2019-20 Review // K-State Ends Rebuilding Year on Win Streak

2019-20 Review // K-State Ends Rebuilding Year on Win Streak

Mar 27, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Final Stats (.pdf)Updated Career Records (.pdf)Final Player Bios (.pdf)

By: The Wildcats end the season with a victory for the first time since 1971

2019-20 AT A GLANCE

Overall Record: 11-21 [3-15 Big 12/10th]
Home Record: 9-8 [9-7 in Bramlage Coliseum/3-6 in Big 12]
Road Record: 1-10 [0-9 in Big 12]
Neutral Site Record: 1-3
Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship [No. 10 seed]:
- Defeated No. 7 seed TCU, 53-49, first round; game vs. No. 2 seed Baylor, canceled, quarterfinals; at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Honors
- Cartier Diarra [Academic All-Big 12 First Team; Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week (12/30/19).
- Pierson McAtee [Academic All-Big 12 First Team]
- Mike McGuirl [Academic All-Big 12 Second]
- Xavier Sneed [All-Big 12 honorable mention [coaches); Preseason Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year candidate]
Record Notables/Updates
- Single-Season
  - Topped 2,000 points for the 14^th consecutive season (2006-present).
  - Posted the seventh-lowest opponent scoring average (65.0 ppg.) in shot clock era (since 1985-86).
  - Recorded Top 10 single-season marks for 3-point field goals made (213/10^th) and attempted (681/6^th).
  - Tallied the eighth-best single-season turnover margin (+2.1).
  - Registered third-best single-season marks for totals steals (277/t-3^rd) and steals per game (8.66/3^rd). It was best steals per game average since 1990-91.
  - Cartier Diarra and Xavier Sneed posted the 10^th-best single-season steals per game average (1.813).

Xavier Sneed

Became the seventh Wildcat to finish in the Top 15 in both career scoring (11^th/1,463) and career rebounding (14^th/612).
No. 11 on the all-time scoring chart (1,463).
No. 2 in career games played (137), No. 10^th in starts (104) and No. 4 in minutes (3,856).
No. 2 in career 3-point field goals attempted (651)
No. 4 in career 3-point field goals made (216).
No. 3 in career steals (195) and No. 7 in career steals per game (1.42).
No. 3 in career personal fouls (328).
No. 9 in career double-digit scoring games (77)
No. 9 in career field goals attempted (1,202).
No. 14 in career rebounds (612).

DaJuan Gordon

Tied for No. 4 on the single-season freshman steals list (40).

OVERVIEW

K-State ended a rebuilding season with back-to-back wins (Iowa State and TCU) to wrap up the 2019-20 season with an 11-21 overall record, including a 3-15 mark in Big 12 play. The Wildcats concluded a season with consecutive wins for the first time since the 1968-69 season after their quarterfinal matchup with No. 5/5 Baylor and the remainder of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship were canceled due to COVID-19. The non-winning season snapped a streak of three consecutive 20-win seasons, including a school-first, back-to-back 25-win seasons, and was the first since the 2014-15 season. It was just the second non-winning season in the last 16 years (2004-present).

OKAY, THE NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS FIRST

K-State's 11 wins were the fewest in a season since also posting 11 in 2000-01, while the 3 in Big 12 play were the fewest since totaling 2 in 1999-2000. Proving the Wildcats' tremendous success over the years, the 11 wins are the second fewest in the last 50 seasons. In that same span, the team has 22 20-win seasons and 36 winning seasons.
K-State set school records for both overall losses (21) and conference losses (15). The 21 losses surpassed the previous low of 20 in 1945-46 (and were just the second 20-loss season in school history), while the 15 Big 12 losses eclipsed the 14 in Missouri Valley play in 1922-23.
K-State finished in last place in conference play for the first time since finishing 12^th in 1999-2000 and the ninth time overall. The last place finish was just the fourth in the last 50 seasons.
K-State endured a 10-game losing streak from Feb. 1 to March 4, which was the longest skid in 20 seasons since dropping 11 in a row from Jan. 12 to Feb. 19, 2000.
K-State went winless in the month of February (0-9) for the first time since 1940 (0-6).
K-State went 1-10 on the road in 2019-20, including 0-9 in the Big 12. It marked the first time since the 2015-16 season that the team had just 1 road win, while they went winless on the road in Big 12 play for the first time since going 0-8 in both 2001-02 and 2002-03.

