What we learned in the Kansas State win over Kansas

Kansas State tells on themselves

Over the weekend it was said by head coach Jerome Tang that Kansas State has too often picked and chosen when they want to compete at a high level and play hard this year. He took some of the blame for that, stating that he and his staff haven’t connected with the roster as well as they should to unlock some of it.

But, as Tang often says, they told on themselves when they showed what they were capable of in the win over Kansas. They played with the appropriate amount of intensity, spirit and effort from start to finish. Well, almost. The first few minutes of the second half were a little rough, but they did respond.

K-State knows what they can do. The trick is to how to replicate that competitiveness and energy on a nightly basis instead of just when they are playing an opponent that catches their attention. They can do it. That’s why they defeated Baylor and Kansas at home.

They can also turn it off, as indicated by performances against Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Chicago State and North Alabama.

Development

Something that I am catching on to is that parts of the Kansas State roster outside of Tylor Perry, Cam Carter and Arthur Kaluma are starting to make some strides. That’s important because it is a lot tougher when they are challenged to go 3-on-5 on the offensive end of the floor.

Two players that have made noticeable improvements over the past few weeks are Jerrell Colbert and Dai Dai Ames.

The growth from Colbert has been on full display but especially in the Sunflower Showdown against Kansas. The K-State big was an elite passer off the short role and from the paint. His three assists in just 16 minutes of floor time were impressive and I believe all to open three-point shooters on the perimeter.

That doesn’t even account for his defense and rebounding. He was regularly keeping the Jayhawks off the glass and defending the rim. When able to expand his minutes load, his production should only grow. At the moment, they’re just not comfortable and don’t believe he is game-ready physically to take on more.

I would advise them to get him there as fast as possible.

For Ames, it was about enduring a large amount of adversity for the first time in his basketball career. That is a part of growing up as a true freshman. He experienced an injury, setbacks and a slump all about the same time and it snowballed into poor play.

He’s bounced out of it and come out on the other side. He still has a ways to go and tries to do too much at times, which results in mistakes. But he’s making more better decisions with the ball, finishing around the rim a little more and becoming a tad more efficient.

In the hunt

It is wild what one win can do for a fan base, but that’s not the only thing. It’s fair to re-introduce a little NCAA Tournament talk into the conversation as well. I’ll refrain from most of it, just because the Wildcats have to prove that they can be more consistent in my eyes.

But the path is there. Kansas State just taking care of business at home the rest of the way could do it because it would make them 9-9 overall in the Big 12. That seems to be the benchmark that many are mentioning.

Just to be safe, or at least the goal I’d want to reach, would be to do that and to steal at least one more game on the road. K-State still has to play BYU in Provo, Kansas in Lawrence, Texas in Austin and go to Cincinnati.

Again, this is also when it comes back to the Wildcats letting that game slip away from them in Lubbock.

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