Kansas State’s dream season ends with painful loss to FAU in Elite Eight: Takeaways
Kansas State’s dream basketball season came to an abrupt and painful end with a 79-76 defeat against Florida Atlantic on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
The Wildcats won 26 games and made it further in the NCAA Tournament than just about anyone expected, including first-year head coach Jerome Tang. They gave their fans a thrilling ride. But it came to a stop in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament ... Again.
For the third time in the past 13 years, K-State was denied a trip to the Final Four by a Cinderella team from a mid-major conference.
K-State has not reached the Final Four since 1964. The wait continues.
It seemed like the Wildcats were finally going to break through when they led 63-57 with 8:39 remaining in this game following a Markquis Nowell three-pointer that banked in off the glass. At that point, it seemed like nothing could stop this team or its senior point guard.
But the Owls had other plans and answered with a 15-1 run. Then they took control. Turns out there is a reason they have won a whopping 35 games and keep on winning in March.
Nowell at least went out with a bang and finished with 30 points and 12 assists. But he wasn’t efficient, as he only made 8 of 21 shots. And he was unable to guide K-State to overtime in the final seconds. Instead of attempting a game-tying three on the final possession of the game, he passed to Ismael Massoud and the Wildcats were unable to get up a shot against suffocating defense.
It was a disappointing end to an exhilarating season. But Tang and K-State players held their heads high when the game was over.
“This hurts right now, but I wouldn’t trade these guys for 10 players, 10 others, or 20 others,” Tang said. “I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. So I’m very thankful for the fun and the ride that we’ve had this year.”
Here are some thoughts on the action:
Markquis Nowell makes things happen in new ways
Nowell earned the nickname “King of New York” with his thrilling performance against Michigan State, when he filled up the stat sheet with an NCAA Tournament record 19 assists to go along with 20 points earlier this week.
He did his damage in other ways against the Owls.
Well, kind of.
Nowell still piled up 12 assists in this game, but Florida Atlantic dared him to shoot more than facilitate. He obliged and scored 30 points on 21 attempts. Problem is, he missed 13 shots and was not an efficient offensive player.
He gave FAU players headaches with his speed and outside shooting. Even in the loss, he was the best player on the floor.
But the Owls found a way to frustrate him just enough to get the win.
Vlad Goldin made his presence felt on defense
Florida Atlantic center Vlad Goldin is a 7-foot-1 behemoth who found a way to impact just about every play the Wildcats ran when he was protecting the rim.
Goldin finished the game with 14 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks. His biggest stuff of the night came late in the second half when he blocked Nowell badly on a driving layup attempt. The big man flexed his muscles afterward and let if be known there would be no easy buckets with him on the floor.
Thing is, his presence had already been felt.
In previous games, Nowell had most of his success by attacking the rim off the dribble and then kicking out to open shooters when help defenders came closing in on him. But the Owls didn’t send many help defenders his way with Goldin waiting in the paint as a shot-blocker.
The Wildcats had to adjust to his presence, which led Nowell to attempt more shots than he usually would.
Jerome Tang had to manage foul trouble with Keyontae Johnson
Foul trouble has been a concern for Keyontae Johnson all season, and it was once again a problem for the senior guard against Florida Atlantic.
Johnson picked up a pair of fouls in the first eight minutes of Saturday’s game, and he was relegated to the bench for most of the remainder of the half. He was a spectator for the next 11 minutes of action and only returned to the game for the final few seconds.
K-State struggled to keep pace with Florida Atlantic as its leading scorer watched from the bench and the Owls took a 42-38 lead at the break.
Johnson only played 8 minutes, 16 seconds of the first half. He finished with nine points and two rebounds.
Turned out, his early foul trouble was an omen of things to come. Johnson picked up two more fouls early in the second half and was unable to play as much as he would have liked down the stretch.
Two of his fouls were a bit unlucky and both came at the end of hustle plays when he was trying to corral a loose ball.
Nevertheless, they counted the same as any other foul and Jerome Tang had to make some difficult decisions on how to use one of his star players.
He went on to foul out with several minutes remaining and only saw 18 minutes of action, which put lots of pressure on the Wildcats.
“Keyontae played 18 minutes,” Tang said, “and that’s why he was neutralized.”
Florida Atlantic had a huge advantage on the glass
The biggest stat discrepancy of this game was easy to spot.
Florida Atlantic benefited from a massive rebounding advantage against K-State. The Owls crashed the glass and got 44 rebounds while the Wildcats were only able to corral 22.
That is hard for any team to overcome.
Supporting cast fell short for Wildcats
As good as Nowell was in this entire tournament, he needed more help from his teammates on Saturday.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin was the only other K-State player who reached double figures, as he finished with 14 points. Johnson was in foul trouble and only scored nine points. Desi Sills struggled to get going and only scored nine points. Nobody else on the team scored more than five.
By contrast, Florida Atlantic had a balanced effort that featured four players topping 13 points.
“I want to give FAU a lot of credit,” Tang said. “They did a great job. They were tough. They were together. They made big shots. They won the game.”
The Wildcats needed a more balanced effort to beat a team like the Owls.
This story was originally published March 25, 2023 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Kansas State’s dream season ends with painful loss to FAU in Elite Eight: Takeaways."