CLOSE GAMES

Close games were a main storyline for K-State this season, as 18 of its 32 games were decided by 10 points or less, including 17 by single digits. The Wildcats lost 13 games by single digits (including 8 in Big 12 play) and 7 by 5 points or less.
During its 10-game losing streak from Feb. 1 to March 4, K-State lost 7 games by 10 points or less, including 6 by single digits.
The 17 games decided by single digits were the most since playing in 18 in 2017-18. The 4 wins by single digits were the fewest since posting just 2 in 2002-03, while the 13 losses by single digits were the most since that same 2002-03 team also lost 13 games by single digits.
In contrast to its 4-13 record in games decided by single digits in 2019-20, K-State was a combined 22-10 in such games in 2017-18 and 2018-19 (when it won a combined 50 games), including 10-4 during its Big 12 Championship season in 2018-19.
The Wildcats were able to finish the year on a high note, snapping a 6-game losing streak in games decided by single digit with their 53-49 win over TCU in the first round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on March 11.
Head coach Bruce Weber is now 68-60 (.531) in his tenure in games decided by single digits and has averaged at least 16 such games during his time at K-State.

INJURIES ADD UP

Injuries were a big part of K-State's season, as 4 players combined to miss 59 games, which caused coach Bruce Weber to use 10 different starting lineups. These injuries were particularly impactful on the frontcourt, as junior James Love III missed all but one game due to injury, while sophomore Nigel Shadd and freshman Montavious Murphy each missed 13 games. Junior Mike McGuirl also missed 3 games due to injury in the middle of Big 12 play.
The Murphy injury proved to be a big disruption. He started the first 3 games of the season, including becoming the first true freshman to start a season opener since 2015, before missing the next 7 games at the first occurrence of his injury. Once he returned as a reserve against Saint Louis on Dec. 21, he started 13 of the next 15 games, including 11 in Big 12 play, before missing the last 6 games.
The 10 lineups were the most since using 11 in 2014-15 with at least one true freshman starting in 28 of 32 games, including rookies Montavious Murphy and DaJuan Gordon starting together in 7 Big 12 games. The last time a pair of freshmen to start together more came when Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade started the last 9 games of the 2015-16 season.

HOME WINNING SEASON STREAK CONTINUES

K-State extended its streak of having a winning record on its home courts to 74 after posting a 79-63 over Iowa State in the home finale on March 7. The Wildcats posted a 9-8 record at home venues in 2019-20, including a 9-7 mark at Bramlage Coliseum.
The 74-year streak has spanned three different arenas (Nichols Gym, Ahearn Field House and Bramlage Coliseum) and 10 head coaches. Since the streak began in 1946 at Nichols Gym, the program has an impressive 805-217 (.788) mark at home venues.
One of the 8 home losses this season was a 66-63 setback to Saint Louis on Dec. 21 in the Wildcat Classic at Sprint Center in Kansas City, which counts as a home game since K-State controls the game ticket and the game operations. It was just the second loss in 10 Wildcat Classics at the Sprint Center and the first since 2010.

'CATS CONTINUE WIN STREAK VS. TCU AT BIG 12 TOURNAMENT

K-State continued its winning streak against TCU at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, earning a victory against the Horned Frogs in the Championship for the third consecutive season with a 53-49 win on March 11. The Wildcats posted a 66-64 win in overtime in the quarterfinals in 2018 before a 70-61 win in the quarterfinals in 2019.
The victory came after dropping both regular-season meetings to TCU, first with a Kevin Samuel tip-in for a 59-57 win in Manhattan on Jan. 7 then a record-setting 3-point performance in a 68-57 win at home on Feb. 15.

