Without Nijel Pack, Kansas State’s winning streak comes to an end at West Virginia
Here’s the main thing you need to know about Kansas State’s 65-43 loss against West Virginia on Saturday at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia: Nijel Pack was unable to play because of an eye infection.
The Wildcats have performed miserably without their starting point guard this season, and that was once again the case in this game.
K-State is now 0-5 without Pack in the lineup, losing those five matchups by an average of 20.2 points.
“We don’t have other ball-handlers and passers,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “He’s one of the leaders in our league, and it’s an unbelievable league with great guards. He’s the one who can make some shots. That is probably the biggest difference. I have had to reinvent our offense probably at least six times, if not more, during the season, because of different situations. It’s just hard.”
For a while, it seemed like K-State (7-19, 3-14 Big 12) might be able to challenge the No. 10 Mountaineers (17-6, 10-4 Big 12) without their leading scorer thanks to an energetic effort that featured lots of rebounding and defense. The Wildcats stayed within a single possession for most of the first half and only trailed 26-22 at halftime. But the Wildcats were never able to find anything close to an offensive groove as Pack watched from behind the bench in street clothes with sunglasses covering his eyes.
The Wildcats only made 29% of their shots (15 of 51) and turned the ball over 18 times against Bob Huggins’ pressure defense.
Eventually, West Virginia predictably pulled away after halftime and K-State’s two-game winning streak was snapped.
Would things have been any different with Pack, who was averaging 12.1 points, 3.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds, in the lineup? That’s the only thing K-State players wondered about afterward.
“It’s really tough for him that he wasn’t allowed to play, obviously for us too,” K-State senior Mike McGuirl said. “He’s been doing so well, and it’s so big for us. It’s unfortunate for him, but stuff like that has happened to us all year. Obviously, Nijel is a big part of our team, but we still felt we had a chance to get that game. We didn’t do what we needed to do.”
Davion Bradord provided an inside presence on his way to 11 points and six rebounds. But he didn’t receive much help on the offensive end of the court. Mike McGuirl reached double figures with 10 points, but he needed 11 shots to score them. No other K-State player scored more than six points.
West Virginia began to pull away at the start of the second half when the Mountaineers opened the period with seven straight points while the Wildcats committed four fouls. K-State played hard enough to remain within 10 points until about midway through the second half, but it faded down the stretch.
“You have got to bounce back when you lose a man,” Bradford said. “You stand up and fight. That’s what mostly our mindset was when we heard Nijel was going to be out.”
Improved defense has been K-State’s calling card of late. The Wildcats had held three straight opponents below 60 points heading into this game, which allowed them to win consecutive games against TCU and Oklahoma. But their defense wasn’t quite as strong against the high-scoring Mountaineers, though it was their lowest-scoring game against a conference opponent this season.
Sean McNeil led the way for West Virginia with a game-high 16 points, and Derek Culver added 11 points and six rebounds.
K-State will try to bounce back in its next game against Iowa State in the regular-season finale. If Pack returns to practice in the next few days, as expected, the Wildcats should be home favorites in that game. If not, well, the Wildcats will have to use Saturday’s loss as a learning experience.
This story was originally published February 27, 2021 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Without Nijel Pack, Kansas State’s winning streak comes to an end at West Virginia."