Bruce Weber finds elusive shooting star in K-State freshman guard Nijel Pack
A funny thing happened during Kansas State’s last men’s basketball game.
When Nijel Pack put up a contested three-pointer and the ball clanged off the rim instead of swooshing through the net, everyone on the Wildcats’ bench appeared stunned.
“When he misses,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said, “we are all like, ‘What’s wrong?’ He’s not supposed to do that.”
To say Pack is the best outside shooter Weber has recruited during his time in Manhattan might not be an overstatement. The freshman guard is off to a scintillating start from beyond the arc, making 10 of 17 (or 58.8%) three-pointers in his first three games with the Wildcats.
That’s obviously a small sample size, but he has an effortless shooting motion. It won’t be a surprise if he sets a new high mark for three-point shooting percentage under Weber, especially from a guard. Dean Wade currently holds the honor for making 44% of his outside shots as a junior.
Otherwise, three-point shooting has rarely been a strength for the Wildcats.
“It’s a great start,” Pack said. “Nowhere near done with what I want to accomplish in college. I feel like we’ve got some things we can work on and I feel like I have some things I can improve on individually, but it’s a great start.”
The most encouraging about Pack is that he is more than just a three-point shooter. He is also K-State’s starting point guard and a solid distributor. He turned heads in his first college game by dishing out five assists and losing just one turnover.
He is currently averaging 11.7 points, three assists and three rebounds.
“I just had to come in with some confidence and know that i am a good player,” Pack said. “My teammates and coaches have been encouraging me to play the way I know how to play and it makes the game feel like practice. I have been going so hard at practice that it makes the games feel like practice as well.”
Little is expected from K-State this season. The Wildcats were picked to finish last in the preseason Big 12 poll and their only win thus far came against UMKC ... by four points. But Pack seems like a genuine bright spot, for now and in the future.
“He can shoot, but then he can pass at the same time,” K-State sophomore DaJuan Gordon said. “He can really score, but he can really pass, too. As long as you kick it ahead to him, he will find the next guy who is open.”
K-State coaches were confident they uncovered a gem on the recruiting trail when Pack orally committed to the Wildcats following a summer visit before his senior year of high school. The Indianapolis native later put up impressive numbers on the AAU circuit and attracted extra attention as a four-star recruit, but he remained loyal to K-State.
Weber has compared Pack to former K-State point guard Kamau Stokes, who helped the Wildcats reach the Elite Eight and share a Big 12 championship. Initially, it felt perhaps too optimistic to expect that kind of production out of Pack. But now that he is proving himself at the college level, Weber says Pack is “a little ahead” of where Stokes was as a freshman.
So what was it that Weber saw in Pack before most other coaches?
“I was at Purdue for 18 years and at Illinois for a long time,” Weber said. “There is something about Indiana high school basketball, the fundamentals and the feel of the game is special. Nijel is that typical kid that grew up in Indiana. He can shoot the ball, has great fundamentals and knows the game.”
That background has made the game move slower for Pack than most freshmen.
And defenders have to respect his shot.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Bruce Weber finds elusive shooting star in K-State freshman guard Nijel Pack."