Three takeaways from Kansas State’s OT win over Nevada at Cayman Islands Classic
Great basketball players refuse to let their teams lose close games.
Kansas State appears to have two of those.
Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson stepped up for the Wildcats and delivered one big play after the next during a 96-87 overtime victory against Nevada on Tuesday in the semifinal round of the Cayman Islands Classic at John Gray Gym in Grand Cayman.
Nowell, a senior point guard finished with 29 points and 11 assists. Johnson, a senior forward, produced 28 points and nine rebounds. Every time Nevada threatened to take control of the game or pull away, such as when the Wolf Pack led by seven early in the first half, they hit huge shots to swing momentum back in favor of the Wildcats.
“It was all about the players,” K-State basketball coach Jerome Tang said. “The players made plays, big-time moments in a big-time game. We have got some big-time dudes. They stepped up and they stayed together.”
K-State (5-0) played its first close game since Tang took over as coach and they handled the situation well against Nevada (5-1). With the win, the Wildcats advance to the championship game of this holiday tournament against LSU at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Everybody wanted to play in that championship game tomorrow,” Johnson said. “We dug deep and we got the win. All of us were determined to win this game and that’s what we did.”
Until then, here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s action:
Keyontae Johnson once again looks like a star
There is a reason why Johnson was considered a future NBA Draft pick before he was sidelined for two years with a scary heart condition at Florida. He is reminded the college basketball world of his talents now that he is once again healthy and making plays for K-State.
The senior forward is quickly turning a star for the Wildcats. He entered Tuesday’s action averaging 15.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists ... and he added to those numbers with perhaps his best game in a purple uniform.
Johnson came through for his team with 28 points on 8 of 13 shooting while also grabbing nine rebounds.
He looked like an alpha dog running up and down the court with the Wildcats. He regularly beat his defender off the dribble and scored at the rim, but he also stepped outside and showed off his touch by draining a pair of three-pointers.
If he continues to play this well, especially in close games, he will challenge for a spot on the All-Big 12 team after previously earning all-conference honors in the SEC.
Markquis Nowell does more than dish out assists
A day after K-State point guard Markquis Nowell sent out 12 assists in a win over Rhode Island, he came through with 11 more assists for the Wildcats against Nevada.
Impressive as those numbers are, they took a back seat to his clutch scoring against the Wolf Pack.
Nowell scored a driving layup over a pair of defenders to force overtime and then hit several more big shots in the extra period to make sure K-State won the game. He did a little bit of everything on Tuesday, finishing with two three-pointers and two rebounds on top of his other statistics.
“Oh man, he was huge,” Tang said. “His poise and leadership ... The rest of the team trusted him and understood what was going on making sure he got touches. It was a great team effort.”
Nowell was a good basketball player last season under former coach Bruce Weber, but he has already improved by a big margin under Jerome Tang.
He plays much more under control and he knows when to be aggressive and when to let his teammates do the work. This was arguably his best game in a K-State uniform.
A fun stat to go along with his big game: This was only the fifth time in K-State history that a player had 20 points and 10 assists in one night.
“He has that dog in him,” Johnson said. “I was telling him to stay poised and everything was going to come together. He played his game. He was making and-one plays for us down the stretch. Every time we needed him he scored. It was impressive watching him finish through contact tonight.”
No halftime lead? No problem
K-State won its first four games of the season by jumping out to huge halftime leads and cruising from there.
That wasn’t the case against Nevada. The Wolf Pack got off to a hot start and led for much of the first half before ultimately taking a 38-36 lead at the break. Momentum stayed with Nevada early in the second half as it built a seven-point lead.
At that point, it looked like the Wildcats might be in trouble. Could they rally for the first time in the second half of a game?
The answer: a resounding yes. Nowell and Johnson teamed up for several big plays early in the first half, too, and led 44-43 early into the second period.
“We came out sluggish on defense and gave up a ton of points,” Johnson said. “Coach started getting on us in timeouts. Once we started locking in on defense we could see they threw their best punches at us and then we punched back.”
This team does not like trailing on the scoreboard, and it ramped up its intensity every time it needed to wrestle a lead away from Nevada.
That is, not surprisingly, one of the main reasons why the Wildcats are still undefeated.
This story was originally published November 22, 2022 at 9:18 PM.