Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
9-2
Vanderbilt
7-3
Brown Sets Career Steals Mark, K-State Downs Vanderbilt, 69-58
Dec 22, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Brown passed Wildcat great Jacob Pullen, who tallied 210 career steals from 2007-11, while helping K-State force a combined 15 Vanderbilt turnovers and limit the Commodores (7-3) to just 31.9 percent shooting (15-of-47) from the field, including 28 percent (7-of-25) from long range.
K-State (9-2) improved to 8-1 all-time in the Wildcat Classic at the Sprint Center, while also improving the series history against Vanderbilt to 7-4. The Wildcats also moved to 112-81 when playing in Kansas City, with a 17-14 mark at the Sprint Center.
Vanderbilt was limited to a season-low 58 points, including a season-low 20 points in the first half. K-State, which ranks sixth nationally in scoring defense at 57.8 points per game, has now held opponents to under 60 points in 8 of 11 games this season.
Junior Makol Mawien paced the Wildcats with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, including 1-of-1 from 3-point range. He was joined in double-digits by Brown (12), Kamau Stokes (12) and Cartier Diarra (10). In addition, junior Austin Trice set a new season-high in scoring, totaling 7 points in 15 minutes of play.
The Commodores were led by Matt Ryan, who scored 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field..
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior Xavier Sneed came out firing early on Saturday, as he found an open 3-pointer from the top of the key to score the opening basket of the game. On the ensuing offensive possession, Sneed collected a missed Stokes' 3-pointer and threw down a slam to give K-State an early 5-0 advantage just 1:08 into the game.
After the hot start from Sneed, the Wildcats made only one of their next nine from the field. However, on the next possession, Mawien brought the energy back with a dunk over a defender to give K-State a 10-4 advantage at the 12:25 mark. The Mawien dunk led K-State to connect on its next three field goals, as the Wildcats spouted off a 7-0 run to garner a 19-7 lead with 9:08 left in the half.
Over the final minutes of the first half, Vanderbilt inched closer with a 6-0 run that put them behind 25-17 with 3:08 left. However, K-State was able to grow its lead to 10 at the break, 30-20. The 20 points by the Commodores were the fewest they have scored in the first half this season, with their previous low of 34 points coming in a loss on Dec. 1 against N.C. State.
The second half started similar to the first for the Wildcats, as K-State opened up a 6-0 run behind the strength of strong defensive play, as K-State pushed its lead to 16 (38-22) a little more than four minutes into the half. Minutes later, Trice poked the ball loose from a Vanderbilt player, which led to a fast-break slam by Brown. K-State led by as many as 22 points near the midpoint of the second half.
While the offense plugged along, the defense was stout. Vanderbilt went more than 10 minutes without a field goal in the second half, missing its first 10 field goals of the half before ending the drought with 9:41 to go. The Commodores then used an 11-0 run to bring the score to 49-38 with 7:22 left in the contest.
Brown notched steal No. 211, as Vanderbilt chipped away at the lead and pulled within nine in the waning minutes, but the Wildcats leaned on free throw shooting from Sneed, who hit a pair of free throws to put the Wildcats up 63-49 with 2:03 left.
With under a minute left, Joe Toye connected on a 3-pointer to bring Vanderbilt to within single digits again at 67-58 with 53 seconds left, but the Wildcats would connect on a number of free throws down the stretch to put the game away at 69-58.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Makol Mawien – Junior forward Makol Mawien led the game with 15 points, including 7-of-10 from the field, including a perfect 1-of-1 from beyond the arc. Mawien's presence in the paint led K-State to a 30-16 advantage in the paint.
STAT OF THE GAME
211 – With three steals on Saturday night, Barry Brown Jr. becomes the all-time K-State leader in steals with 211 career steals. Brown surpasses Jacob Pullen, who tallied 210 career steals for the Wildcats between 2007-11.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
BRUCE WEBER, HEAD COACH
On the defensive effort…
"It was something I put on the board. They're long, talented, and, athletic. Without Dean (Wade), it gives them an advantage with size and athleticism. We talked about doing it as a group, fighting for rebounds, I thought we handled ourselves pretty good on the boards, everybody kind of chipped in there. Xavier (Sneed) has been big time since Dean went out the last few games, 9 tonight, 14 the other night. We talked about a special defensive effort and frustrating them. That's a team that's averaging 80, they scored 80 against Arizona State who is supposedly a top 20 team. It was great lock-in defense by our guys and great job by the coaches preparing. Mak [Makol Mawien] doesn't get as much credit as he deserves but he's guarded some pretty good big guys and this one obviously is really good and probably an NBA guy down the road. Mak not only scored 15 but did a great job on the defensive end and obviously Barry [Brown] getting the steal record. You talk about going to a place and leaving a legacy with hopefully wins, but you know individual accomplishments are something special. Jake [Pullen] was a special player at K-State and Barry not only broke it but is probably going to shatter it with hopefully twenty games left. It is pretty impressive what he's done. I remember when he was a freshman asking at one of the team meetings, who is going to be our lockdown defender and he raised his hand. I said 'No, not you. Who is going to be our lockdown defender?' But he's been that guy since he got here and he takes a lot of pride in that."
On seeing this potential in Makol Mawien in practice…
"The other day I did a little thing where I said what I wish for them for Christmas and his thing was consistency. Last year against TCU he had the lefty dunk on the run. He can do that, he's righty but he'd rather make that layup with his left hand. Against Georgia State we talked about him playing 28 minutes and he was plus 33. Tonight he scored and defended so I would think his plus minus was pretty good. Moving forward with him and the whole team, we have to be more consistent."
