West Virginia loss shines light on Kansas State’s biggest roster weakness
How does a college basketball team win games when it struggles to make shots?
That’s a question Kansas State coach Bruce Weber has been forced to ponder too many times this season. The Wildcats are not a skilled offensive team, and when they have off days like the one they experienced during a 66-57 loss against West Virginia on Saturday at WVU Coliseum, victory can feel impossible.
K-State went 3 of 17 from three-point range against the No. 12 Mountaineers (17-4, 5-3 Big 12), and, well, you probably don’t need to know much more than that to figure out how the Wildcats (9-12, 2-6) fell another game below .500.
“There really aren’t any excuses,” junior guard David Sloan said. “The ball wasn’t falling for us.”
Xavier Sneed attempted seven outside shots and missed them all. Mike McGuirl tried three shots from the perimeter and also came up empty. DaJuan Gordon and David Sloan couldn’t knock one down, either.
Cartier Diarra led the way with a pair of three-pointers on four attempts and Montavious Murphy went 1 for 1. But neither of them scored more than eight points. Scoring is never K-State’s forte, but this was a particularly feeble effort.
Add it all up, and the Wildcats shot 17.6 percent from behind the arc.
West Virginia wasn’t much better, going 6 of 19 from deep, but it was good enough to fend off a cold opponent.
“I guess that is the low of the (three-pointers) for us,” Weber said. “It makes it tough. That is why we probably beat them at our place. We made those shots and spread out the defense. Now we have got them spread out and chasing us. It makes it tough. We still outscored them points in the paint, which is not very easy to do. We did some good things, but we need to just be a little bit better, everybody, if we are going to have a chance.”
Here’s the thing: There are always going to be days like this for K-State with its current roster. Weber didn’t value shooting enough when he recruited these players, and it’s starting to show.
The Wildcats only made four three-pointers in an early game against Bradley and never light it up from the outside. Sneed, for example, only made 2 field goals on 13 attempts against West Virginia. But that wasn’t anything new. He went 5 for 13 last time out against Oklahoma and 4 for 16 at Alabama.
He is in a slump.
“He has got to take a deep breath,” Weber said. “I keep telling him to enjoy your last year of college. It’s tough on seniors with high expectations. He wants it so bad that he almost overdoes it. The only way I know for shooting is to get into the gym.”
Diarra could join him, as he is also one of the least efficient scorers in the Big 12.
Bad shooting is an unfortunate trait for this team. K-State averages 32.5 percent from three, 47.4 percent from two and 65.7 percent from the free-throw line. None of those numbers rank in the top 200 nationally.
That is unlikely to change until next season when heralded incoming recruits Nijel Pack, Luke Kasubke and Selton Miguel arrive on campus.
Weber specifically targeted Kasubke for his shooting ability, Miguel has eclipsed 30 points for his high school team and Pack can knock down outside shots on top of his skills as a point guard.
There is hope future K-State teams will be able to avoid cold-shooting games, but it’s a reality this group will need to live with for the rest of the season.
When Saturday’s game was all over, Sloan said K-State’s shooting struggles went beyond the obvious. Players had trouble adjusting to the specific type of ball that West Virginia uses for home games. The Wildcats, he said, are used to shooting with Nike balls. But the Mountaineers use Spalding balls. The texture is different. Sloan even said he thought the West Virginia’s balls were a tiny bit smaller.
Still, he thought K-State should have played better.
“We competed, they just played harder and had that home advantage,” Sloan said. “We could have gotten in transition more and taken what the defense gave us. We could have gotten some easy baskets like layups. If we do that, then the shots from beyond the arc will come. We just can’t force threes.”
Murphy swished his only attempt. Perhaps he should have been more aggressive.
“I am just trying to be more confident in my shot,” Murphy said. “When I see it, I need to take it. My three-point percentage looks bad, but when they back off and let me have that shot I need to step into it and make it.”
When K-State has good shooting nights, the Wildcats have shown they are capable of beating teams like West Virginia and Oklahoma on their home court. But when they have bad shooting nights, they can lose to just about anyone outside of Manhattan.
With this team, bad shooting nights are inevitable.
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 6:02 PM with the headline "West Virginia loss shines light on Kansas State’s biggest roster weakness."