Five takeaways from Kansas State’s season-opening basketball victory over UTRGV
The Jerome Tang era began with a bang for the Kansas State men’s basketball team.
The Wildcats won their season opener with ease against Texas-Rio Grande Valley, 93-59, in front of a rowdy crowd on Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.
Markquis Nowell and Nae’Qwan Tomlin led K-State with 14 points each, but the Wildcats had no shortage of contributors. Nine different players scored, with six of them reaching double figures in a game that was over by halftime.
K-State will look to keep winning when it returns to the court on Friday for its first road game of the season at California.
Until then, here are some takeaways from the victory over UTRGV:
When K-State is clicking on offense, watch out
The Wildcats flashed their potential during an impressive stretch of action in the first half.
Florida transfer Keyontae Johnson drained three-pointers, Tykei Greene drove the baseline for a thunderous dunk and Markquis Nowell found Nae’Qwan Tomlin under the basket with a jaw-dropping behind-the-back assist, which Tomlin turned into a crowd-pleasing slam.
K-State was off to the races, and there wasn’t a thing the Vaqueros could do about it.
“We showed what we are capable of doing,” Johnson said. ”I feel like we still have a lot more that we could have done, but that was a glimpse of what we could do. We just gotta stay together and just keep playing together as a team. We had a lot of guys in double digits. On any given night, anybody can score.”
There isn’t much to nitpick about the Wildcats when they are firing on all cylinders offensively. Tang built this roster to fit the Baylor mold with lots of tall, athletic basketball players who zoom up and down the court, crash the boards and defend. It already seems like you can count on K-State to bring it in those areas every single night. But much less is certain when it comes to scoring.
Nowell is the only truly dependable outside shooter on the team, and Johnson is the only player who could be described as a “bucket getter.” Overall, the team is turnover prone.
For those reasons, the Wildcats struggle at times when they are forced to run halfcourt offense. But their length and athleticism take over when they get out in transition.
For a brief few minutes on Monday offense wasn’t an issue. It actually looked like a strength. Granted, those high-flying plays came against one of the worst teams in all of college basketball, so let’s not go expecting 100 points every night. But it did show what the Wildcats are capable of.
Tang wants more of that in the future.
“The game is 40 minutes long and I felt we only played about 17 minutes at the intensity level and focus that we need in order to win Big 12 games, much less Big 12 road games. So our goal now is to stretch that 17 to 25 and to 35.”
Markquis Nowell seems more under control this season
There is a reason why Nowell had a perfect night from three-point range, making all three of his outside shots against the Vaqueros. He squared his shoulders before every attempt and fired away with perfect form.
That is a change from last season, when he occasionally tried to drain off-balance shots from the halfcourt logo. He seems more under control now, finishing the opener with 14 points and seven assists.
There are likely a few reasons for this. Tang has lifted some of the offensive burden off his shoulders compared to last year, and he is now free to focus more on distributing the ball to his teammates and only shoot from the outside when he is truly open and in good position to score. He has also clearly matured as a point guard under a new coaching staff.
“I put in a lot of work this summer,” Nowell said. “I didn’t really have many days off. I would just go into the gym and I worked tirelessly on my shot, my play making and being under control.”
Whatever the case, he seems poised for a much improved season.
Depth will be an advantage for the Wildcats
There isn’t much of a drop off when Tang dips into his bench — at least not against teams like Washburn and UTRGV. K-State used a 10-man rotation on Monday and got a whopping 41 points from its bench.
Abayomi Iyiola led all reserves with 12 points, followed by 10 apiece from Ismael Massoud and Desi Sills.
If the Wildcats continue to get solid production off the bench they will be able to play as hard as they want on defense without fear of bringing subpar players onto the court as replacements.
“Some teams, they sub and they they stay the same or drop off,” Tang said. “I feel like when we sub we can get better.”
Three redshirt players
A trio of K-State basketball players weren’t in uniform for this game.
Freshman forward Taj Manning, sophomore guard Anthony Thomas and LSU transfer Jerrell Colbert all watched from the bench in street clothes. Tang is asking all three of them to sit out this season with a redshirt.
Tang previously said he was considering a redshirt for Manning and potentially a few other players because he thought they could benefit from a developmental year and help K-State in the future.
Freshman guard Dorian Finister played, so he will not be redshirting this season.
Sitting Colbert was a bit of a surprise. The former four-star recruit looked terrific in limited minutes during an exhibition game against Washburn last week.
The Octagon of Doom is back?
The atmosphere inside Bramlage Coliseum was much better than fans grew accustomed to during the final years of the Bruce Weber era.
It was loud at tip off and the crowd was borderline electric in the first half, as the Wildcats raced to a 52-26 lead with Nowell, Tomlin and Greene all delivering highlight plays on offense.
It’s clear that Tang has already won over K-State students, as they showed up in big numbers to support the Wildcats in their opening game. There were plenty of empty seats in the arena, but the student section was packed.
The addition of a DJ was also notable, as music during timeouts kept the crowd lively even when nothing was happening on the court.
If that is the kind of fan support that K-State gets against an opponent that was picked to finish last in the WAC this season, maybe it’s time to start calling the Wildcats’ home arena The Octagon of Doom again. One can assume it will only get louder when Big 12 teams come to town later in the season.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Five takeaways from Kansas State’s season-opening basketball victory over UTRGV."