Kansas State Wildcats have new approach for handling success in roller-coaster season
Mark Smith was all smiles as he walked off the floor following a 75-63 victory against TCU on Saturday at Schollmaier Arena.
The senior guard danced with teammates and waved at the small contingent of Kansas State basketball fans in attendance. He celebrated because few saw this coming.
At this time last week, the Wildcats were on a three-game losing streak with little hope of reaching the postseason. Now, they have won back-to-back conference games and have moved up to sixth in the league standings. Perhaps it’s not too late for them to return to the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation after all.
Still, Smith kept his celebration short. The last time K-State got excited about a Big 12 winning streak, things went south in a hurry. This time, he wants the Wildcats to have staying power.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Smith said shortly after scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. “We need to go into practices everyday just thinking about growing and getting better. That’s really the recipe for us. That’s when we succeed and it’s really fun to play. It’s been a fun week and I’m really excited to see where we can go from here, but we have to take it one game at a time.”
K-State has been here before.
Many left Bruce Weber’s team for dead when it started conference play with four consecutive losses. But the Wildcats bounced back with impressive victories over Texas Tech and Texas. Things were suddenly looking up.
It didn’t last. K-State blew a 17-point lead against Kansas in its next game and then followed that up with blowout losses to Baylor and Mississippi. Once again, many gave up on the Wildcats only for them to respond with a pair of impressive victories.
What is it going to take to build off that momentum?
K-State sophomore guard Nijel Pack pondered the question for a few moments Saturday night before explaining why the Wildcats have already figured out the answer. If they keep playing the way they did against the Horned, with four players scoring in double figures and everyone diving for loose balls, he thinks they will be just fine.
“We got into a little slump,” Pack said. “It happens in basketball. We needed that, some humble pie for us, just to get us back on track and back to the details. We are getting back to practicing hard, going hard and getting really locked in for games. When we are really locked in we are really talented and really tough to beat.”
K-State will need to be at its best to keep its current winning streak going.
The Wildcats host No. 8 Baylor on Wednesday and then head to No. 20 Iowa State on Saturday. A pair of wins, or even a split, would dramatically boost their chances of finishing with a winning record. Two losses would continue the roller coaster.
That’s why K-State players kept their celebrations short after the TCU game. They want to handle success this time around.
“We just have to be the same us,” K-State senior Mike McGuirl said. “We have to be the same K-State at practice. We probably let it get to our heads a little bit after those first two wins and then we got away from team ball. It started with myself. Then it was everybody. This time I think we are going to keep our focus and move forward.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2022 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Kansas State Wildcats have new approach for handling success in roller-coaster season."