On Tuesday last week I posted a few keys for this team moving forward. (linked below) Here is a review/analysis of those keys after the two games in Vegas.
https://kansasstate.forums.rivals.com/threads/basketball-some-keys-moving-forward.84306/"]Basketball - Some keys moving forward
Offense:
https://kansasstate.forums.rivals.com/threads/basketball-some-keys-moving-forward.84306/"]Basketball - Some keys moving forward
Offense:
- Shot selection: Below is a snapshot of the field goals for the starting five during the two games with three point makes & attempts listed first:
- Stokes - 10-15, 13-21
- Wade - 1-5, 8-16
- Sneed - 4-9, 7-17
- Brown - 4-11, 15-30
- Mawien - 0-0, 8-9
In my keys I said that when Stokes is hot, I am okay with him being a volume shooter. And he was very hot in the two games, making 10 of 15 threes. As I said before, his key will continue to be recognizing the flow of the game and his own game from night to night and playing accordingly.
On the surface, you could say that 11 three point attempts for Brown over the course of 2 games is too many, but 9 of those attempts came against ASU and he made 4. It's hard to argue with that percentage. He did attack the basket fairly consistently and all of his baskets against GW came inside the arc, including one spectacular baseline drive and reverse finish.
Sneed and Wade combined to take 33 shots compared to 51 for Stokes and Brown. Part of that was due to foul trouble for both against ASU and part of that was Wade needing to be more aggressive that night as he took only 6 shots. But on a night Wade only took 6 shots, they were able to put 90 on the board. I had concerns going in about K-State's ability to score when Wade had an off night and for at least one night, those concerns were squashed.
Most of Mawien shots came right at the rim on dump offs, pick and rolls, or offensive rebounds. He did make one 15 foot jumper which was nice to see. I do think he has enough ability that this team could throw it to him on traditional post ups. There were several times against GW he had his guy pinned fairly deep and the guards did not enter the post. I'm not saying the offense should go through him, but take advantage of the opportunities that are there. I believe there was only one time the GW game, we had a traditional post touch from the 5 spot and that was to Sallah who is less skilled that Mawien is. That possession ended in a wide open three off of a kick out and extra pass. The three was missed, but it led to an offensive rebound and put back.
Overall, when you are making shots, it makes your shot selection pretty good. This team needs to continue to stay in attack mode and to get points in the paint from dribble drives, pick and rolls, drive and dishes (Stokes beautiful spin and dump off to Mawien) and enough post touches to keep the defense honest. If so, they will get plenty of open 3s in transition, on drive and kicks, and making the extra pass.
On the surface, you could say that 11 three point attempts for Brown over the course of 2 games is too many, but 9 of those attempts came against ASU and he made 4. It's hard to argue with that percentage. He did attack the basket fairly consistently and all of his baskets against GW came inside the arc, including one spectacular baseline drive and reverse finish.
Sneed and Wade combined to take 33 shots compared to 51 for Stokes and Brown. Part of that was due to foul trouble for both against ASU and part of that was Wade needing to be more aggressive that night as he took only 6 shots. But on a night Wade only took 6 shots, they were able to put 90 on the board. I had concerns going in about K-State's ability to score when Wade had an off night and for at least one night, those concerns were squashed.
Most of Mawien shots came right at the rim on dump offs, pick and rolls, or offensive rebounds. He did make one 15 foot jumper which was nice to see. I do think he has enough ability that this team could throw it to him on traditional post ups. There were several times against GW he had his guy pinned fairly deep and the guards did not enter the post. I'm not saying the offense should go through him, but take advantage of the opportunities that are there. I believe there was only one time the GW game, we had a traditional post touch from the 5 spot and that was to Sallah who is less skilled that Mawien is. That possession ended in a wide open three off of a kick out and extra pass. The three was missed, but it led to an offensive rebound and put back.
Overall, when you are making shots, it makes your shot selection pretty good. This team needs to continue to stay in attack mode and to get points in the paint from dribble drives, pick and rolls, drive and dishes (Stokes beautiful spin and dump off to Mawien) and enough post touches to keep the defense honest. If so, they will get plenty of open 3s in transition, on drive and kicks, and making the extra pass.
