Freshman point guard Kamau Stokes steps up for K-State

Bruce Weber used the same starting lineup for Kansas State’s first 17 games. Then he made a surprising switch at point guard, sending freshman Kamau Stokes to the bench when the Wildcats traveled to Baylor last week.

The move was made for a simple reason: Weber wanted to send Stokes a message.

Initially, it was difficult to understand what exactly that message was. But now that Stokes responded with a 20-point effort against Baylor and a 13-point game against Oklahoma State in which he smothered star guard Jawun Evans, player and coach are happy to explain.

“Not only was he a winner coming out of high school, Kamau was a gym rat,” Weber said. “He got away from that a little bit.”

K-State coaches used a full-court press to increase Stokes’ practice routine. Weber told him to spend more time in the gym, and assistants urged him to stay late and put in extra work. And just in case that wasn’t enough, Stokes’ parents also got involved.

They demanded Stokes check in daily via FaceTime from inside K-State’s practice facility. They wanted visual evidence of his practice schedule.

“His dad might be on him more than us,” Weber said. “That is good, supportive parenting from his family.”

The methods worked. Since his benching, Stokes has regained his form and emerged as one of K-State’s top players. His 20 points against Baylor included two clutch free throws that sent the game to overtime. His defense against Oklahoma State neutralized the Cowboys’ best player, helping the Wildcat get their first blowout victory in the Big 12 this season.

Stokes has also moved back into the starting lineup, and he appears there to stay heading into tonight’s game at No. 9 West Virginia.

“There was never any pressure,” Stokes said. “It’s all about playing with confidence.”

His teammates expected him to bounce back.

“He is being very coachable,” senior guard Justin Edwards said. “Usually when people have a really good game like that they might get an ego, but Kamau, no, he listens to us. He always takes things positively. That is good for a young point guard.”

K-State has been at its best when Stokes has played well. The Wildcats nearly upset No. 2 North Carolina when he scored a career-high 24 points, and flattened Texas Tech when he scored 17. But they lost at Texas when he was held scoreless and barely competed against No. 1 Oklahoma when he finished with five points.

When he delivers on defense, K-State is even better.

“It all comes down to just finishing and getting stops when they are needed,” Stokes said. “That’s pretty much it. We are pretty much in all of our games all the way until the end, the last 5 minutes. We just need to get stops.”

Stokes, a Baltimore native, was a late addition to K-State’s 2015 recruiting class. He chose the Wildcats because he wanted to play early and help the team rebuild after a tumultuous season.

A brief benching appears to have him back on track.

“Kamau’s energy on defense was where it needed to be,” Weber said of the last two games. “That was the whole thing of it. He responded against Baylor and then again the other day against Evans, who has been as hot as anybody and played as well as anybody in the league. But, like our whole team, now do we take a step forward or take a step back? We will see if that determination is there over the next couple of weeks.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Freshman point guard Kamau Stokes steps up for K-State."