With only six scholarship players, Kansas State falls at home against Oklahoma State
Bruce Weber answered his cell phone on Thursday afternoon and received the type of news that every college basketball coach has dreaded during this unprecedented season.
Kansas State’s starting point guard, Nijel Pack, told him he wasn’t feeling well. Within hours, it was determined he would be unavailable for the Wildcats when they played Oklahoma State on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum when he tested positive for COVID-19. Even worse, reserve forward Seryee Lewis would also have to miss the game as a close contact.
Those losses could not have come at a worse time. The Wildcats were already missing Antonio Gordon, because of COVID protocols, as well as Montavious Murphy, Kaosi Ezeagu and Luke Kasubke because of injuries. Without Lewis and Pack, the roster was down to just six active scholarships players and two walk-ons, which both happen to be the minimum threshold required for Big 12 teams to avoid a postponement.
That meant K-State was going to be at a severe disadvantage against Oklahoma State, but game was still on.
“I wish I could say it’s just 2020,” Weber said on his pregame radio show. “But it’s a new year and we’re in 2021.”
Had the decision been Weber’s to make, he would have postponed Saturday’s game. He said he pushed hard for the Big 12 to raise its threshold to eight scholarship players before the season began. He also considered reaching out to conference officials and asking for an exception leading up to this game, because the Wildcats “were really down to five and a half players” if you consider that reserve forward Carlton Linguard barely practiced this week while dealing with a back issue.
But Weber wasn’t sure that would do any good. So he kept his mouth shut and tried to help the Wildcats win with a limited roster. He compared the situation to playing out a hand at the poker table after being dealt nothing that matches.
“Four of our top six players at the start of the season were not on the court today,” Weber said. “We didn’t have Montavious, Kaosi, Antonio or Nijel. It puts you in a bind, but it is what it is.”
Under those circumstances, the Wildcats represented themselves well during a 70-54 loss to the Cowboys.
They held freshman sensation Cade Cunningham to five points and fought hard from start to finish despite only seven players taking the court before the final minute, including seldom-used walk-on Joe Petrakis who scored a career-high six points.
“The score at the end doesn’t really reflect how hard we played,” Petrakis said. “Think about it. We played a Big 12 game with seven players, and one of them is a walk on. That is pretty crazy. We just have to keep the mentality that we are going to play as hard as we can and out work the other team. We just need to stay locked in.”
The Wildcats were at their best early when they took a 15-10 lead thanks to five straight points from junior-college transfer Rudi Williams, who made his first career start at K-State with Pack watching from home.
It seemed as though K-State’s active players were more energized than usual for this one, as if they were motivated by the long odds they faced against a healthier and more talented opponent.
“We didn’t have anything to lose,” Williams said, “both in this game and moving forward with a shortened roster. We just have to give it our all, leave everything on the floor and live with the result.”
Weber dug deep into his coaching bag of tricks and tried to even the matchup by using a zone defense, which is rare for him, slowing the pace down even more than usual and subbing players after most fouls in an attempt to avoid foul trouble.
That strategy worked for much of the first half. The Cowboys didn’t shoot the ball well against a packed defense and missed their first six attempts from three-point range. This was without a doubt one of K-State’s best defensive efforts of the season. The Wildcats even pulled ahead 19-18 on a contested layup from Petrakis, of all things, with 6:13 remaining before the break.
But it wasn’t enough. Fouls and fatigue began to pile up for K-State, and Oklahoma State surged ahead 33-24 by halftime.
The Wildcats continued to fight hard in the second half and kept the score within single digits most of the way. But the same story unfolded. Oklahoma State took advantage of its numbers advantage and closed out the game without any hint of drama.
Isaac Likeleke and Rondel Walker led Oklahoma State with 15 points each.
Mike McGuirl was K-State’s leading scorer, finishing with 15 points. DaJuan Gordon also cracked double-digits with 14 points, but they didn’t receive enough help to seriously challenge the Cowboys.
It will be interesting to see how the next few games unfold for K-State (5-8, 1-4 Big 12). Pack and Lewis won’t be available when the Wildcats return to the court against Iowa State on Wednesday, and Pack and Lewis will likely miss at least three games in accordance with medical protocols.
Losing to Oklahoma State (8-3, 2-3 Big 12) might only be the start of Kansas State’s troubles as a shorthanded team. But reinforcements could also be on the way. Antonio Gordon is expected to return to the lineup next week, while Ezeagu and Kasubke are both expected back in the next week or so.
K-State can only hope for a healthier roster moving forward.
Playing games with only six scholarship players isn’t fun.
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 7:20 PM.