The win was the fifth consecutive against the No. 7 seed at the league championship and moved K-State to 9-2 all-time (5-0 in the Big 12 era) in that matchup. The other victories came against Nebraska in 2001, Texas A&M in 2005, Oklahoma State in 2010 and Texas in 2013. The Wildcats also moved to 3-2 as the No. 10 seed with a third straight win in the first round (2001 and 2005).
K-State is now 19-14 (7-6 in the Big 12 era) in the first round.
K-State is now 36-41 all-time in the Big Eight/12 Championship dating back to its inception in 1977, including a 16-23 mark in the 24-year history of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. The Wildcats have won two championships (1977, 1980), while they have advanced to the finals on five other occasions (1978, 1981, 1993, 2010 and 2013), including twice in the Big 12 era. Overall, K-State is now 35-36 when the championship is held in Kansas City.
Head coach Bruce Weber is now 7-7 all-time at the Big 12 Championship.
K-State played in the first round of the Big 12 Championship for the first time since 2016 after earning a bye to the quarterfinals in each of the last 3 seasons. Last season, as the tournament's No. 1 seed (for the first time since 1977), the Wildcats defeated No. 8 seed TCU, 70-61, before losing to No. 5 seed Iowa State, 63-59 in the semifinals.

LEADING WITH DEFENSE

K-State has continued its reputation as a strong defensive team under head coach Bruce Weber, holding its 32 opponents to 65 points on 43 percent shooting (707-of-1646), including 33 percent (218-of-660) from 3-point range, while leading the Big 12 in steals (8.7 spg.) and turnovers forced (16.4) per game.
K-State ranks among Top 20 in 3 defensive categories, including 14th in steals per game and total steals (277) and 20th in turnovers forced.
K-State has held 28 of its last 66 opponents to 60 points or less with just 11 eclipsing 70 (with 10 occurring in the last 33 games). The squad has held 96 opponents to 60 points or less in Bruce Weber's tenure, boasting an 87-9 mark in those contests. The Wildcats were 8-1 in 2019-20 when holding an opponent below 60 points, including their first 4 wins.
K-State had one of the top defensive teams in the country in 2018-19, holding opponents to 59.6 points on 41.5 percent shooting, including 31.4 percent from 3-point range, while forcing 14.8 turnovers per game and averaging 7.5 steals per game. The Wildcats ranked among the nation's best in a number of defensive categories, including fourth in scoring defense, 16th in turnover margin (+3.5), 36th in 3-point field goal percentage defense, 43rd in total steals (256) and 48th in steals per game.

POINTS OFF TURNOVERS

K-State once again used its defense to generate offense in 2019-20, as the Wildcats forced 16.5 turnovers per game, including a Big 12-best 8.7 steals per game, while averaging 17.3 points per game off those opponent turnovers. The team scored a total of 555 points off 525 opponent turnovers in 32 games.
K-State scored 20 or more points off opponent turnovers 12 times this season, including a season-high 28 in the win over No. 12/13 West Virginia (1/18/20). The team also scored 20 or more points off turnovers against Monmouth (21), UAPB (20), Pittsburgh (24) Bradley (22), Florida A&M (20), Alabama State (26), Texas (23), 23/23 Texas Tech (20), Iowa State (23 and 25) and OSU (24). The team scored 19 points off turnovers in 4 other games.
K-State topped 200 or more steals (currently 277) for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons, including the seventh time in head coach Bruce Weber's eight seasons (including the fifth consecutive season). The 277 steals ties for third on the school's single season list, while the 8.66 per game average also ranks third and is the highest since averaging 8.71 steals in 1990-91.
K-State has scored over 4,000 points (4,230) off turnovers during head coach Bruce Weber's tenure, an average of 15.6 points per game.

2-POINTERS WERE KEY TO VICTORY

With its 3-point percentage nearly identical in wins (32.5; 81-of-249) as in losses (30.6; 132-of-432), K-State's 2-point field goal percentage was a key factor in its wins this season. On the year, the Wildcats connected on 48 percent (508-of-1061) from inside the 3-point line.
K-State connected on 45.7 percent (283-of-619) of its field goals in the 11 wins, including 54.6 percent (202-of-370) from inside the arc, while the team hit on just 39 percent (438-of-1123) of their field goals in the 21 losses, including 44.3 percent (306-of-691) from inside the arc.
Senior Xavier Sneed averaged a team-best 17 points on 46 percent (63-of-137) shooting, including 57.4 percent (39-of-68) from inside the arc, in the 11 wins, while he averaged 12.7 points on 31.2 percent (77-of-247) shooting in the 21 losses, including 32.8 percent (44-of-134) from inside the arc. During the 10-game losing skid, he averaged 12.5 points on 30.8 percent (37-of-120), including 35.5 percent (22-of-62) from inside the arc.

