Considering how OU has played the last several weeks and as well as Kansas Sate has played on the road most of the conference season, I expect the Wildcats to win this game. However, OU has plenty of guys in Young, James, Manek, and McGusty who are capable of getting hot and making shots in bunches.
Perhaps no OU player's development has been hurt more by Young's presence than Kam McGusty. At times during his freshman season McGusty looked like a future all Big 12 player. K-State saw that first hand as he scored 20 in Manhattan. This season, McGusty has seen both his minutes and points per game go down. He was inserted back into the starting lineup against KU and scored 22.
While OU's offense has been primarily based on spreading the floor for Young and setting high ball screens, they have played him off the ball more as of late to try to take some of the pressure off of him. Here's a look at a couple of sets OU has ran that both start with Young dribbling at the wing for a hand off.
I couldn't put "OU Defense" as my header because they haven't been playing any defense most of the year. K-State has two clear advantages on this end of the court: Dean Wade against Brady Manek and whomever Trae Young is guarding. K-State is at its best offensively when they play with pace and run early offense through Dean in the post or isolate him in the mid post.
Young doesn't sprint back after turnovers, will get stuck going under ball screens, doesn't consistently switch dribble hand offs, and rarely boxes out when a shot goes up. In the first game, Young started out on Barry. I would be surprised if that is the match up again on Saturday, but even if he is on Diarra, that is a good match up for K-State.
Also, to this point, OU has switched guard to guard ball screens which means K-State can dictate the match ups. If they want to attack Young with Barry, K-State can have Barry set a ball screen for the man Young is guarding. I would also like to see K-State get Young switched onto Sneed so he can post him up.
Final Thoughts
If he can stay out of foul trouble, this is the type of game, Mawien can help K-State defensively. While he has struggled to defend in the post, Mawien does move laterally fairly well which allows him to defend ball screens. He did a pretty good job in the first game of hedging on Young and not letting him get the corner turned.
As I said earlier, OU has run a few more sets with Young off the ball and at times hasn't even involved him in the set. I imagine they had decided they had put too much on his plate which has contributed to his recent struggles. However, the other players for OU have not been in the position to have to go make plays for most of this year and at times have looked uncomfortable now that they are being asked to do so. Even though he is struggling, Young is still an immensely talented offensive player. It is possible that the attempt to help relieve some of the pressure off Young has hurt the Sooners offensively in the short term.
Even if OU has a decent shooting night, this is a game K-State can still win due to the effort, or lack thereof, OU has played with recently. Now if this is the game OU finally decides to rally the troops and play with max effort, things get much more difficult for the Wildcats.
Perhaps no OU player's development has been hurt more by Young's presence than Kam McGusty. At times during his freshman season McGusty looked like a future all Big 12 player. K-State saw that first hand as he scored 20 in Manhattan. This season, McGusty has seen both his minutes and points per game go down. He was inserted back into the starting lineup against KU and scored 22.
While OU's offense has been primarily based on spreading the floor for Young and setting high ball screens, they have played him off the ball more as of late to try to take some of the pressure off of him. Here's a look at a couple of sets OU has ran that both start with Young dribbling at the wing for a hand off.
- After the hand off, the wing reverses the ball to the opposite side and the post comes out for a ball screen
- After the hand off, Young cuts to the block. The ball is reversed through the post at the top of the key to the wing on the other side of the floor. Young cuts off a triple screen followed by the wing running off a double. The wing may look to curl coming off the double staggered screen.
- As I stated in the first scout, the defender on Young cannot quit on the play when he gets beat. He must turn into the helper and sprint in front of the post when K-State's big comes to help. The big has to come help with high hands hopefully forcing Young to throw a dump off pass, which can be picked off, instead of a lob.
- In the first scout, as an unconventional thought, I mentioned that K-State could use Sneed at times on Young. Now, that doesn't seem so unconventional. I still expect Brown to be the primary defender on Young, but would not be surprised to see K-State throw the length and physicality of Sneed at him to give Barry a break.
- K-State must force McNease to finish with his left hand. He is very proficient with his right handed baby hook. He had 18 against KU on 8-11 shooting, but if you can take away his right hand and the lob plays, he has difficulty scoring.
- OU's run against K-State during the first half of the first game was keyed by offensive rebounding. While OU is not a great rebounding team, when they have the floor spread and you are scrambling to close out to shooters, it makes it more difficult to get everyone boxed out. While Young is struggling, he is still a guy you don't want to give extra possessions to.
I couldn't put "OU Defense" as my header because they haven't been playing any defense most of the year. K-State has two clear advantages on this end of the court: Dean Wade against Brady Manek and whomever Trae Young is guarding. K-State is at its best offensively when they play with pace and run early offense through Dean in the post or isolate him in the mid post.
Young doesn't sprint back after turnovers, will get stuck going under ball screens, doesn't consistently switch dribble hand offs, and rarely boxes out when a shot goes up. In the first game, Young started out on Barry. I would be surprised if that is the match up again on Saturday, but even if he is on Diarra, that is a good match up for K-State.
Also, to this point, OU has switched guard to guard ball screens which means K-State can dictate the match ups. If they want to attack Young with Barry, K-State can have Barry set a ball screen for the man Young is guarding. I would also like to see K-State get Young switched onto Sneed so he can post him up.
Final Thoughts
If he can stay out of foul trouble, this is the type of game, Mawien can help K-State defensively. While he has struggled to defend in the post, Mawien does move laterally fairly well which allows him to defend ball screens. He did a pretty good job in the first game of hedging on Young and not letting him get the corner turned.
As I said earlier, OU has run a few more sets with Young off the ball and at times hasn't even involved him in the set. I imagine they had decided they had put too much on his plate which has contributed to his recent struggles. However, the other players for OU have not been in the position to have to go make plays for most of this year and at times have looked uncomfortable now that they are being asked to do so. Even though he is struggling, Young is still an immensely talented offensive player. It is possible that the attempt to help relieve some of the pressure off Young has hurt the Sooners offensively in the short term.
Even if OU has a decent shooting night, this is a game K-State can still win due to the effort, or lack thereof, OU has played with recently. Now if this is the game OU finally decides to rally the troops and play with max effort, things get much more difficult for the Wildcats.
