Defense supposedly travels. It sure didn’t tonight.
K-State yielded 50 points to Iowa in the first half and never quite found the defense it needed to catch up in its 91-82 loss to Iowa in the NIT first round Tuesday night.
With the loss the season comes to an end for the Wildcats, who finish the season at 19-15. We might have guessed this one would go poorly when the bracket was release. K-State’s road record was a ghastly 2-9. The Cats go home while Iowa (19-14) marches on.
The Cats kept it close early but never held the lead. Iowa’s margin never got larger than 13, and K-State was within four, 74-70, with 7:09 remaining. But a 7-0 Iowa run put Iowa ahead by 11, and after the run, the Wildcats never threatened.
If you are looking for bright spots in the detritus (as we have too often done, of late) there is this: Freshman guard Dai Dai Ames shot 6-8, including 4-5 from three-point range, and led K-State in scoring with 16 points. He also had 5 assists against only 2 turnovers. As a team, K-State surrendered the ball 13 times. Too many, though better than lots of nights this year.
Will McNair Jr. was his usual, efficient self, scoring 15 on 7-10, and he was co-leader with 7 rebounds. Too bad his eligibility is up. He had become a steady, reliable performer as the season progressed.
Cam Carter had 13, but on 5-14 shooting. David N’Guessan scored 12 on 5-6. But he was 2-7 at the line, including a succession of misses when K-State was on the cusp of making it a one-possession game.
Tylor Perry had a forgettable conclusion to his short tenure in Manhattan, scoring 8 points on 2-13 (2-12 from deep) shooting.
Free throw disparity tells part of the story, as Iowa went 22-30, while K-State managed only 8-16 at the stripe. The other part is 3-point shooting. K-State actually took and made more shots overall (33-69 Cats vs. 29-60 Hawkeyes), but Iowa made 11 of 23 threes, compared to 8 of 30 for the Wildcats.
Coach Tang played the entire roster, and seldom-used Macaleab “Buddy” Rich dropped in 7 points and grabbed 5 boards before leaving with an apparent knee injury. Here is hoping its only a tweak, and he can get in the gym to develop his skills to take advantage of his massive athletic talent.
Iowa’s Payton Sandfort scored 22 first-half points on his way to 30 total. He shot 9-14, including 7-11 from deep, and also led Iowa with 12 rebounds by simply out-hustling everyone else on the floor. Ben Krikke scored 24 and had 11 rebounds.
So, the season that seemed an uphill fight the entire way comes to an end in an uphill ballgame. The roster has intriguing young pieces in Ames, RJ Jones, and Buddy Rich, and Kaluma and Jerrell Colbert, who showed signs of development, likely return next year, as well. So should Cam Carter, who was vastly improved this year but hit something of a wall late. Ques Glover, who suffered an injury before the season started, could seek a medical redshirt and would surely help with the turnover woes that plagued K-State more than any other problem this season.
Sunrise Christian Academy guard David Castillo, a 4-star player on 247sports.com and ranked No. 7 nationally at the point position should add some dynamic playmaking ability out front. Stay tuned to find out what other new faces may join the Cats to try to improve upon this year’s disappointing outcome.