Kansas State University Athletics
SE: ‘It’s a Brotherhood’: K-State MBB’s Bond Leads to Sweet 16 Win over Kentucky
Mar 23, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
ATLANTA — "It's a brotherhood."
These are the words K-State's junior point guard Kamau Stokes chose when asked what brought this Wildcat team, picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 this season, to the point it reached Thursday night: Advancing to the Elite Eight with a 61-58 win over Kentucky.
"It's a brotherhood," Stokes repeated, after K-State defeated Kentucky for the first time in program history. "We preach that all the time and we just have to stay together. We have to do it together and we have to win together."
Stokes was far from the only Wildcat to bring up this word, brotherhood. If one word could personify this K-State team, which will face Loyola Chicago (31-5) in the South Regional final on Saturday at 5:09 p.m. (CT) on TBS, brotherhood would be it.
"We're just a tightknit group and we're the true definition of a brotherhood, a team," said junior Barry Brown, who dropped in the go-ahead bucket against Kentucky with 19 seconds to play. "We play for each other, play for K-State, and I think it's showing."
K-State junior forward Dean Wade said the team's bond started last summer, when head coach Bruce Weber challenged his team to adopt a motto as its mindset.
"Coach (Weber) kind of had a saying at the beginning of the summer, 'No personal agendas,'" Wade said. "He said we're going to be successful if we just play as a team. I think we all just bought into that simple saying. It's really paid off for us."
Xavier Sneed traced the team's tightknit nature back to last spring, around this time actually, when offseason conditioning began.
"We all fought through it together," Sneed said, "and we all knew that we had each other's backs, no matter what."
On Thursday night, when K-State faced a combination of size and talent it had not seen all season, the Wildcats fought through everything together.
A prime example was when Sneed picked up his fifth foul with 1:14 to play. The sophomore was K-State's best offensive option all night, hitting 5-of-8 from beyond the arc en route to scoring a game-high 22 points and grabbing nine rebounds. And for the last 74 seconds of the game, K-State would be without him.
"The first thing we told him was, 'We're going to finish this for you,' because he had a great game, guarded his butt off. Offensively he played great and it was (hard) to see him (foul out)," redshirt freshman Cartier Diarra said. "So we just told him we're going to finish this for him."
After Sneed became the third Wildcat to foul out of the game, Kentucky tied the game up with a free throw and blocked a Brown shot out of bounds on K-State's next possession. Brown missed a jumper shortly after, but Diarra fought over a group of Kentucky players to pull in the rebound and call a timeout.
What came next was the single-biggest bucket of Brown's career, a left-handed finish at the rim to help send K-State to its first Elite Eight since 2010.
"I just try to do what's best for my team, try to help my team out as much as I can," Brown said. "My coaches trust me at the end of the game, and my teammates do as well. I just want to reward them with a big play."
Foul trouble forced K-State head coach Bruce Weber to use a five-guard lineup multiple times against a Kentucky squad that put out that a starting lineup ranging between 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-11. All K-State did was persevere.
"We had to stay together through the whole game, through all the adversity throughout the whole game," Sneed said. "It was big and it showed."
In K-State's first two NCAA Tournament wins, it played without All-Big 12 First-Team forward Dean Wade, battling a foot injury. The Wildcats got four points and eight minutes from Wade on Thursday night, all in the first half, before he was shut down.
Together, K-State found a way to win again without his usual on-court production.
"I'm very proud of this team. I knew it was going to happen. Everyone just steps up and does what they have to do to win. At all costs, we're trying to win. Even without me, it gives people an opportunity to step up and I think our defense is really locked down since I've been hurt. I think we're just playing with our hearts," Wade said. "We really play for each other. Nobody cares about individual stats. We just want to win. They're just trying to help their teammates out. It's amazing what kind of group this is. We're all really close friends, more like family. We spend so much time together we're closer to family. It really is a brotherhood here."
There's that word again. If not for the results, it could be written off as cliché. But this team truly represents it.
"It's crazy how much we love each other. All the things that we do for each other. It's not a moment when we're not with each other," Sneed said. "We get different hotel rooms but it just so happens that we end up in the same room. Everybody really bought into the brotherhood and everybody really loves each other here. It's really big for our program. That family piece in our program, it's really big."
Kentucky put together an 8-0 run in the first half to cut K-State's lead to one and an 11-0 run in the second half to take a one-point lead. Both times, with a crowd dominated by Kentucky fans, K-State responded with poise and points.
Freshman Mike McGuirl knocked in a three to end Kentucky's first run, sending K-State to halftime up, 33-29. Diarra stopped Kentucky's second half run, snagging one of K-State's 11 steals and turning it into a go-ahead basket on the other end.
"I play for my teammates and my coaches, and that's all I play for and that's all I see and hear when we're playing the game," Diarra said of the team's bond. "It's very important and I think that has a lot to do with our chemistry and the way we click. We all live close by each other and we all hang around each other all the time. Off days or not, we're chilling together. We're playing video games — Fortnite, NBA 2K, cards, Uno, Connect Four, Monopoly, anything. We're just really locked in and we just have to keep that bond. That's what makes us special because we all trust each other."
