Post players shine as Wildcats win 83-45

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.