Three takeaways from Kansas State’s 76-64 basketball loss against the Butler Bulldogs
Jerome Tang lost his first game as Kansas State’s basketball coach 76-64 against Butler on Wednesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The Wildcats (6-1) put up a fight against the Bulldogs (5-3) and tried their hardest to win a Big 12/Big East Challenge game in a loud road environment inside one of the most historic buildings in all of college hoops, but they couldn’t match the home squad punch for punch when Butler was playing at its best.
Thad Matta’s team jumped out to a 25-13 lead and made it hard on K-State to pull within single digits the rest of the way.
K-State was able to make things interesting at times, such as early in the second half when it pulled within 48-43 at the 14:16 mark. But Butler responded with a 17-4 run to clinch the victory.
Keyontae Johnson led all K-State scorers with 20 points (on 9-of-9 shooting) and 12 rebounds, while Desi Sills added 17 points and Markquis Nowell had 13.
Butler countered with a balanced attack that featured 22 points and 10 rebounds from Manny Bates and four other players who finished in double figures.
We have seen how Tang handles winning as the head coach at K-State. Now we get to see how he responds to a loss. The Wildcats will next play on Saturday at home against Wichita State.
Until then, here are some key takeaways from all the action against Butler:
No laughing matter on defense
At the end of the Cayman Islands Classic, Tang joked that he didn’t see his team play much defense during wins over Rhode Island, Nevada and LSU.
He could laugh about that because the Wildcats played well enough on offense that it didn’t matter and they went on to win the tournament anyway.
But there was nothing to laugh about following K-State’s defensive performance in this one. Butler came out firing on all cylinders and scored at will for much of the game. The Bulldogs led 25-12 early in the first half, 34-21 late in the first half and then by as many as 18 points at times in the second half.
Five different Butler players reached double figures as the Bulldogs made 54.9% of their shots from the field and 40% of their shots from three-point range. The Bulldogs averaged 1.206 points per possession
It was way too easy for Butler inside. Its players attempted 13 layups and made 10 of them. They also attempted four dunks and didn’t miss any.
“Our defense is predicated on ball pressure,” Tang said. “And I don’t think that we pressured the ball the way that we are capable of. So we have to go back and see, did we not get the guys prepared well enough?”
Johnson said that the noise inside Hinkle Fieldhouse made it difficult for the Wildcats to communicate on defense. That is something they hadn’t previously experienced this season.
Whatever the case, the Wildcats needed to play at a much higher level on defense to stay in this game, especially on a night when they only scored 64 points.
Keyontae Johnson vs. the world
Johnson earned his scholarship in this one.
Not only did the Florida transfer lead all K-State scorers with 20 points and 12 rebounds, he didn’t miss any of his nine shots from the field.
Whenever he attacked the basket or fired away from the perimeter, he was on the money and good things happened for the Wildcats. Those things simply didn’t happen enough.
For that reason, he walked away from the game feeling as though he didn’t play aggressive enough. Tang went so far as to say he did a poor job as a coach not recognizing that Johnson needed to get more looks.
“When you have a guy on your team who does not miss a shot that means he did not shoot enough,” Tang said. “That’s what that means. That, as a staff, is on us to make sure that he gets more shots.”
It didn’t help that Johnson didn’t get much help from his teammates.
Desi Sills came off the bench and provided some sparks off the dribble in the second half. Nowell added 13 points. But K-State didn’t get many other contributions on that side of the ball and often committed too many turnovers.
It is telling that K-State could have such an excellent game from its best player and still lose by double digits.
Ismael Massoud the first (and only) big off the bench
The Wildcats have typically rotated between David N’Guessan and Abayomi Iyiola at center this season, but they went with a different strategy against the Bulldogs.
Whenever N’Guessan needed a breather or found himself in foul trouble he came out of the game and Ismael Massoud replaced him inside. Massoud is usually more of a stretch forward or a wing in Tang’s system.
The rotation change was likely at least partially because of minor injury concerns with Iyiola. Tang said afterward that he was unavailable. The senior big man didn’t play at all on Wednesday, even though he was in full uniform.
Massoud had some decent moments coming off the bench and playing the five, but he mostly struggled in this game and finished with two points and two assists. N’Guessan only had eight points and two rebounds.
The Wildcats needed more from that position. That showed the most on defense. Butler forward Manny Bates destroyed the Wildcats inside, so much so that he may haunt K-State players for a while. Bates finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
