HONOLULU | Angel Rodriguez can’t decide whether he began his college career playing scared or shy. But he knows he was doing something wrong during his first few months with the Kansas State basketball team.
Rodriguez, a freshman guard, was known as a fearless player who raised the energy level in every high school game he played in when he came to the Wildcats. Yet, when he was asked a week ago what had kept his playing time low and his contributions minimal, he said he was struggling to show maximum effort at all times the way coach Frank Martin demands.He wasn’t being himself.That changed during a 78-70 victory over Texas-El Paso on Friday in the semifinal round of the Diamond Head Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.“I was never scared today,” Rodriguez said. “I wasn’t shy at all. I was just playing the game. I was playing happy.”The Wildcats can be thankful for that. Without Rodriguez coming through with his third-straight strong game — he led all scorers with 16 points in 29 minutes against the Miners — K-State wouldn’t be headed to the tournament’s championship game at 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The Wildcats will play the winner of Friday’s game between Long Beach State and Auburn.Without Rodriguez the Wildcats, 9-1, would have blown a 45-32 halftime lead and spent the next two days searching for answers.That’s how valuable he was against UTEP, 5-6.“Angel is only a freshman now,” said senior forward Jamar Samuels, who had 10 points to go with 12 rebounds, “and I’m scared to think what he could look like as a junior or a senior.”K-State hopes he looks like an older version of the player who led the team Friday. Rodriguez gave the Wildcats a much-needed spark in the second half when the Miners made a serious run at derailing their tournament championship hopes.When the Miners came erased a 13-point halftime deficit and took a 59-57 lead on a driving basket by John Bohannon midway through the second half, Rodriguez demanded the ball. He quickly took it up court and sank a three-pointer in transition the moment he was open.That put K-State ahead 60-59, and it would never trail again.It took confidence to take such a shot so early into a possession at a critical point in the game, but Rodriguez showed no fear.“I was just feeling it,” Rodriguez said. “In the game, when you’re feeling it …”“That’s who he is,” Martin added. “He’s not scared. He wants to be in that moment. He enjoys that moment.”K-State reeled off a 14-1 run for a 71-60 lead and held on for the victory. The impressive run ended with a nifty pass from Rodriguez to Jordan Henriquez, which turned into an alley-oop dunk.“Angel hit a big shot for us,” Samuels said. “After that I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s get this run started.’ ”Just like that, the game was in hand and the few hundred K-State fans in attendance began celebrating victory. The Wildcats made a statement with such a quick change in momentum.“In a moment of duress, with freshmen on the court we didn’t lose our minds,” Martin said. “We ran offense, made good decisions and finally executed on defense.”K-State also once again got quality contributions from its bench. The Wildcats’ reserves scored 42 points, with Jeremy Jones, Jordan Henriquez and Adrian Diaz all finishing with eight points. And a lineup of five backups lifted K-State in the first half. Will Spradling scored 11 points as a starter.They all played meaningful roles in this victory, and will once again be asked to contribute while playing their third game in four days on Sunday.If Rodriguez can continue playing the way he did against UTEP, that task will become much easier. Unlike a week ago, when he was trying to figure out how to stay on the court, he doesn’t think that will be a problem.“I gained a little bit of confidence, and every day in practice and in games it keeps growing and growing and growing,” Rodriguez said. “Finally, today I felt like I was playing how I play. Before, I didn’t have much confidence. I felt kind of stuck, scared to take a shot, scared to make a pass, scared to make a mistake. But as time went on my confidence grew a lot.”
Sunday’s game
•WHO: Kansas State vs. winner of Friday’s late game between Long Beach State and Auburn.•WHAT: Diamond Head Classic championship game.•WHEN/WHERE: 8:30 p.m. Sunday in Honolulu.•TV: ESPN2
•WHO: Kansas State vs. winner of Friday’s late game between Long Beach State and Auburn.•WHAT: Diamond Head Classic championship game.•WHEN/WHERE: 8:30 p.m. Sunday in Honolulu.•TV: ESPN2
