Three things we learned from Kansas State’s 74-59 basketball win over McNeese State
Kansas State’s 74-59 men’s basketball victory over McNeese State followed a familiar trend.
The Wildcats fell behind early and played poorly enough during stretches of the first half that the sparse crowd inside Bramlage Coliseum on Tuesday began to worry about their team getting upset at home. But then K-State picked up its effort, started to make shots and took control.
K-State (8-3) made McNeese State (3-9) look completely overmatched after the opening moments and won its final game before Christmas in dominating fashion.
Markquis Nowell and Nijel Pack led the Wildcats with 18 points each. Nowell played his best basketball late in the first half while K-State climbed its way out of a 26-17 hole by driving to the basket and making things happen with off-balance layups and passes to open teammates. Pack hit four three-pointers. Selton Miguel also finished in double figures with 17 points.
“It was just attacking,” Nowell said. “At first, it started with the defensive end where we got stops. I think we had about eight shutouts in a row. And that’s what really got us going, because we were able to get easy transition buckets. I was just trying to drive and make plays for my teammates.”
The Wildcats will try to build off this performance in their next game. They were scheduled to play Morgan State on Dec. 29, but that game has been canceled because of COVID complications within the Bears’ roster. K-State is searching for a replacement opponent.
Here are some key observations from the game:
Impressive day for K-State point guards
K-State coach Bruce Weber kept two point guards in the starting lineup and it paid dividends.
Pack got open all night long from the perimeter and finished with 18 points. Nowell drove to the basket without hesitation and ended up with 18 points, 10 assists and four rebounds.
Weber has said K-State has its best offensive lineup on the floor when Nowell and Pack play together. That wasn’t necessarily the case when the Wildcats beat Nebraska with defense two days ago. But it was true against the Cowboys.
Nowell was probably the player of the game. K-State was on upset watch until he began driving to the basket and making things happen. His ability to make shots over bigger defenders in traffic keeps opponents honest. After he makes a few contested layups, things open up for his teammates. That’s how he always ends up with so many assists.
Quick bit of trivia. There are only four players in K-State history who have ever recorded multiple double-doubles via points and assists. Nowell is now one of them, joining Steve Henson, Jacob Pullen and Angel Rodriguez. That’s good company.
“He is just so crafty with the ball,” Pack said. “I would say guys have got to honor his range. Today, they had to pick up really far out on him, which is kind of hard to stay in front of somebody when you’re 29 feet away from the basket. Then his decision making and his finishing around the basket makes him special. When guys come over and help that’s when he can make decisions. When guys don’t come over he’s able to finish around the basket. So it’s kind of like picking your poison with him.”
It also helps that he has a good shooter to kick the ball to with Pack also on the floor. There is no reason for Weber to move either one of them back to the bench if they are going to produce those kinds of results, even though they both play the same position.
Miguel seemed to feed off both of them and scored 17 points in just 22 minutes for his most productive game of the season.
No more lob dunks, please
The days of Xavier Sneed flying through the air, catching a high arcing pass from Barry Brown and throwing it down to thunderous applause have never felt further away.
This K-State team is not good at lob dunks.
And that’s the nice way to put it. The Wildcats have fumbled away several opportunities for emphatic slams this season, and Tuesday was no different. In the second half alone, Ismael Massoud and Mike McGuirl couldn’t control a well-placed pass inches in front of the rim and turned the ball over rather than sending it through the net for two points.
“It has definitely not been our strength,” Weber said.
Weber has spent lots of time this season urging his players to stop attempting NBA three-pointers when they are much better off shooting centimeters behind the college line. Perhaps he should have a similar talk about where and how to attempt dunks.
Come to think of it, scoring around the basket in uncontested situations has been a challenge for K-State all season. McGuirl missed a wide open transition layup against McNeese State, and Davion Bradford also couldn’t convert on a shot right in front of the basket.
They oddly seem to shoot better from close range when they are being defended.
Husker Hangover
Give Weber credit for scheduling an overmatched opponent for K-State’s final game before Christmas.
The Wildcats were clearly not focused on this matchup two days after they went on the road and won an important game against Nebraska.
It’s hard to say exactly what the attendance was on Tuesday, but it was without a doubt the smallest crowd of the season. Without students on campus to show up early and make noise from their court side seats, there wasn’t much of an atmosphere inside Bramlage at tip off. K-State players had to bring their own energy for this one, and they clearly didn’t do that as the Cowboys threw down lob dunks and raced to an early lead.
K-State can be forgiven for overlooking an opponent with a Ken Pomeroy rating of 323rd in the nation four days before Christmas, but that can’t become a habit in future games. The Wildcats get one more easy home game against Morgan State before embarking on the always challenging Big 12 portion of its schedule, which appears harder than ever this season.
This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 9:03 PM.