K-State is searching for new ways to help leading scorer PJ Haggerty on offense
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Haggerty leads Big 12 at 23 PPG; team has lost 8 of last 9.
- Bashir, McGriff absences coincide with reserves’ poor production.
- Coach urged Castillo, Johnson to play better; team urged to share shots.
Kansas State couldn’t ask for a more consistent scorer than PJ Haggerty.
The junior point guard never seems to have an off night. He leads the Big 12 in scoring at 23 points per game with a season high of 37 points against Mississippi State and a season low 10 of points against Creighton.
In conference play, he has eclipsed 20 points in seven of nine games. His worst effort was 16 points against West Virginia. His best showing was 34 points against Utah.
One thing is for sure when it comes to the Wildcats: Haggerty is going to get buckets.
Lately, though, his elite scoring numbers haven’t helped K-State where it matters most. The Wildcats have lost eight of their past nine games with a team scoring average of just 71.8 points.
What gives?
“Our players have got to make shots,” K-State coach Jerome Tang said. “That’s how we can help him. Other guys have got to step up and make some shots.”
Haggerty, who played for Tulsa and Memphis before transferring to K-State, hasn’t been getting much scoring help from his teammates in recent games.
Last time out, during a 95-61 home loss to Iowa State, Haggerty scored 23 points on 21 shots. His teammates produced 38 points on 41 shots as they went 36% from 2-point range and 31% from 3-point range.
Some of that can be explained by the recent absences of Abdi Bashir, the team’s best outside shooter, and Khamari McGriff, its best inside threat.
Without them, players like CJ Jones, Andrej Kostic and Marcus Johnson have been thrust into the rotation. And they simply aren’t on par with most other key reserves in the Big 12.
Jones is shooting 29% this season. Kostic is only a tad higher, at 34%. Johnson has made just one shot all year.
It’s hard to see K-State suddenly getting much better production from them anytime soon, even when they are left open to shoot from the perimeter.
David Castillo, Nate Johnson and Taj Manning could all produce at higher levels, though.
Perhaps that is why Tang called out Castillo and Johnson after a home loss to Kansas, saying they both need to “play better.”
Castillo had 11 points on seven shots against Iowa State. Johnson contributed eight points on 10 shots. Manning went scoreless on three shots.
That effort may prompt some to wonder if K-State has enough healthy talent to complement Haggerty on offense. But Haggerty isn’t worried about that.
“We have just got to play more within each other,” Haggerty said. “Just keep getting each other good shots. Some shots are not going to fall and some are going to go in. We just need to control how hard we play. I think sometimes we let shots get to our head. When they aren’t going in, we have got to keep going hard.”