The Kansas State Wildcats came out of the gate early, weathered an early second half lull, then methodically sped away from the Bellarmine Knights 98-71 in Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday. K-State never trailed in this one, and we saw some things that invoke more…satisfaction…than in the previous game.
The Cats got the start they were missing last time, showing at least a pulse on both ends of the floor as both teams more-or-less traded buckets for the first 8 minutes. The Cats clearly read our recap
from Tuesday’s tilt, as there was a demonstrable focus on establishing a presence in the paint early in this game (we’ll come back to this). Through the first 10 minutes, with the score at 20-12 Cats, 17 of those points were made at the rim (4 by starting big Khamari McGriff) or at the stripe resulting from fouls on point-blank attempts. Rebounding on both ends of the floor was much improved as well – though Bellarmine was just as outsized as UNCG was earlier in the week.
Coming out of the under-12 media timeout in the first half, K-State started to find and hit the outside shot as well, stretching a 13-10 advantage to 28-14, and continued to pull away further later in the half to a 46-28 lead before buzzer sounded with the Cats heading to the locker room, up 46-30. Abdi Bashir was instrumental in that acceleration, hitting 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, and PJ Haggerty added more fuel by cashing in 12 points.
Coming out of the halftime break, there was continued effort to establish an inside presence, with McGriff and Elias Rapieque scoring the first 9 points of the half, growing the lead further to 55-36. However, Bellarmine starting swinging as hard as they could – and landed a few punches, cutting a 19-point deficit down to 10. The Knights’ Jack Karasinski and Michael Wilson were able to get to the rim often and successfully, and some ill-timed turnovers by the purple-and-white suddenly saw a score of 62-52 with about 12 minutes left.
K-State was able to get things righted on the offensive end, and improbable superstar David Castillo tossed in a couple of threes and a layup, stretching the lead back out to 73-58 and quell the short-lived Bellarmine comeback. Eventually, the Knights just ran out of bullets, and the Haggerty-led Cats steadily pulled away, ending the game on a 19-7 run in the last 4:30 to come up just short of the century mark, 98-71.
PJ Haggerty once again led the way for the Cats, with 23 points (5-9, 2-3 3P, 11-12 FT) and 11 assists, with 4 boards for good measure. His game was more noticed tonight, as he was able to get a bucket, a key pass, or a couple of charity attempts every time things seemed to be bogged down offensively. Khamari McGriff (mentioned a couple times) finished with 16 points in 15 minutes (8-8 from the floor), Bashir finished with 15 on 5-9 from beyond the arc with 4 boards and 3 assists. Nate Johnson’s near-miss on a triple-double on Tuesday was followed up with a 9-point, 7-rebound, 4-assist, 2-steal effort. David Castillo – yes, that David Castillo – came off the bench to score 19 points in 12 minutes, on a perfect 7-7 from the floor, including 5-of-5 from long distance.
Bellarmine managed four double-digit scorers, with Michael Wilson Jr. pacing the team with 19, Jack Karasinski 18 (after a 24-point performance against Georgia in their previous tilt), Purdue-transfer Brian Waddell with 11, and Jacob Wassler finished with 10.
Key Takeaways:
1) Much better inside-out balance.
Y’all football fans know the philosophy – gotta get the run game going to open up the passing game. Someone read our recap from Tuesday, in which we lamented just how unbalanced our offense was against UNCG. That game looked like K-State had a rotation of bigs to maybe create just one, and that’s going to be very easy to defend come January and February. Tonight was much different, starting with “the run game” in both halves, and that same cadre of bigs finished tonight with 24 points, 11 boards, 3 blocks. Not perfect, but much better balance between that group and the much-ballyhooed guards.
2) Defense needs some work.
In the second half, the Cats were getting absolutely baked on baseline dribble-drive and backdoor cuts – both of which are still concerning. Bellarmine doesn’t have the athletes to beat our guys that badly that frequently. There’s some fundamentals that need to be worked on. When the ball is below the free throw line extended on the wing, it’s the right strategy (usually) to angle the offensive player toward the baseline. The key is that you have to stay in front of them and use the baseline as a second defender, and not swing a red cape out of the way and shout “Ole!” as they go around you for a layup. A good Big 12 team will absolutely feast on such poor defensive fundamentals.
3) Had a heartbeat for 40 minutes.
Despite the defensive lamentation just above, teams go through dry spells, patches where the other team sees success. But this team showed up for 40 minutes, which is an improvement from the previous effort…or lack thereof.
Old Man Yells At Clouds:
K-State scored 98 points, and of those 98 points, 38 were scored in the paint, 42 from beyond the arc, and 18 from the stripe.
That means of 98 points, we scored exactly zero points on mid-range jumpers. Our scoring chart was analytically perfect, by stylistically, it sucks.
Thanks, I hate it.
NEXT
The Cats take on the California Golden Bears, the historic and vaunted Big Ten stalwart (sorry, still ridiculous), on Thursday, November 13 in Manhattan.
Once again, apologies for the late recap. We’re working out the problem, promise.