- Unforced Turnovers: Outside of Diarra's 6 turnovers against ASU in which all of them could have been classified as unforced, the Cats were pretty good in this area. The rest of the team had ten against ASU and then they only had 5 total as a team against GW. However, two of those came in back to back possessions coming out of the 4 minute media timeout in the first half. The Cats had a 10 point lead at the time and had a chance to really separate before halftime, and instead, had several lackluster possessions in a row.
- Screening: K-State was able to score on several pick and roll plays which has to start with a decent screen. I still believe their off the ball screening can improve. For example, the possession towards the end of the 1st half against GW where Wade bailed the team out by hitting a jumper just before the shot clock expired, I counted 2 or 3 screens where contact with the defender wasn't made.
- Free throw shooting: This was definitely a tale of two games. The cats were 16-18 from the line against GW. That will help you win close games. We all know the ridiculous numbers from the ASU game. Offensively, we shot a lot of threes that game so it's hard to complain about the number of fouls called against ASU. Defensively, yes a lot of the calls were terrible, such as the foul on Wainright on the defensive rebound, but the Cats were out of position on defense a lot which led to fouls. Any way you slice it, it's hard to overcome that kind of deficit from the free throw line.
- Late execution: The end of the ASU game has already been discussed a lot so I won't spend a lot of time on it. The Cats weren't good from the 4 minute to 1 minute mark as they turned a 1 point deficit into a 6 point deficit, but rebounded with a better last minute. But they weren't able to pull it out, so it wasn't good enough. The end of the GW game, may have been one of the most encouraging things from the two games. K-State went to Wade in the post on 3 different possessions. Wade scored on the 1st on a great post move. Wade was fouled on the 2nd and made both free throws, an area he has struggled mightily this year. On the third, Wade kicked it out to Barry, and re-posted (it was good to see him not settle). Brown could have re-entered the post, but was able to score on a layup. Wade also contributed an offensive rebound in the last minute. We will need to see it from Wade more than once to feel confident that is what we are going to get consistently, but you have to start somewhere, right?
- On ball defense, Rebounding, and Fouls: I lumped all three of these together because there is not a lot of analysis needed. The Cats need to be better, much better. When you are getting beat off the dribble and help has to come, it makes it more difficult to rebound. And when both of those occur, it usually leads to more fouls.
K-State was out-rebounded 66 to 53 in the 2 games and gave up 31 offensive rebounds compared to their 18. There were several possessions, especially when we went small, that no Cat attacked the offensive glass. Defensively all five guys must go to the glass. I don't think the Cats will ever need a ton of offense from the five spot, so I would like see Shadd get some minutes. In the limited action he has seen so far, he had been a decent rebounder. Sneed didn't have single rebound against GW. He is too long and athletic for that to happen. He should have multiple offensive rebounds a game. Watching some film of Rodney McGruder could be good for him.
I don't think all of the Cats defensive struggles were effort related. Their communication needs to improve and their understanding of how the offense is trying to attack them. Multiple times, two defenders ran to the same offensive player leaving another player open. We got hurt a few times against GW on the pick and pop with their 5 man. On those situations I though Mawien/Sallah stayed with the dribbler too long and should have recovered to their man quicker. In those cases, the dribbler was going towards the strong side of the floor where there was more help and he was also not to attack mode. He was looking to continue to pull the defender away creating an open shot for the screener.
I don't think all of the Cats defensive struggles were effort related. Their communication needs to improve and their understanding of how the offense is trying to attack them. Multiple times, two defenders ran to the same offensive player leaving another player open. We got hurt a few times against GW on the pick and pop with their 5 man. On those situations I though Mawien/Sallah stayed with the dribbler too long and should have recovered to their man quicker. In those cases, the dribbler was going towards the strong side of the floor where there was more help and he was also not to attack mode. He was looking to continue to pull the defender away creating an open shot for the screener.