DEFICITS AND COMEBACKS

K-State had to face early deficits in a number of games, but found a way to rally from those deficits before losing down the stretch. The Wildcats lost 13 games by single digits, including 7 by 5 points or less.
K-State was down 7-0 to start vs. TCU (1/7/20) before slowing chipping away at the deficit to eventually take a 17-16 lead at the 8:19 mark of the first half and tying it at 23-all before the Horned Frogs scored 12 of the last 14 points. Down 49-42 with just over 7 to play, the Wildcats tied it at 57-all on David Sloan's 3-pointer before losing on a tip-in. In the second meeting, the team got down 21-12 at TCU (2/15/20) before rallying for a 27-26 halftime lead.
K-State trailed 9-2 to start against Texas (1/11/20) before again rallying to take an 18-16 lead with 6:40 before halftime. With the Wildcats leading 25-23 with 2:48 to play in the first half, the Longhorns would score 20 of the next 22 points to take 43-27 advantage with 13:11 remaining.
K-State allowed No. 23/23 Texas Tech (1/14/20) to score the first 10 points of the game, but the resilient Wildcats responded with 7 in a row to close to within one possession before trailing 37-30 at the half. The team again fought back to take a 46-45 lead on a layup by junior Cartier Diarra to cap an 11-2 run with 13:24 to play. The Red Raiders responded with a 16-4 run over the next 6 minutes to take a 61-50 lead with just over 7 minutes remaining.
Down by 16 points with just over 12 minutes to play, K-State closed to within one possession on multiple occasions, including 69-67 with 2:48 left, but Alabama (1/25/20) held strong at the free throw line to post a 77-74 win. A 3-pointer by from senior Xavier Sneed ignited an 18-3 run that closed the deficit to 62-61 on another 3-pointer from junior Cartier Diarra with 6:34 remaining.
No. 1/1 Baylor (2/3/20) jumped out to a 16-point lead in the first half, as the Big 12's top defense held K-State without a field goal for more than 7 minutes. However, a Sneed 3-pointer, the last of three consecutive triples, pulled the Wildcats to within one possession at 29-26 with 2:18 to play. Leading just 33-28 at the half, the Bears grabbed the momentum early in the second half, scoring 9 of the first 13 points to push the lead back into double figures at 42-32. After K-State responded with 5 straight points to close to within 42-37, Baylor took control with a 14-4 run that extended the lead to 56-41 with 8:46 left.
Down by as many as 21 to Iowa State (2/8/20) in the first half, K-State rallied to within 4 points on two occasions down the stretch, including 52-48 after layup by junior David Sloan that forced an ISU timeout with 7:54 to play. However, the Cyclones responded by scoring 7 of the next 10 points, including back-to-back buckets by senior Prentiss Nixon out of the timeout, to push the lead to 59-51 with just under 4 minutes remaining.
K-State was down by as many as 9 points in the first half against top-ranked Kansas (2/29/20) before using a 12-5 run to close to within 35-34 at the half. The Wildcats continued their momentum with a 9-4 run coming out of halftime that extended the lead to 43-39 with 15:10 to play. However, with the score knotted at 48-all with 7:23 remaining, the Jayhawks seized the final momentum with 8 straight points out of the third media timeout.

