Three takeaways from Kansas State’s home basketball victory against Bellarmine
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas State improved to 2-0 as PJ Haggerty delivered 23 points and 11 assists.
- David Castillo emerged off the bench with a perfect 7-for-7 shooting and 19 points.
- K-State committed 18 turnovers and yielded easy rim baskets, exposing defensive lapses.
The Kansas Sate men’s basketball team will be tested at some point this season, but it hasn’t happened yet.
K-State has played two games, and both of them have been blowout victories for the Wildcats.
They defeated Bellarmine 98-71 on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum to improve to 2-0 in non-conference action.
PJ Haggerty led the Wildcats with 23 points and 11 assists for the first double-double of his college career that didn’t include rebounds. David Castillo had a career-high 19 points and Khamari McGriff scored 16 points in another strong offensive showing for Jerome Tang’s team.
Up next is a home game against California on Thursday.
Until then, here are takeaways from Saturday’s contest:
David Castillo is on the rise
The most improved player on Kansas State’s basketball roster appears to be David Castillo.
As a freshman last season, he only averaged 2.4 points per game and rarely made a big impact for the Wildcats.
He already has a bigger role now that he is a sophomore. The 6-foot-1 guard from Bartlesville, Oklahoma has come off the bench to give K-State a boost in each of its first two games. He scored seven points in the season-opener against UNC Greensboro. Then he added a career-high 19 points against Bellarmine.
Castillo went a perfect 7 for 7 from the field, including five shots from 3-point range. He literally couldn’t miss.
His biggest contributions came in the second half as he scored 14 points in just seven minutes of action. He was instant offense every time Tang sent him onto the court.
Castillo is also visibly stonger than he was last season. If he continues to improve he could be a significant contributor for K-State this season.
K-State has room to improve on defense
One thing Jerome Tang has said he likes about coaching at Kansas State is that fans are knowledgeable enough to point out when certain things aren’t going well.
Last year, he said he took it to heart whenever he heard someone from the stands call out for better play on the defensive end.
He likely heard plenty of that in this game.
Bellarmine got an abundance of easy looks against K-State. The Knights were able to convert 19 layups and three dunks against K-State, often without a defender contesting their shots at the rim.
That is not a great sign for the Wildcats, considering that the Knights were the smaller and less athletic team.
K-State also aided Bellarmine by committing 18 turnovers, which the Knights turned it to 19 points. The Wildcats were often slow to get back on defense.
Bellarmine was only able to score 59 points in its first game against Georgia. It had a better day against K-State, averaging 1.04 points per possession.
PJ Haggerty did more than get buckets
Anyone who saw PJ Haggerty average more than 20 points per game at both Tulsa and Memphis knew the veteran point guard could score when he transferred to K-State.
But what about the rest of his game?
He showed off other skills on Saturday, as he finished with 23 points, 11 assists and four rebounds. It was an all-around strong game from him.
In his K-State debut, Haggerty was able to score 27 points by mostly attacking the rim and scoring off the dribble. But he got his teammates involved against Bellarmine on Saturday.