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Post players shine as Wildcats win 83-45

Wade, Mawien excel in regular season debut.

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-First Round-Kansas State vs Cincinnati Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas State Wildcats men’s basketball team (1-0) started the season as expected Friday night, dominating the American Eagles (0-1) from tip-off until well into garbage time, winning 83-45.

For the first couple of minutes, K-State looked like a team playing its first game, falling behind 5-2. But starting with a Dean Wade 3-pointer assisted by Xavier Sneed 2-1/2 minutes in, the Wildcats went on a 17-0 run and never looked back. K-State took a 48-19 lead into halftime. The Eagles never threatened to get back into the game in the second half, allowing K-State to see plenty of newcomers for quite a few (meaningless) minutes.

The Good

Post play: We know what Wade can do, but it’s always good to see him do it. He had 17 points on 7 shots, along with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. More surprising were the contributions of newcomer Makol Mawien, who did a passable D.J. Johnson impression with 12 points on 7 shots, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks. And Mawdo Sallah, Levi Stockard III, and Nigel Shadd all made contributions.

3-point shooting: The Wildcats shot 54.5 percent from three, led by freshman Cartier Diarra at 4-for-4, while Wade was perfect on three attempts. The 12 made 3-pointers tied for the most of a Bruce Weber K-State team.

The Bad

Free-throw shooting: Maybe “bad” is a little strong, but the Wildcats were mediocre at best from the stripe, shooting 13-21.

The Ugly

American: The Eagles are not a good team. They went 8-22 a year ago and had a lot of player turnover (although maybe when you go 8-22, fresh faces are a good thing). Don’t take this win as a sign of how the rest of the season will go.

Up Next

K-State plays the UMKC Kangaroos (0-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum.

Poll

Who was the Player of the Game?

This poll is closed

  • 12%
    Cartier Diarra (13 points, 4 assists, 4-4 on 3-pointers)
    (19 votes)
  • 30%
    Makol Mawien (12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks)
    (47 votes)
  • 57%
    Dean Wade (17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists)
    (90 votes)
156 votes total Vote Now