RECAPPING NON-CONFERENCE HISTORY

K-State concluded non-conference play with the 77-74 loss at Alabama in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Jan. 25. Despite the setback, the Wildcats finished with a winning record (7-6) in non-conference play for 14th season in a row.
K-State has a 111-8 (.932) record at home venues (includes home games played at Bramlage Coliseum, INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita and the Sprint Center in Kansas City) in non-conference play since the 2006-07 season, including a 102-6 (.944) mark at Bramlage Coliseum.
Despite seeing their 33-game winning streak end at Bramlage Coliseum with a loss to Marquette on Dec. 7, the Wildcats have still won 98 of their last 104 non-conference home games. The last home non-conference loss before Marquette came against Georgia, 50-46, on Dec. 31, 2014.
K-State has posted a 147-42 (.781) record in non-conference play since the 2006-07 season, which includes a 10-3 mark in 2018-19. Prior to this season, the team has posted double-digit non-conference wins in 12 of the last 13 years.
Since going 7-6 in non-conference in 2014-15, which included back-to-back losses to Texas Southern and Georgia, the Wildcats have won double-digit non-conference games four times in the last 5 seasons and are 50-15 (.781) in non-conference play since the start of 2015-16 season.

WEBER NAMED USA BASKETBALL CO-NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR

After leading Team USA to a gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Cup this past summer, K-State men's basketball coach Bruce Weber was selected as the co-recipient of the 2019 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year award on Dec. 9.
Weber shared the honor with Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz, who also led the USA Women's U19 World Cup Team to a gold medal on July 20-28 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Since 1996, USA Basketball has awarded its National Coach of the Year honor to a USA Basketball head coach, who during the year of the award, made a significant impact on the success of the individual athlete and team performance at the highest levels of competition in a manner consistent with the highest ethical, professional and moral standards.
Weber, who served as a head coach in the USA Basketball system for the first time in his career, led Team USA to their seventh gold medal at the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) U19 World Cup, including the first since 2015, with a perfect 7-0 record. Team USA capped their perfect performance with a 93-79 win over Mali in the gold-medal game in Greece on July 7.
Team USA averaged better than 100 points per game and won the tournament by an average of 28.7 points per game, including victories over New Zealand (111-71), Lithuania (102-84) and Senegal (87-58) to capture Group A then wins over Latvia (116-66) in the group of 16, Russia (95-80) in the medal round, Lithuania (102-67) in the semifinals and Mali (93-79) in the finals. The team ranked first in points per game (100.9), field goal percentage (.475), assists per game (28.6 apg.) and steals per game (15.9 spg.).

SNEED LEADS THE WAY

Senior Xavier Sneed led the Wildcats in scoring 13 times in 2019-20, averaging a team-best 14.2 points on 36.5 percent shooting (140-of-384), including 30.4 percent (59-of-194) from 3-point range. He scored in double figures in a team-best 24 games (including 5 games of at least 20 points), while he had double-digit points in 17 of the last 22 games.
Sneed led the team in nearly every offensive category, including scoring, field goals attempted (384), 3-point field goals made (59) and attempted (194) and free throw made (116) and attempted (168). He was also the leader in defensive rebounds (124) and steals (58) and second in field goals made (140), rebounding (4.8 rpg.) and blocked shots (10).
Sneed scored 20 or more points on 5 occasions in 2019-20, including a career-best 31-point effort against Iowa State on Senior Day on March 7. His other 20-point efforts include 21 vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff (11/19/19), 20 vs. Alabama State (12/11/19), 22 at Oklahoma (1/4/20) and 23 vs. No. 1/1 Baylor (2/3/20).
Sneed was named honorable mention All-Big 12 for the second consecutive season.

SNEED ENJOYS STELLAR ENDING TO CAREER AT BRAMLAGE COLISEUM

Senior Xavier Sneed enjoyed a storybook ending to his stellar career at Bramlage Coliseum, as he scored 26 of his career-high 31 points in a dominant first-half effort that propelled K-State past a short-handed Iowa State team, 79-63, on March 7 to end a 10-game losing streak.