ATLANTA — "It's a brotherhood."
These are the words K-State's junior point guard Kamau Stokes chose when asked what brought this Wildcat team, picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 this season, to the point it reached Thursday night: Advancing to the Elite Eight with a 61-58 win over Kentucky.
"It's a brotherhood," Stokes repeated, after K-State defeated Kentucky for the first time in program history. "We preach that all the time and we just have to stay together. We have to do it together and we have to win together."
Stokes was far from the only Wildcat to bring up this word, brotherhood. If one word could personify this K-State team, which will face Loyola Chicago (31-5) in the South Regional final on Saturday at 5:09 p.m. (CT) on TBS, brotherhood would be it.
"We're just a tightknit group and we're the true definition of a brotherhood, a team," said junior Barry Brown, who dropped in the go-ahead bucket against Kentucky with 19 seconds to play. "We play for each other, play for K-State, and I think it's showing."
K-State junior forward Dean Wade said the team's bond started last summer, when head coach Bruce Weber challenged his team to adopt a motto as its mindset.
"Coach (Weber) kind of had a saying at the beginning of the summer, 'No personal agendas,'" Wade said. "He said we're going to be successful if we just play as a team. I think we all just bought into that simple saying. It's really paid off for us."
Xavier Sneed traced the team's tightknit nature back to last spring, around this time actually, when offseason conditioning began.
"We all fought through it together," Sneed said, "and we all knew that we had each other's backs, no matter what."
On Thursday night, when K-State faced a combination of size and talent it had not seen all season, the Wildcats fought through everything together.
A prime example was when Sneed picked up his fifth foul with 1:14 to play. The sophomore was K-State's best offensive option all night, hitting 5-of-8 from beyond the arc en route to scoring a game-high 22 points and grabbing nine rebounds. And for the last 74 seconds of the game, K-State would be without him.
"The first thing we told him was, 'We're going to finish this for you,' because he had a great game, guarded his butt off. Offensively he played great and it was (hard) to see him (foul out)," redshirt freshman Cartier Diarra said. "So we just told him we're going to finish this for him."
After Sneed became the third Wildcat to foul out of the game, Kentucky tied the game up with a free throw and blocked a Brown shot out of bounds on K-State's next possession. Brown missed a jumper shortly after, but Diarra fought over a group of Kentucky players to pull in the rebound and call a timeout.
What came next was the single-biggest bucket of Brown's career, a left-handed finish at the rim to help send K-State to its first Elite Eight since 2010.
"I just try to do what's best for my team, try to help my team out as much as I can," Brown said. "My coaches trust me at the end of the game, and my teammates do as well. I just want to reward them with a big play."
Foul trouble forced K-State head coach Bruce Weber to use a five-guard lineup multiple times against a Kentucky squad that put out that a starting lineup ranging between 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-11. All K-State did was persevere.
"We had to stay together through the whole game, through all the adversity throughout the whole game," Sneed said. "It was big and it showed."
In K-State's first two NCAA Tournament wins, it played without All-Big 12 First-Team forward Dean Wade, battling a foot injury. The Wildcats got four points and eight minutes from Wade on Thursday night, all in the first half, before he was shut down.
Together, K-State found a way to win again without his usual on-court production.
"I'm very proud of this team. I knew it was going to happen. Everyone just steps up and does what they have to do to win. At all costs, we're trying to win. Even without me, it gives people an opportunity to step up and I think our defense is really locked down since I've been hurt. I think we're just playing with our hearts," Wade said. "We really play for each other. Nobody cares about individual stats. We just want to win. They're just trying to help their teammates out. It's amazing what kind of group this is. We're all really close friends, more like family. We spend so much time together we're closer to family. It really is a brotherhood here."
There's that word again. If not for the results, it could be written off as cliché. But this team truly represents it.
"It's crazy how much we love each other. All the things that we do for each other. It's not a moment when we're not with each other," Sneed said. "We get different hotel rooms but it just so happens that we end up in the same room. Everybody really bought into the brotherhood and everybody really loves each other here. It's really big for our program. That family piece in our program, it's really big."
Kentucky put together an 8-0 run in the first half to cut K-State's lead to one and an 11-0 run in the second half to take a one-point lead. Both times, with a crowd dominated by Kentucky fans, K-State responded with poise and points.
Freshman Mike McGuirl knocked in a three to end Kentucky's first run, sending K-State to halftime up, 33-29. Diarra stopped Kentucky's second half run, snagging one of K-State's 11 steals and turning it into a go-ahead basket on the other end.
"I play for my teammates and my coaches, and that's all I play for and that's all I see and hear when we're playing the game," Diarra said of the team's bond. "It's very important and I think that has a lot to do with our chemistry and the way we click. We all live close by each other and we all hang around each other all the time. Off days or not, we're chilling together. We're playing video games — Fortnite, NBA 2K, cards, Uno, Connect Four, Monopoly, anything. We're just really locked in and we just have to keep that bond. That's what makes us special because we all trust each other."
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