victory over Milwaukee
Turns out, bouncing back from one of the worst losses in school history is not impossible.
All it takes is a players-only meeting, a few days of energized practices, a new starting lineup and an informative YouTube video that features motivational quotes from Nick Saban and Kobe Bryant.
The Kansas State men’s basketball team did all of those things before it defeated Milwaukee 76-75 on Friday at Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats had to survive a late comeback attempt from the Panthers, so players were both smiling and sweating as they walked off the court.
But, hey, it sure beat the alternative. And it was a stark contrast from earlier in the week when players looked shell-shocked immediately after they suffered a humiliating loss to Division II Fort Hays State.
“Obviously, we still need to get better,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “It’s just one hard fought win, but it gives our guys a little hope. Right now, we need hope.”
He’s right. The Wildcats (2-4) can’t scoff at any victory right now.
Besides, this was a step in the right direction for a young team that is still trying to break in nine new scholarship players. Weber went with a young, small starting lineup that featured three freshmen and one forward. That group rewarded him by playing with energy and by executing on both ends of the court, even though it nearly coughed up a seven-point lead in the final minute.
K-State newcomers combined to score all but 13 of the team’s 76 points, with Davion Bradford (18), Selton Miguel (17), Rudi Williams (16) and Nijel Pack (12) leading a pack of five different players who reached double figures.
The Wildcats also played much sharper on defense than they have in recent games. For the first time all season, players were consistently in position to help and expressed anger when they allowed the Panthers to make shots.
Give senior guard Mike McGuirl credit for that. He called a players-only meeting immediately following K-State’s loss to Fort Hays State on Tuesday, and teammates said that allowed them to hit the reset button and start fresh with renewed purpose at practice the following day. McGuirl also had 11 points, eight assists and just one turnover against the Panthers. Weber argued that it was his best game in a K-State uniform.
“We had to pick things up as a team,” said Bradford, a freshman forward. “We had a team meeting and I’m pretty sure our coaches had a meeting. When we came into practice, we decided we didn’t want to lose anymore. We decided we needed to start winning ...”
Milwaukee, which was playing its first game of the season because of COVID-19 issues, surprisingly started the night on a 7-0 run. But K-State seized control shortly after with a 14-0 run.
The Wildcats led at halftime and seemed poised to cover the 11-point spread when the Panthers began fouling them down seven in the final minute. K-State players had an answer for every Milwaukee charge, including several impressive dunks from Bradford, some key shots from Miguel and a late three-pointer from Williams.
But things got much tighter than they needed to be in the final moments when the Wildcats missed four straight free throws over the final 37 seconds. Milwaukee actually in-bounded the ball with a chance to take the lead with 1.6 seconds remaining. But McGuirl intercepted the pass at midcourt and K-State held on.
It’s fair to wonder how many other Big 12 teams would struggle to beat an opponent like Milwaukee, which only won 12 games last season and entered Friday ranked 285th nationally in Ken Pomeroy’s college basketball database.
But any victory is a good result for K-State right now, especially when the coaching staff may have stumbled upon an exciting starting lineup.
Weber went young and small because forwards Kaosi Ezeagu (out multiple weeks with a knee injury) and Montavious Murphy (out indefinitely with a knee injury) were unable to play. But the group showed promise, especially with guards stretching the floor and Bradford scoring easy points at the rim.
The Wildcats will need to consider using that lineup again in their next game. It provided a spark against Milwaukee.
“Chemistry got better and everyone is starting to understand how to play with each other, so that has something to do with it,” Williams said. “Guys have been getting better over time. We do have a young team, obviously everyone knows that, but everyone is starting to understand how things work and stuff is starting to click for us.”
Now they hope that improvement spills over into the start of Big 12 play, which begins on Tuesday at Iowa State.
As long as players continue to trust the process, as Saban and Bryant advised in the YouTube video that Weber showed the team, there’s no reason why it can’t happen.
The Wildcats are playing with confidence after moving past a humiliating loss.
“We are maturing,” Bradford said. “Everybody always uses the excuse of us being a new team. Oh, they’re young. They can’t do this, they can’t do that. But all of our talent can build up. Us maturing can help a lot. Having these games has been a good experience for us, especially losing. Our young group, we have never been on a losing team. I, especially, have never been on a losing team. We just wanted to fix it so, so bad.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 9:26 PM.