Five takeaways from the K-State Wildcats’ basketball victory over the California Bears
The Kansas State men’s basketball team remained perfect under new coach Jerome Tang with a 63-54 victory over the Cal Golden Bears on Friday at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, California.
The Wildcats flexed their muscles early and led by as many as 20. But then Cal pulled to within one point in the second half and K-State had to hang on to win its first road game of the season.
Keyontae Johnson led K-State with 16 points, Markquis Nowell added 13 and Nae’Qwan Tomlin chipped in 11. It was a strong all-around effort that allowed the Wildcats to improve to 2-0. They will try to keep their winning ways going when they return to the court against Kansas City on Thursday back home inside Bramlage Coliseum.
Until then, here are some key takeaways on the action from Friday’s game:
The Wildcats responded well when faced with adversity
K-State was in danger of letting this game slip away in the second half. After surging ahead by as many as 20 points early in the second half, the Wildcats went cold on offense and the Bears clawed their way back in the game.
The Bears pulled as close as 47-46 with 5:37 remaining in the second half.
For the first time since Tang took over as a coach, the Wildcats were being challenged. How would they respond? Good enough to win.
Markquis Nowell hit a three-pointer while being fouled on the next possession, and that loosened up some things for the Wildcats on offense. He turned that triple into a four-point play by making the ensuing free throw and then hit a driving layup on the next possession. After that, Nowell came up with a steal and sent a full-court pass to Nae’Qwan Tomlin for a transition bucket that gave the Wildcats a 55-46 lead — and some much-needed breathing room.
K-State responded well to adversity several times in this game. When Cal took an early 9-6 lead, Ismael Massoud immediately tied things up with a three-pointer. Early in the second half, when Cal tried to start its comeback, Keyontae Johnson made some important baskets off the dribble. And Nowell came through in the clutch.
Winning on the road is never easy, even against an opponent that lost its first game at home to UC-Davis. Those were encouraging signs for a team that will likely be in many close games later on this season.
Jerome Tang’s half-court offense needs some work
The Wildcats can really score when they get out in transition and can attack defenses before they get set. But, boy, they really struggle when the defense is in position and K-State is forced to run sets.
K-State scored 19 points in transition against Cal and added nine more on second-chance points. Many of the other 63 points they scored were hard fought.
That was most apparent in the second half when K-State was forced to play almost exclusively out of the half court while Cal was getting buckets and chopping away at the Wildcats’ lead. K-State players seemed lost and often turned the ball over.
Shooting was also an issue. K-State shot 37% from the field and 26% from three-point range.
Those are all things this team will need to improve before it plays stronger competition.
Another jaw-dropping assist from Markquis Nowell
K-State point guard Nowell already has two highlight passes to his name this season.
For the second straight game, Nowell sent a behind-the-back assist to Nae’Qwan Tomlin for a transition dunk that was shared rapidly on social media.
Nowell wasn’t exactly known for his passing last season. But that may change now that he is playing for Tang.
Keyontae Johnson takes over alpha role
The Florida transfer didn’t shy away from the moment when K-State needed him to make big plays in this game. When things weren’t going well for the Wildcats, Johnson asked for the ball and usually made things happen, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.
He seems to be establishing himself already as K-State’s go-to player, even though Nowell also made several big plays against the Bears.
Pac-12 Network gave us some humorous errors
K-State fans with access to Pac-12 Network got a few laughs at the channel’s expense during the first half of the broadcast.
The network made a few humorous errors while trying to identify Jerome Tang on the bench. Right before opening tip they panned to a close up of K-State director of basketball strategies Kevin Sutton and identified him as Tang ... kind of. The name underneath Sutton read “Jerome Yang.”
Pac-12 Network quickly identified the spelling error and fixed that moving forward, but continued to pan to Sutton after big plays. The camera crew was clearly unaware of what Tang looked like. It wasn’t until late in the first half that the cameras began correctly focusing on Tang.
You would never see that on an ESPN broadcast.
Oh well. That will probably be the last time we see K-State play on Pac-12 Network for a while. At least it gave viewers a few laughs.
This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 8:32 PM with the headline "Five takeaways from the K-State Wildcats’ basketball victory over the California Bears."