What we learned from Kansas State’s last-second basketball victory against Omaha
The Kansas State basketball team needed a clutch play to survive an upset bid against Omaha on Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum, and it got one from Selton Miguel.
The freshman guard hit a three-pointer with 9.6 seconds remaining to lift the Wildcats to a 60-58 victory that was more stressful than some expected it to be for the home team.
“We definitely got a nice Christmas gift tonight with a tough, hard-fought win,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “I’m not sure we deserved to win, but we got some big plays when it counted.”
Miguel’s three-pointer was the biggest play of all. Here’s how it happened: Omaha guard Sam’i Roe made a free throw to give the Mavericks a 58-57 lead with 17 seconds remaining, which forced the Wildcats to rush for a go-ahead shot on the other end. Weber drew up a play for senior guard Mike McGuirl to bring the ball up court and either create on his own or dish to Nijel Pack on a ball screen. But Omaha left Miguel wide open in the corner, and McGuirl passed to him instead.
That was a surprising decision, given that Miguel was cold most of the night and only made two of his first 13 shots from the field. But McGuirl showed confidence in his teammate, and Miguel didn’t hesitate with the game on the line.
“I missed a lot of shots during the game tonight, but Coach Weber kept saying, ‘Keep shooting, keep shooting, don’t give up,’” Miguel said. “So when I had the opportunity in the corner, Mike had a great pass so I just took the shot.”
It was the first clutch play of his college career, but it probably won’t be his last.
“He is a big-time player,” sophomore guard DaJuan Gordon said. “He is going to have a great career here at Kansas State and keep getting better.”
This was a much-needed result for the Wildcats (5-5, 1-1 Big 12), even though it came by an uncomfortably small margin against a Mavericks (2-8) team that has struggled this season.
K-State managed to even its record after a disastrous 1-4 start to the year and can now return to Big 12 action with some confidence on Saturday against TCU.
Here are a few more thoughts on the game:
Encouraging signs on defense
If you’re looking for some positives to take away from this game other than Miguel’s clutch three-pointer in the waning moments, start with the way K-State played on the defensive end.
The Wildcats held the Mavericks to 0.88 points per possession and 40% shooting on the night.
That is an improvement from where K-State began the year, when it was regularly allowing 75-plus points in games, and from a week ago when Baylor reached 100 points at Bramlage Coliseum.
Best of all: K-State came up with key stops in the final minute, including a shot-clock violation with Miguel and Pack closely defending Omaha guards. The Wildcats also prevented the Mavericks from making a game-winner of their own on the final possession of the game when Roe missed a three-pointer as time expired.
The Wildcats have struggled on defense this season, and things didn’t get any easier for them on Tuesday with forwards Antonio Gordon, Montavious Murphy and Kaosi Ezeagu all sidelined. But they found a way to get stops, and that could help them as Big 12 games resume.
Gutsy performance
Weber only needed one word to describe the way Pack played in this game: “gutsy.”
Pack, a freshman point guard, sprained his ankle during a practice on Sunday and was questionable to play against Omaha until he urged coaches to let him take the court. Even then, it seemed like Weber wanted to limit his minutes, as he was noticeably limping at times. But Pack insisted he return to the game with no limitations late in the second half, and he ended up defending Roe.
He also hit a series of key jumpers to help the Wildcats keep pace with the Mavericks on his way to nine points.
“It was a gutsy performance,” Weber said.
You could tell he didn’t want to lose.
“He was big time tonight,” DaJuan Gordon said. “He hit some big shots. He was hurt but he came in and told the coaches he wanted No. 10 and he came in and played great defense on him. So he’s doing great. Being a great player right now.”
With Pack and Miguel stepping up late, it’s clear K-State coaches have a lot of confidence in their youngest players.
Learning from a win
Painful as it was for K-State to lose a home game against Fort Hays State earlier this month, Weber has since referred to it as a blessing in disguise because it humbled his team and sparked a turnaround that allowed the Wildcats go from 1-4 to 5-5.
They learned from that loss.
He hopes they can do the same after this game, even though it was a victory.
K-State played uninspired basketball at the start of this game and trailed by 11 late in the first half. Not even a 14-1 run was enough for the Wildcats to completely take control. They led 32-30 at halftime and then 45-37 early in the second half. It seemed like they were poised to pull away ... until Omaha surged back in front.
Perhaps this game will teach K-State’s young roster not to take anything for granted. That is certainly something it can’t afford to do moving forward with 16 upcoming games against Big 12 competition and one home date with Texas A&M.
Nothing will be easy from here on out.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 10:30 PM.