SE: K-State MBB Looks to Leadership, Extra Practice Time to Bounce Back

By Corbin McGuire

K-State men's basketball head coach Bruce Weber has praised his team's leadership all season. Now, he's ready to see how it responds to a setback.

The Wildcats (8-2), who host Southeast Missouri State (6-4) on Saturday at 7 p.m., are coming off a loss to Tulsa in which they shot 13 percent from beyond the arc. With three experienced juniors in Kamau Stokes, Barry Brown and Dean Wade, along with a matured sophomore in Xavier Sneed, Weber said he expects their collective leadership to return the team to an upward trajectory.

"They were disappointed. We were all disappointed," Weber said on Monday. "Now they have to take a step. We have to have leadership. Culture is dictated by leadership. They've been great so far. I've bragged on them since the spring. Now we had a disappointment. How do they come back and respond to it? That's the biggest thing.

"I know they care. I know how hard they worked. You can go back to Coach Snyder's goals — Don't Accept Losing, Eliminate Mistakes, Never Give Up. Everyone during the year is going to have a setback. How you deal with it and how do you respond? We had ours a little earlier than maybe we thought but maybe that gives us a little more time to figure it out."

With a week in between games, Weber said this gap should be crucial in honing in on some specific areas. While finals week makes practice times a little sporadic, the amount of true practices available is still substantial.

"It's good to have practices. I wish they weren't in exams, but we need some practice time," Weber said. "We just haven't had much practice time. Now it's, 'Here's a couple of things we need to get better at, let's get better at it.'"

Specifically, Weber addressed zone offense, block-outs for rebounding and bench production.

Part of the first area, he added, can be helped by more frequently feeding their newcomers in the post, such as sophomore Makol Mawien, who is shooting 77 percent (26-of-34) from the field. Similarly, Mawdo Sallah has converted 65 percent (13-of-20) from the field this year, while freshman Levi Stockard has hit 7-of-13 (54 percent).

"We have to look at them and trust them. Part of it, again, comes to practice. But we have to give them a chance. We have to throw it to them," Weber said. "If anything, get it inside so that sucks the defense down."

Ultimately, K-State knows it's more than capable of being a legit shooting team from the perimeter. The Wildcats have converted on 47 percent or better from 3-point range in four games, all of which came with 19 or more attempts that includes going 15-of-32 against now-No. 5 Arizona State.

When 3-point shots are not falling, however, Weber said the Wildcats must adjust and find other ways to score. Because, while they rank 12^th nationally in scoring defense and 20^th in field goal percentage defense, he emphasized that it takes execution on both ends to win close games.

"We learned that when you don't make shots you have to be able to execute and make other plays, better passes, get in the paint," he said. "You can win games with stops and making shots…both of them."

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: K-State MBB Looks to Leadership, Extra Practice Time to Bounce Back

Players Mentioned

Makol Mawien

Mawdo Sallah

Xavier Sneed

Kamau Stokes

Dean Wade

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