The two couldn’t have been much more alike; both K-State and the internet-based video feed of the game (I refuse to mention them by name here) listlessly stumbled through the first half of Tuesday night’s
opener in Bramlage against the UNC-Greensboro Spartans before the Cats pulled away for an easy 93-64 win.
Frankly, neither the feed nor the Cats could have been much worse in the first half. The Spartans’ undersized squad managed to build a lead as large as 10 points late in the half, as K-State couldn’t manage to move on offense, move on defense, move on special teams (oh, wait…wrong sport) – hell, they couldn’t have moved if they hired a truck and some furniture dollies. Only a 9-4 run by the Cats after the under-4 timeout got the gap back to 1 at half, 33-34.
Just as the technology bringing the game into our homes got its collective stuff figured out, so did K-State. The Cats exploded for 60 points in the second stanza (doubling up UNCG’s 30), behind the torrid 11-17 performance from behind the arc, 12 points off turnovers, and 10 second chance points. For everything that wasn’t working in the first half, fixes seemed to have been found in the second 20 minutes, with much better ball and team movement (14 ast vs 8 in 1H), better defense (5 stl, 3 blk, and held UNCG to 34.6% shooting), and better shooting (59.5% vs 40.0% in 1H).
Tang went 12-deep on the roster, with even Taj Manning seeing the floor for nearly 3 minutes in the second half. The main rotation saw 9 on the floor for notable periods; PJ Haggerty and Nate Johnson logged more than 30 minutes each.
Haggerty certainly lived up to his reputation, somehow amassing a quiet 27 points on 10-20 shooting, with 3 assists, 2 rebounds, a steal, and a block. Nate Johnson had himself a game, going 8-11 from the floor, including 6-7 from outside, and added 9 boards, 9 assists, and 2 steals. His plus/minus was an absurd +47 on the night. Abdi Bashir started to connect on a few in the second half as well, ending his night with 16 points on 6-11 / 4-8, with 1 board and 2 assists. Somehow, returning Wildcat CJ Jones played for just over 24 minutes, and didn’t score a point (0-3), despite racking up 7 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Newcomer to UNCG Justin Neely finished with 15 points, 9 boards, and 5 assists. Lilian Marville added 14.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1) Tang has GOT to figure out how to start a game on the right foot consistently.
My kneejerk reaction at the second media timeout: These guys aren’t ‘coached’. Sorry, not sorry. Tang’s already on the hot seat for me. After two exhibitions where we could score but not play defense, and now 8 minutes of a game that counts where we couldn’t do either…he (and this team) have some work to do to gain some credibility as a coach back. Love and feelings only go so far towards winning games.
2) PJ Haggerty is a great player…so is Nate Johnson.
I’m still shocked at just how quiet Haggerty scored 27 points. Literally, I have no further words. But man, if we can get out of Nate Johnson what he did last night on a consistent basis, that’s one hell of a one-two punch.
3) Here we go again with the fool’s gold.
Scoring 60 points in a half is something notable, certainly. But let’s not get too far out over our skis – K-State shot out of its ever-loving mind in the second half, going 11-17 from outside. That’s not normal, and we shouldn’t expect it to be. This team struggled mightily with scoring in the first half, and had they not gone all NBA Jam “He’s on fire!” in the second, this would have been a much closer game, at home, with a lot of supposed talent on the floor, against a mediocre-at-best Spartan squad. We need more reliable scoring, not just hoping that three’s fall.
4) Bigs might be a problem.
We have bigs. I just don’t think they’re that good. We need to see more out of Mobi Ikegwuruka (listed as a 6-6 guard, but plays as a big), but the combination of Mobi, Khamari McGriff, Elias Rapieque, Dorin Buca, and Stephen Osei managed 12 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks. It might sound like asking too much, but that’s 5 players that produced what could be considered a really good night for one top-tier big man. The kicker is that it was against a team that was honestly undersized and shouldn’t have been able to compete at the basket. This team can be balanced amongst the guards, but we don’t have much in the way of inside/out balance right now. Maybe that’s OK. Maybe that just means I’m getting old.
NEXT
Saturday night the Cats host the Bellarmine Knights, aka not-Louisville.
Apologies to both you the reader and to Eric for the late recap; the entire editorial staff was out of pocket last night, and with the changeover in content systems we still haven’t gotten Eric and Luke’s posting permissions sorted out yet. Then again, nobody at the wire services felt the need to take any photos of this game, so it’s not like anyone else cared.