Sneed, who became the first Wildcat with a 30-point game since Barry Brown, Jr., scored 34 points at Baylor on Jan. 22, 2018, was nearly perfect in helping K-State build its largest halftime lead (19 points) in Big 12 play, as he connected on 8-of-11 field goals, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line in scoring 26 points. Sneed was responsible for more than 63 percent of the Wildcats' 41 first-half points, as the team hit on 52 percent (13-of-25) from the field.
Sneed finished with 31 points on 10-of-21 field goals, including 4-of-11 from 3-point range, and 7-of-8 free throws to go with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in 33 minutes. He was joined in double figures by juniors Cartier Diarra (14) and Mike McGuirl (10).
Senior and former walk-on Pierson McAtee enjoyed a dream end to his home playing career by tying or eclipsing career-highs in 6 categories in first career start, including points (6), rebounds (5), field goals made (3) and attempted (8) and minutes played (25).

SNEED FINISHES AMONG THE BEST IN SCHOOL HISTORY

Senior Xavier Sneed concluded his career among the best in a number of categories in school history, as he finished among the Top 15 in scoring (1,463/11^th), rebounding (612/14^th), 3-point field goals made (216/fourth) and attempted (651/second), double-digit scoring games (77/ninth), field goals attempted (1,202/10^th), steals (195/third) and steals per game (1.42/seventh), games played (137/second), starts (104/10^th) and minutes played (3,856/fourth).
Sneed is the first Wildcat with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 150 steals in a career.
With his 16-point effort in the win over No. 12/13 West Virginia (1/18/20), Sneed moved into the school's Top 15 in scoring at No. 15 with 1,257 points, moving past former teammate Kamau Stokes (1,242), current Orlando Magic player Wes Iwundu (1,249) and Tyrone Adams (1,251). He is the fourth player under head coach Bruce Weber to rank in the Top 15 in scoring, following Barry Brown, Jr. (1,781 points/fifth), Rodney McGruder (1,576/eighth) and Dean Wade (1,510/10th). He finished in 11th place with 1,463 points, closing to within 47 points of former teammate Wade for 10th.
Sneed cracked the career Top 15 in rebounds (612) against Iowa State (3/7/20), making him the seventh Wildcat to rank among the Top 15 in both career scoring and rebounding. He joins a list that includes Ed Nealy, Bob Boozer, Jamar Samuels, Dean Wade, Rodney McGruder and Rolando Blackman. In a game against Marquette on Dec. 7, he became the 13^th player with at least 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.
Sneed leaves as one of the best 3-point shooters in school history, passing former teammate Kamau Stokes for fourth in career makes (216) and ranking second in career attempts (651). With his 4 triples against No. 1/1 Baylor (2/3/20), he became the fifth Wildcat to eclipse 200 career 3-point field goals and the first since Stokes last season. Only Jacob Pullen (828) attempted more 3-pointers in school history.
Sneed concludes his career third on the all-time steals list with 195 with only Barry Brown, Jr. (254) and Jacob Pullen (210) posting more in a career. He also finished with seventh with a 1.42 steals per game average in his career.
Sneed finished among the Top 10 in games played (137), games started (104) and minutes played (3,856). Only Barry Brown, Jr., played in more games in a career (139), while only Steve Henson (4,474), Brown (4,472) and Pullen (3,978) played more minutes.

DIARRA ENJOYS SOLID FIRST SEASON AS A FULL-TIME STARTER

Junior Cartier Diarra proved to be solid in his first full-year as a regular starter for the Wildcats, averaging 13.3 points on 41.2 percent (148-of-359) shooting with a team-best 4.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 31.2 minutes per game. He led the team in scoring 14 times (team-best), including 4 of the last 5 games, while he had a team-leading 5 20-point games.
Diarra collected his team-leading fifth 20-point game with his game-high 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting at Iowa State (2/8/20). He had four of the Top 5 scoring efforts, which included 25 vs. Tulsa (12/29/19) and No. 12/11 West Virginia (1/18) and 23 vs. North Dakota State (11/5/19).
Diarra scored in double figures in 23 games (second on the team), including 15 times in the last 18 games. He posted team-highs vs. NDSU (23), Pittsburgh (13), Marquette (14), Mississippi State (20), Tulsa (25), Texas (14), 23/23 Texas Tech (19), 12/13 West Virginia (25), Alabama (17), Iowa State (24), 2/2 Baylor (19), 1/1 Kansas (15), Oklahoma State (18) and TCU (13).
Diarra became the 26th Wildcat to eclipse 200 career assists vs. 23/23 Texas Tech (1/14/20), while he became the 39th player to top 100 assists in a single season at No. 12/11 West Virginia (2/1/20). His 251 assists rank in the Top 20 in school history, while his 134 this season tie for the 13^th-most in a single season and are the most since Kamau Stokes dished out 145 in 2016-17.
Diarra led the Wildcats in assists in 21 games, while he had at least 5 assists in 14 games, including a career-high 10 vs. Alabama State on Dec. 11. He became the first Wildcat with a 10-assist game since Marcus Foster (at Baylor) on Feb. 15, 2014.

