Three things we learned from K-State’s basketball loss to Arkansas in Kansas City
The Kansas State men’s basketball team failed its first true test of the season and lost 72-64 to Arkansas on Monday on the opening night of the Hall of Fame Classic at T-Mobile Center.
The No. 16 Razorbacks jumped out to an 18-point lead and never trailed. They were clearly the better team.
But K-State showed resolve as the game went on. The Wildcats chipped away at that large deficit and pulled to within six in the second half. Their best hope of victory came on a deep-three pointer from Markquis Nowell that made the score 60-52 with 4:32 remaining. That play brought the purple-clad fans in the building to their feet. For a few moments, a comeback seemed within reach.
But the Wildcats shot poorly from the outside all night and that didn’t change down the stretch. The Razorbacks (4-0) made enough plays to secure the victory and hand the Wildcats (2-1) their first loss of the season after they began the year with easy victories over Florida A&M and Omaha.
Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack led all K-State scorers by each scoring 14 points. Five different Arkansas players reached double figures.
The Wildcats will play their next game against Illinois at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the consolation game of this tournament. Arkansas will play Cincinnati, which beat the Illini 71-51, for the title in the following game.
Here are some key takeaways from K-State’s first loss of the season:
Poor outside shooting dooms Wildcats
K-State entered this game shooting well from the three-point line. The Wildcats made nine three-pointers in each of their first two games and surprisingly looked like one of the better outside shooting teams in the nation.
That seemed to be an advantage for them against the Razorbacks, who have struggled mightily against three-point shooting on defense. They were allowing opponents to make more than 43% of their outside shots before Monday.
Maybe K-State could bomb away against Arkansas and win an exciting, high-octane affair. At least that seemed like a possibility on paper.
Things didn’t play out that way, though. The Wildcats missed all 10 of their three-pointers in the first half and only made three of 12 in the second half.
“It was just a bad night for us for three-point line,” Pack said. “It’s going to happen. There are going to be games when we struggle for the three-point line. We have just got to learn to adjust quicker. That’s what ended up being our problem tonight.”
Ismael Massoud missed all five of his attempts and Pack was only one for six. But nobody on the K-State roster made more than one trey.
Both teams were 3 of 22 on three-pointers, which was a big reason why the final score got close. But K-State could have made things much more interesting with even an average day from the three-point line.
“A couple of them were rushed,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “They closed out on us on some of them. We had three or four open ones that we didn’t make. Even Nijel down the stretch out of a timeout we ran a little corner play for him and he had a pretty good look. They shot three for 22 also. It’s ironic. It’s a real intense game, very physical game. Sometimes it’s hard to play that way and shoot the ball relaxed like you need to.”
K-State shows fight in second half
The first half was discouraging in just about every way for the Wildcats, but they did some nice things in the second half.
Best of all, they showed fight while cutting an 18-point lead all the way down to six.
Selton Miguel deserves a lot of credit for pushing K-State even as it faced a big deficit. He scored a team-high 14 points and showed a lot of emotion on both sides of the court. At one point, he suffered a minor injury and was limping up and down the court. But that didn’t stop him from playing his hardest when he had the ball.
“If we had a little bit more time,” Miguel said, “the game would have ended differently.”
Pack also had a strong second half.
A blowout loss would not have looked good for K-State and made it hard for the Wildcats to convince anyone they are an improved team this season. But they played well enough to compete with a top-20 team in the second half. That is something they can build on moving forward.
Mike McGuirl played his best game of the season
He only scored nine points, but that qualifies as a step in the right direction for Mike McGuirl.
The “super senior” guard scored a grand total of three points in hist first two games and was removed from the starting lineup. Perhaps he can move back into the starting five after finding the bottom of the net on this night.
He also had four assists and three rebounds.
Getting him back on track was a top priority for Weber. Perhaps a game like this will boost his confidence.
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Three things we learned from K-State’s basketball loss to Arkansas in Kansas City."