On having a sense of urgency after the Southern Miss game…
"I hope there was a sense of urgency, I know there was from the staff. Obviously it's a big game. I don't know if we had a little hangover from Dean being out. I don't know if we thought we did this last year, it's not a big deal, we'll come back and play well. I don't think they knew how good Southern Miss was. They have a good veteran coach, they're tough, they scheme, they switch everything, and we didn't do a good job of reacting. Then Kam [Stokes] got going in the second half. So, you get that win under your belt and in really two days to prepare for this and our guys locked in. We really did nothing Thursday besides talk about them, talk about what we did in the game before and how to get better. They showed a lot of pride tonight and hopefully a sense of urgency."
On being superstitious about Makol Mawien's big performances in the Sprint Center…
"I don't have any superstitions. Come and play. Your preparation, your consistency, what you do in practice, that's what it's about. The other night against Southern Miss Mak couldn't catch the ball. Tonight he did a much better job, better focus. I put it on the older guys. You got to get everybody prepared. I thought we had a good mindset to go and battle. It wasn't the prettiest thing but we held them to 22 under their average and they get most of them the last four or five minutes."
On Austin Trice…
"Austin struggled and we've tried to get him to understand, even the players, that it's good to have fun and be energized and kind of a silly guy but when it comes to college basketball you got to be prepared. Someone asked me the other night why he's not playing, some of it's his preparation, some of it's making layups, some of it's making free throws. If you don't make free throws and layups and not be prepared defensively it's hard to see playing time. Tonight they were bigger so that allowed him to use his quickness and athleticism. He was all happy after the game. He said 'Coach I made a layup.' He definitely helped us that's no doubt. They did the 'Hack-a-Shaq' tonight so hopefully he can get better at that.
On the collective effort in Dean Wade's absence....
"Dean's in every stat category and is a good defender so it has to be everybody. It's a little bit from everybody and we have to continue to improve."
On Xavier Sneed's rebounding…
"We've been on him about it, especially offensively, there was like eight games where he only had 2. So the last few, the extra possessions make a big deal. We're the number one team to holding other teams on offensive rebounds, it means that we've made improvement from a year ago."
BARRY BROWN JR., SENIOR GUARD
On covering on defense in Dean Wade's absence...
"We know that it's kind of like four guards out there now so it's easy for us to switch and keep a body on a body. When Dean (Wade's) out there, he's an experienced guy, big, athletic, can block shots. He's been in this program for a while so he knows the system and where to be at all times. But knowing that he's out, we just have to keep fighting. I think we did a great job, especially in the first few possessions of the first half flying around and making them take tough shots."
On getting the steals record…
"It's great. I wanted to come here and leave a legacy somehow or some way, definitely in wins but also in individual accomplishments. I credit my coaches and my teammates, my coaches especially, for putting me in the right position and making me understand principles and defensive schemes and just taking the ball away. But all that work being put in over time, I was able to accomplish it."
On Xavier Sneed playing the four…
"Xavier (Sneed) is a quicker guard, he's big enough to guard guys a little bit taller than him. Having him on the four allows for easier switches, whether for pin downs or ball screens, whatever it is. It's just like having another guard that's active and plays defense. He can be there for our team."
MAKOL MAWIEN, JUNIOR FORWARD
On his defensive battles tonight...
"Just knowing what the guard does well and trying to be focused on playing hard defense. Just focusing on what he does well, played to his strengths and being in the right spots on defense."
On his strong performances in the Sprint Center…
"The coaches said something about that. I don't know what it is, I just play better here than other places."
On his big dunk…
"I saw my defender leave and I saw the basket was wide open and I just took it. I just had to go up and finish the dunk."
BRYCE DREW, VANDERBILT HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"We were really, really good at shootaround. We executed and took away things. We had their actions, scouts and knew what they were going to run. When the game started we did not play with the same intensity, energy and vigor that we had played with against Arizona State or what we had done in practice. We tried to get some lineups out there. I thought we had some good energy there in the second half and made a little run to get back in the game. We knew this was a hungry team and a very good defensive team. This is an NCAA Tournament and they played really well tonight."
On Kansas State's defense...
"I thought they did a good job on our point guards. They were going under a lot of screens with their length, making our be shooters on the outside. They rotate very quickly. I think we missed some stuff at the rim. Simi [Shittu] usually finishes a lot of that stuff at the rim and he was missing tonight, which definitely hurt. They scout very well and they take things away. That is a very veteran team and we are a very young team. This game is only going to make us better for the rest of the year."
On Simi Shittu and Makol Mawien…
"We do not really view it as a one-on-one battle. It is a team effort. That is by far the best we have ever seen [Mawien] play. Credit him for having a career night against us."
On Kansas State's maturity…
"It is just experience, like experience in life. You have been in situations and you know how to react. Again, we are very young, especially at the point guard position. They have not played in front of this many people cheering against them all year. It is the first time they have been in this environment, having to make a lot of decisions as underclassmen point guards. It is a learning process. Hopefully in the next two years when these guys are seniors, like their seniors, we will be a lot more mature, a lot more calm and make better decisions."
MATT RYAN, REDSHIRT JUNIOR FORWARD
On the early offensive struggles…
"I think that was the best half court defense that we faced this year. It was definitely a challenge for us. We are used to getting out in transition and getting a lot of points like that. We played a more mature team. They knew what they were doing defensively. We did some good things in the second half but we put ourselves in too deep of a hole to get out of it."
On Makol Mawien…
"We were not expecting him to have 15 [points]. Obviously, we have to be better and we have to take out role players. We were keyed in on their main guys and held them to solid numbers but when Mawien has 15 [points], that is going to make it tough to win."
