Rapid Recap: Kansas State shrugs off loss and looks ahead to Big 12 Tournament

KANSAS STATE WITHOUT DESI

Kansas State guard Desi Sills did not make the trip to Morgantown to face West Virginia. He was instead attending a family matter. He will be back for the Big 12 Tournament, though, so his departure was temporary and only for a game.

K-State missed him in a lot of ways. They missed his ball handling, defense and weren’t able to run some of their typical sets in his absence. Kansas State also saw some new things on defense they had not seen in the last five games.

It was a good experience for the Wildcats to see new things and try new lineups without their senior playmaker.

Markquis Nowell shared that K-State tried to play their hearts out for him and knew he was watching.

DEFENDING WEST VIRGINIA

The defense really struggled on Saturday afternoon. The Mountaineers scored 50 points in the second half and 89 for the game while shooting 50 percent from the floor.

As Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang shared afterwards, it is hard play defense on anyone when your offense turns the ball over 20 times and they are of the live ball variety. Those Wildcat turnovers led to 23 points for West Virginia.

Getting to the foul line was also key for the Mountaineers. They were 22 of 25 from the free throw line, including Kedrian Johnson shooting 14 of 15 by himself.

Where West Virginia is the hardest to guard is when Erik Stevenson rises up over smaller guards and takes over a contest. He did that in WVU Coliseum versus K-State. Stevenson ended with 27 points for the game and hit five three-pointers.

NOWELL’S SECOND HALF

Nowell was a bit inconsistent in the first half. The senior guard did not score and had seven assists and five steals, but he also committed five turnovers. West Virginia trapped him on ball screens and was able to speed him up and create some takeaways.

The second half was a different story for the Kansas State senior.

He scored 24 points in the final 20 minutes and only turned the ball over once. Double teams were coming less frequently, which left Nowell open to either take a three-pointer or get to the rim. And the threes were falling. He made six alone in the second half.

K-STATE IN BIG 12 TOURNAMENT

Sometimes teams secretly only want to win one game in the Big 12 Tournament, according to Tang. That goes through the mind of coaches every once in a while. They are only okay with losing because they place more value on the rest that it would allow.

Playing three games in three days can be a hard thing, but that is the goal for K-State this season. Tang believes there would be more benefit in that. That would actually give them a boost going into the NCAA Tournament and be a strong accomplishment.

The hardest one to win in a tournament is the first game.

It doesn’t matter who you play in the Big 12 because you’re likely playing a quad one game. Tang is fired up about the event next week because it will be the first time in his 20 years of coaching in the league that he will be a team that possesses a home court advantage.