Three takeaways from Kansas State’s last-second loss to Liberty at Paradise Jam
Dug McDaniel had two chances to lift the Kansas State men’s basketball team to a come-from-behind victory over Liberty in the semifinals of the Virgin Islands Paradise Jam on Sunday.
But he missed them both and the Wildcats lost 67-65 at UVI Sports & Fitness Center in St. Thomas.
The first was a wide-open 3-pointer on the wing with five seconds remaining. K-State head coach Jerome Tang couldn’t have asked for a better look for his point guard, but the shot bounced off the rim.
David N’Guessan was able to collect an offensive rebound and got the ball back to McDaniel for another look from the corner. But that shot also missed at the buzzer.
That sequence doomed K-State (4-2) to its second loss of the season in a game in which the Wildcats trailed most of the way. Kansas State will next play Longwood for third place at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.
The Flames (5-1) scored the final eight points of the first half to take a 32-29 lead into the locker room and then pulled ahead by as many as eight points in the second half. Colin Porter led the way for Liberty with 17 points, while Isaiah Ihnen had 16.
The Wildcats fought back and took a lead at 63-62 with 2:31 remaining when Achor Achor made a jumper, but the Flames scored the next five points to take control.
Brendan Hausen led K-State with 14 points. Coleman Hawkins was next with 11 points, while N’Guessan and Achor both finished with 10 points.
That was enough to keep the Wildcats in the game, but they needed more to win.
Here are some takeaways from Sunday’s action:
Two early losses are not good for K-State
The Wildcats still have a lot of basketball to play this season, so it’s hard to condemn them for getting off to a slow start.
This K-State roster features 10 brand new players, after all. They are still learning to play together. As time goes by, they should improve and possibly mature into a completely different team.
Still, this is less than an ideal start for Jerome Tang’s team.
The Wildcats don’t play many challenging games during the nonconference portion of their schedule. Early losses against a pair of teams that aren’t expected to contend for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament (LSU and Liberty) could put a lot of pressure on them to win games during Big 12 play in hopes of reaching March Madness.
K-State began the year at No. 29 of Bart Torvik’s college basketball ratings database. That ranking has already fallen to No. 50.
The Wildcats also dipped to No. 73 at KenPom. They will only get one opportunity to pick up a signature victory before conference play starts, and that comes at St. John’s on Dec. 7.
From what we’ve seen from K-State so far, winning that game will be a tall task.
K-State needs more consistency from the 3-point line
Brendan Hausen and the Wildcats proved that they are capable of making shots from 3-point range when they drained 13 in the season opener and 10 more in game two.
But it’s been hit and mostly miss since then.
K-State has made a grand total of 24 shots from beyond the arc in its past four games. That’s an average of six per game.
The Wildcats went seven for 24 from downtown against Liberty. Hausen led the way with four makes, albeit on 12 attempts.
Tang prioritized outside shooting when he built this roster. But that hasn’t been a strength for K-State in many games early on this season.
Coleman Hawkins is starting to find his shooting touch
On a positive note, Illinois transfer Coleman Hawkins appears to have snapped out of his scoring slump.
The senior forward scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished four assists against Liberty.
He was most effective as a scorer when he dribbled into the paint and got buckets as a post player. He has enough touch to score on the run and he is tall enough to score over defenders.
Hawkins can help K-State as a scorer if that continues.