DIARRA NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK DEC. 30

Junior Cartier Diarra earned his first career Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week honor on Dec. 31 after scoring a career-best 25 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 22.4 seconds left, to help the Wildcats defeat Tulsa, 69-67, on Dec. 30, 2019.
Diarra is the first Wildcat to earn the Big 12's weekly honor since Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade won the accolade in back-to-back weeks on January 14 and 21, 2019. Overall, it marks the school's 29th Player of the Week honor since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997, including the 13th under head coach Bruce Weber.
Diarra collected his third 20-point game of the season in the victory over the Golden Hurricane, connecting on 8-of-16 from the field, including 6-of-11 from beyond the arc, to go with a 3-of-4 effort from the line, a game-high 7 assists and 5 rebounds in 33 minutes of action. His 6 3-pointers were a career-high and the most by a Wildcat since teammate Xavier Sneed knocked down 6 triples against West Virginia on Jan. 1, 2018.

MAK ATTACK

Senior Makol Mawien was the team leader in both rebounding (5.4 rpg.) and blocked shots (0.8 bpg.), while averaging 7.4 points on 45.9 percent (89-of-194) shooting. He scored in double figures in 11 games, including a team-leading 3 double-doubles.
Mawien posted double-doubles vs. North Dakota State (15 points and 10 rebounds), at Alabama (13 points and 12 rebounds) and Texas (14 points and 10 rebounds).
Mawien was solid in the last 14 games, where he averaged 8.0 points on 48.4 percent (45-of-93) shooting with 6.4 rebounds per game. He had 6 double-digit scoring games in that span.

McGUIRL FINISHES STRONG

Junior Mike McGuirl capped an impressive finish to his season with perhaps his best all-around performance in the win over TCU in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on March 11, posting team-highs in both rebounds (7) and assists (6) to go with 8 points in a career-best 36 minutes.
In starting the last 5 games of the season, McGuirl averaged 9.4 points on 41.5 percent (17-of-41) shooting with 3.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.4 minutes per game.
McGuirl started the first 17 games of the season before missing 3 games due to a concussion.
McGuirl returned against Alabama on Jan. 25, playing in the last 14 games with 5 consecutive starts to end the season. In the last 14 games, he averaged 7.6 points on 41 percent shooting (36-of-88), including 47.7 percent (21-of-44) from inside the 3-point arc. He posted 5 of his 8 double-digit scoring games in this span, including 3 in the last 5 games.
In McGuirl's first year as a full-time starter, he averaged 6.9 points on 42.3 percent shooting (66-of-156), including 39.8 percent (35-of-88) from 3-point range, to go with 2.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 24.7 minutes per game.

SLOAN CREATES A SPARK

K-State received a spark when junior David Sloan moved into the starting point guard role, allowing Cartier Diarra to move off the ball, in the win over 12/13 West Virginia on Jan. 18. He scored 9 points in the upset of the Mountaineers to go with 5 assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes.
The Wildcats averaged 65.7 points and 12.0 assists during a stretch where Sloan started 9 games from Jan. 18 to Feb. 22 after averaging 57.8 points and 8.8 assists in the first 4 Big 12 games
In his 9 starts this season, Sloan averaged 8.6 points, 2.9 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 24.6 minutes per game, which included a season-high 17 points at No. 3/3 Kansas (1/21/20) and a team-high 13-point effort at No. 12/11 West Virginia (2/1/20) and 11 at TCU (2/15/20).
Prior to the West Virginia game on Jan. 18, Sloan was averaging 3.7 points and 1.9 assists in 15.5 minutes per game.

