Kansas State point guard Kamau Stokes moves past injury, eyes improvement

Kamau Stokes walked from one table to the next without the help of crutches or a medical boot at Kansas State’s basketball awards banquet on Monday.

That was a welcome sight for everyone in attendance.

Stokes, a freshman point guard, has recovered from a partially torn patellar tendon in his right knee, suffered midway through a game against Mississippi on January 30, and it won’t be long before he is cleared to practice fully.

“Right now, I am about 80 percent,” Stokes said. “I can do a couple workouts and jump here and there. I still can’t jump off one foot, but everything else I can do. I should be full-go by the end of this month.”

Stokes was one K-State’s best players as a freshman, and he was easily the team’s best point guard. When he was at his best— making six three-pointers and scoring 24 points in a narrow loss to North Carolina — the Wildcats seemed poised for a postseason berth. But K-State struggled without him, finishing 17-16 after a 13-8 start.

“It was definitely tough for me, because I was just starting to play my best basketball,” Stokes said. “I was starting to get it, to really understand how everything worked. I was really coming along. Getting hurt killed the whole thing.”

Stokes averaged 9.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists. Those numbers were good enough to earn him a three-way share of K-State’s newcomer award, which he split with fellow freshmen Dean Wade and Barry Brown.

In his final five games, Stokes averaged 12.3 points, helping K-State win important games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. He also made a pair of free throws to force overtime in a loss at Baylor.

“Watching his film before we played those teams a second team is when it hit you, how important he was,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “The things he did -- making shots, passes, defense, there were so many things he could do. Without him, that made it tougher on Barry. He had to play more minutes and then Barry wore down.

“You try and look at the positives. Barry got experience. Wesley (Iwundu) got to handle the ball more. All of that stuff will hopefully help us in the future.”

Nothing will help more than a healthy Stokes next season.

He can already envision his return. As soon as Stokes returns to offseason pick-up games, he will turn his focus away from rehab and begin work to improve his assists-to-turnovers ratio. If he improves, so will K-State.

“I am very excited about next year,” Stokes said. “This last season was a learning process for me, being a freshman point guard. I think next year will be quite a bit different. With the group we have coming in and the group we have coming back, I feel like we can be a lot better.”

Iwunudu wins MVP — Junior swingman Wesley Iwundu won K-State’s MVP honors, as well as the team’s top defensive player award.

Weber said he was an obvious selection for both.

“Wes was first or second in virtually every statistical category for us,” Weber said. “He did a little more than everyone else.”

Iwundu averaged 11.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists. He earned third-team all-conference honors from the Big 12’s coaches, and was also an all-defensive team selection. His biggest shortcoming was at the three-point line, where he made 20 percent of his shots. He is already working to improve in that area. He wants to make closer to 40 percent of his threes as a senior.

“That is my No. 1 thing this summer, just working on my shot,” Iwundu said. “I’m changing some things in my technique, like how I bring the ball up and where I release it, getting a little stronger. That is my main focus.”

Senior Justin Edwards won the team’s award for top offensive player. Junior forward D.J. Johnson earned most improved honors.

Staff opening — Weber will take a patient approach when searching for a replacement for assistant Alvin Brooks in the coming weeks. Brooks accepted a similar job at Baylor last week.

Brooks was K-State’s lead recruiter in Texas, so similar recruiting ties to the Lone Star State would be nice for the new assistant.

“We would like to have that again,” Weber said. “But that has been a dilemma. When I got this job I asked for Texas names and got four or five right away. This week, I have asked around and I haven’t been able to get any.

“I think that is why Alvin was wanted. Two years ago he could have gone to SMU. Last week he could have gone to TCU. Then Baylor came up. It goes to show you there aren’t that many guys out there with those connections. We will have to decide what is most important and go from there.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Kansas State point guard Kamau Stokes moves past injury, eyes improvement."