Three takeaways from Kansas State’s summer basketball game versus Mexico in Abu Dhabi
The Kansas State men’s basketball team played its second game during a summer trip to the Middle East on Thursday.
The Wildcats lost 83-81 to Team Mexico in a back-and-forth contest that wasn’t decided until the final play at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Here are some observations from the game before the Wildcats return to action on Friday against Sharjah at 4 a.m. central time:
Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Tylor Perry show promise
Even though the Wildcats were unable to build on a 94-87 victory over Israel Select earlier in the week and lost a close game against Mexico, there were several things to like about what they did in this game.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Tylor Perry were the two biggest stars.
Tomlin completely took over the game at times in the second half with both his athleticism and ability to score whenever he was near the basket.
Get a load of this sequence in the fourth quarter: Tomlin gave the Wildcats a noticeable spark when he drove past a pair of defenders and threw down a two-handed dunk to give his team a 64-61 lead. Moments later, he came up with a steal near midcourt and turned that into a transition dunk on the other end. He had a huge smile on his face as Mexico called timeout.
Then Tomlin knocked down a 3 to extend the lead even further. He also hit a jumper in the fourth quarter. He finished with 15 points and flashed his ceiling, as much will be expected out of him next season.
Unfortunately, he fouled out with 4 minutes, 7 seconds remaining and was a non-factor as Mexico mounted a late comeback.
Not to be outdone, Perry led the Wildcats with 18 points. His best moments came on 3-pointers. Two of them were clutch.
First, he drained a triple with time winding down in the third quarter to give K-State a 60-58 lead. Head coach Jerome Tang wanted the Wildcats to end the quarter with a bang, and that is exactly what they did thanks to Perry. Later, he knocked down a 3 to give K-State an 81-80 lead with 38.6 second remaining.
He used a screen from Jerrell Colbert to find open space and then fired away from the top of the key. K-State fans will see much more of that in the future.
Alas, he also fouled out with 28.5 seconds remaining and was a spectator as Mexico won the game with a pair of late free throws.
Avoiding fouls should be an emphasis in game three of K-State’s summer tour.
All hands on deck
Tang decided to use a much different approach for this game.
K-State switched to a new starting lineup against Team Mexico that featured Tylor Perry, RJ Jones, Jerrell Colbert, Macaleab Rich and Arthur Kaluma. In other words, he went with two transfers, two freshmen and a big man who sat out last season with a redshirt.
Casual fans probably didn’t recognize their numbers as they streamed the game from home.
That was a departure from the team’s victory over Israel Select when the Wildcats played returning starters Cam Carter and Nae’Qwan Tomlin at the beginning of the game.
Why the change?
Well, Tang said his primary goal for this trip was to get every player on the roster a solid amount of playing time and then return home with a happy group of Wildcats. Tang appeared to follow that strategy here by letting a batch of new players go through the experience of starting.
K-State went on to use an all-hands-on-deck approach in this game. Just about every player who got on the court scored. There was no leaning on one dominant contributor for points or rebounds. Everybody played. Everybody did their part.
But it is worth pointing out that when the game was on the line on the fourth quarter Tang relied mostly on his veterans. He wanted to win once the competitive juices got flowing.
Fourth quarter regrets
K-State did not look sharp when it had opportunities to win in the final moments.
Granted, two of its best players were on the bench with five fouls. But the Wildcats didn’t come close to scoring a go-ahead bucket after Mexico tied the game at 81-81 late.
K-State got two chances to put the pressure on Mexico and failed both times. Creighton transfer Arthur Kaluma lost the ball out of bounds while trying to attack the basket off the dribble on the first. The second was a complete breakdown, with the Wildcats struggling to simply inbound the ball at midcourt against defensive pressure.
In between, Taj Manning sent Mexico to the free-throw line after committing a foul beyond the 3-point line.
Simply put: K-State was the opposite of clutch.
Fortunately for the Wildcats, it was only an exhibition game. Chalk it up as a learning experience they can use before the 2023-24 season arrives.
This story was originally published August 17, 2023 at 10:38 AM.