FRESHMEN PLAY A MAJOR ROLE

Three freshmen (DaJuan Gordon, Antonio Gordon and Montavious Murphy) played major roles for the Wildcats in 2019-20, as each averaged better than 17 minutes per game, including 16 starts by Murphy, 11 by DaJuan Gordon and 9 by Antonio Gordon.
The 36 combined starts by the 3 true freshmen were the most starts by a freshman trio since 2015-16 when Dean Wade (31), Kamau Stokes (20) and Barry Brown, Jr. (11) combined to start 62 games. DaJuan Gordon and Murphy started together in 8 games, while Antonio Gordon earned back-to-back starts vs. Texas (2/22/20) and No. 2/2 Baylor (2/25/20).
DaJuan Gordon was one of six players to see action in all 32 games, averaging 24.1 minutes per game. He has scored in double figures 6 times, including a 15-point effort against 12/13 West Virginia (1/18/20) and a 12-point output at 2/2 Baylor (2/25/20). He connected on 44.3 percent (78-of-176) from the field, including 32.9 percent (24-of-73) from 3-point range. He performed well in Big 12 play, averaging 6.4 points on 44.9 percent shooting, including 31.7 percent from long range, with 3.4 rebounds in 26.4 minutes per game.
DaJuan Gordon's 40 steals tied for the fourth-most by a freshman in school history.
Murphy, who became the first true freshmen to start an opener since 2015, started each of the first 3 games of the season before his injury on Nov. 13. He returned to play 18 minutes against Saint Louis (12/29/19) before starting 11 Big 12 games and averaging 25.2 minutes per game. He missed the last 6 games after reinjuring the same knee and undergoing surgery.
Antonio Gordon saw in 26 games, averaging 17.3 minutes per game, with 9 start. He averaged 4.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. He had his best game of the season at Texas Tech (2/19/20), scoring a season-high 14 points on 6-of-7 field goals to go with a game-high 8 rebounds.

EZEAGU JOINS TEAM JAN. 17

Head coach Bruce Weber announced on Jan. 17 that transfer forward Kaosi Ezeagu (Brampton, Ontario/GTA Prep/UTEP) signed a scholarship agreement to join the men's basketball team. He will have three years of eligibility once he sits out the required time as a Division I transfer.
Ezeagu enrolled at K-State for the spring semester in January and was able to start practicing with the team. He sat out the rest of the 2019-20 season and will do the same for the first semester of the 2020-21 season before being eligible in mid-December 2020.
A 6-foot-10, 245-pound forward from Brampton, Ontario, Ezeagu played one season at UTEP for head coach Rodney Terry in 2018-19. He played in all 29 games for the Miners as a true freshman, averaging 3.2 points on a team-best 56.9 percent shooting (37-of-65) with 3.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 12.4 minutes per game. Twice he scored in double figures, including 10 in his first game against UTPB on Nov. 16, 2018 and a season-best 12 against Middle Tennessee State on March 6, 2019.
Ezeagu was born in the Bahamas but went to prep school in Brampton, Ontario, where he was rated one of the top prep players in Canada after averaging 11.4 points and 10.4 rebounds at GTA Prep in 2017-18.

FOUR PREP STANDOUTS HIGHLIGHT K-STATE'S 2020 RECRUITING CLASS

Head coach Bruce Weber announced the signing of four prep standouts to highlight the start of the Fall National Signing Period on Nov. 13 with the additions of Davion Bradford (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville), Luke Kasubke (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade), Selton Miguel (Orlando, Fla./West Oaks Academy) and Nijel Pack (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central).
The four-man class is a Top 25 class nationally by several recruiting services, ranking No. 21 by 247Sports.com, No. 23 by Rivals.com and No. 22 by ESPN. It is the highest rated recruiting class under Weber and the highest collective class by K-State since recruiting rankings have been kept. All four players are rated among the Top 200 players nationally, while each is a member of the Rivals150.
The class ties for the largest Fall Signing Class in the Weber era and it includes players from three states (Florida, Indiana and Missouri) at four different positions (point guard, shooting guard, small forward and power forward).