Three things we learned from Kansas State’s 72-64 loss against Illinois in Kansas City
There was a moment during the consolation game of the Hall of Fame Classic on Tuesday when it looked like Kansas State was poised to pull off a signature victory against No. 14 Illinois.
K-State center Kaosi Ezeagu threw down a dunk that gave the Wildcats a lead at the beginning of the second half, and T-Mobile Center sounded an awful lot like Bramlage Coliseum.
But K-State was unable to sustain that momentum and ended up losing 72-64. It was the team’s second defeat by that exact score against a ranked opponent in the past two days.
The Wildcats led 37-34 when Ezeagu fired up the crowd with his dunk. They continued to hold the lead in a back-and-forth game when Ismael Massoud drained a three-pointer a few minutes later. But Illinois pulled away by scoring nine straight points.
Things were no longer close afterward.
Brad Underwood, the man who formerly played and coached for the Wildcats, got to celebrate a win against his alma mater. Bruce Weber lost an emotional game against his former employer.
“We battled,” Weber said. “But we didn’t come here to battle ... It’s disappointing. I still believe we’re a good team. I have got to keep them believing that. We have got to take a step. We have got to get better in these next couple of games.”
Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn led the way for the Illini with an efficient performance that featured 23 points on 10 shots. The Wildcats were no match for him. But Alfonso Plummer also came up big with 21 points by draining seven three-pointers.
Markquis Nowell led K-State with a strong individual performance. He scored a team-high 19 points and also managed to grab six rebounds. His energy was a problem for Illinois (3-2). Nijel Pack also had a nice game for K-State and finished with 15 points, but the Wildcats needed more.
K-State (2-2) will head home without a victory at this tournament. It will next play North Dakota on Sunday in Manhattan.
Here are some thoughts on K-State’s second loss of the season:
Wildcats a work in progress after four games
It’s hard to know exactly what to think about the K-State men’s basketball team after its first four games.
But Weber gave it a shot and graded the Wildcats’ performance in Kansas City.
“It’s a C-plus,” Weber said. “You didn’t win either game and we’re capable of doing that. They have got to realize how tough it is against those tougher teams and to be a little more patient and be a little tougher.”
That seems about right. The Wildcats clearly look improved compared to last year, when they sputtered to just nine victories. They wouldn’t have won their first two home games by double digits or competed against strong opponents like Arkansas and Illinois in Kansas City if they were a bad team.
But they still have steps to take before they realistically expect to climb up the Big 12 standings or challenge for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“These are two top 25 teams and we were right there with them,” Ismael Massoud said. “We had a chance to win both games. It’s early in the season. We’re still figuring each other out. But at the same time, we just have to watch the film and continue to learn from it and try and get better each day in practice. We’re getting better.”
K-State entered this season with higher expectations than most may think. The Wildcats can still achieve them if they can build off the positives they have shown thus far. There is no shame to losing games to Arkansas and Illinois on a neutral court. And they have lots of games in front of them. But their early results have been the definition of average.
All of K-State’s main contributors have flashed potential, but few of them have been consistent from one game to the next. Senior guard Mike McGuirl was a no-show in the first two games. Selton Miguel went scoreless against Illinois.
Davion Bradford and Ezeagu were also mostly quiet on Tuesday inside.
Evening out those efforts will likely dictate how the rest of the season goes.
K-State was no match for Kofi Cockburn
Illinois had a big advantage inside when it got the ball to Cockburn.
Bradford and Ezeagu encountered foul trouble while trying defend the 7-foot star center, which led to freshman forward Logan Landers spending 10 important minutes on the floor.
Landers is a skilled offensive player who can move up and down the court much faster than K-State’s other centers. But he has a long way to go on defense, and it showed whenever he matched up against Cockburn.
Illinois outscored the Wildcats by 12 when he was on the court. That was a major difference in the game.
Weber probably would have been better served keeping Ezeagu and Bradford on the floor despite foul trouble. In any case, the Wildcats will need a better plan against skilled post players in future games.
They also need to play better against three-point shooters. Weber was most irritated that K-State allowed Plummer to make seven shots from beyond the arc.
Markquis Nowell a spark plug for K-State
The Arkansas-Little Rock transfer did a little bit of everything for the Wildcats.
He scored a team-high 19 points on 15 shots, he grabbed six rebounds and he got his teammates involved with lots of nice passes and energetic play.
Weber has noted that when Nowell and Pack are both playing well in the same lineup, K-State is difficult to defend. That was apparent in this game, as Pack had 15 points.
Nowell is loaded with talent and can help K-State in most games. He just needs to learn to play under control in Weber’s system. He showed improvement in that area on Tuesday and only committed one turnover.
Underwood said he was better than he expected.
“He made some hard shots,” Underwood said. “He was very impactful.”
The Wildcats were under control all night on offense and only lost three turnovers as a team. That helped them challenge Illinois until the final moments.
But Nowell is striving for much more.
“The offense is really stagnant right now,” he said. “We’re not executing at a very high level, but this Game 4 of the season. So we’re not too depressed or mad about how things are going. It’s going to come. We’re going to start flowing and figuring things out.”
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Three things we learned from Kansas State’s 72-64 loss against Illinois in Kansas City."