The 2024-25 men’s basketball campaign got off to a rather inconspicuous start
Well, if you’re like me, you completely forgot the Kansas State Men’s Basketball team started their season off tonight with an exhibition matchup against Fort Hays State in the Octagon of Doom.
At least, the score bug and the name on the front of the jerseys told us that K-State was playing. With only 3 returning players – David N’Guessan, Buddy Rich, and Taj Manning – and 11 new faces, you’d be forgiven for asking yourself, “Who the hell are these guys?”
With a final score of 70-56, you might wonder if there was really anything of value to be taken from the game, and rightfully so…
But honestly? Not really. In a game where the Cats built a 20-point lead, coughed up 9 points of that cushion down the stretch of the second half before finally building it back to a 16-point margin, there weren’t any real revelations to be gleaned. If anything, we probably went ahead and confirmed some things, which might not be stellar for the start of the regular season next week. FHSU is a decent team – going 23-8 last season – but this still feels like it shouldn’t have been as close as it was.
But we’re here. I’m writing this, you’re reading it, so let’s go ahead and spend a minute talking about a few of the things we saw:
1. Offense? Meh.
Look, on a team where we have 11 new faces, I’m going to cut the squad some slack here. It’s reasonable to expect the need for some refinement in this aspect of the game. 18 Assists on 23 made field goals is actually a pretty decent clip of sharing the ball. But generally the offense looked very free-lance in nature, which will work if we have shot creators. Not sure how many of these guys are going to be able to create their own shots against a more game opponent.
On the other hand, FHSU got 9 more shots up than we did, connected on 3’s at a greater clip (35% to 29%), and beat us in the turnover department (12 versus 13). K-State won this game, ultimately, by getting to the charity stripe, where our 22-to-2 advantage on FTs (making 16 of them) was exactly the 14-point final spread.
2. Defense? Meh.
While learning rotations and whatnot does take some time, defense is still a product of effort. Was the defense bad? Not per se. Nor was it good by any stretch.
Giving up 35% from behind the arc as a team is not a good start, and will be something to keep an eye on as the season starts to take root. Giving up 56 points, including 34 in the second half, is also not great for a team that was, from appearances, heavily outmatched in both size and athleticism. And while the Cats outrebounded the Tigers 42-34 in all, giving up 13 offensive boards to a team that is clearly smaller and less athletic than you is…just poor.
And newbie frosh David Castillo? Work on that D, bud. You had a +/- of -6 in 12 minutes…the only K-State player that had notable court time with a negative +/-. Not great, Bob.
3. Coleman Hawkins will be the dude on this team this season.
Hawkins comes in from four seasons at Illinois, and has already earned preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Big 12 Second Team accolades from the league coaches. the 6-10, 230lb fifth-year showed flashes of very solid offensive skill with his fluid movement, passing, and ability to make shots.
In 31 minutes on the floor, he finished with 13 points, 7 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals and a block. He went 3 of 7 from the floor, including a nice looking three from the top of the key, and held his own from the line, going 5 of 6.
4. Don’t expect anything more out of David N’Guessan this year than last.
He’s going to play enough to get 8-12 points on any given night (he tallied 10 tonight), and 6-10 rebounds (9 on that front), but still is inexplicably soft with the ball, clumsy in his movement, and doesn’t pass the ball well.
He’s the ultimate garbage man. Running the offense through him is a mistake.
5. Hausen can kinda shoot it…I think…
Brendan Hausen – 6-4 junior that played for Villanova last year – was expected to let it fly a bit. To this level? This will cause me to hold my breath.
Of 56 field goal attempts by K-State, 28 were from beyond the arc. Of those 28? Hausen took half of them. Yes…14. He made 5 of them for 15 points on the night – the Cats’ leading scorer – but man, that’s a lot of launching. That’ll kill us if he isn’t making them at better than 33% clip all the time. Really want to see that number up around 40%.
That’s all I got on this one, y’all. Next up is the season opener next Tuesday against a New Orleans squad that went 10-23 on the season last year. Let’s hope we see something more on the floor for that one.