Head Coach Bruce Weber Previews Oklahoma State Game
Feb 11, 2021 | Men's Basketball
The Wildcats play the Cowboys in Stillwater at 11 am CT on Saturday
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State head coach Bruce Weber met with members of the media via Zoom on Thursday morning, as the Wildcats continue preparations for Saturday's game at No. 23/22 Oklahoma State (12-6. 5-6 Big 12) at 11 a.m., CT at Gallagher-Iba Arena. The game will air nationally on ESPNU.
Kansas State (5-16, 1-11 Big 12) is coming off an 80-77 loss to No. 13/13 Texas on Tuesday night, which came despite the Wildcats posting their best offensive effort of the season, as the team scored a season-high 77 points while registering their second-highest field goal percentage (51.0) and the highest in Big 12 play.
This will be the second meeting with Oklahoma State this season and the first since the Cowboys posted a 70-54 win over a short-handed Wildcat squad in Manhattan on January 9. K-State had just eight available players for that first meeting, as senior Mike McGuirl (15) and sophomore DaJuan Gordon (14) combined for more than half of the team's 54 points. OSU had 42 points in the paint, while it held a 33-6 advantage in bench points.
Oklahoma State is 12-6 on the season and has lost 2 of its last 3 outings, including a 78-66 setback at Kansas on Monday night. The Cowboys are 6-3 at home this season.
HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
On if DaJuan will be ready for Saturday...
"No, I don't think so. He's made some progress, but he's just starting to get on the court and shooting and a little running in the pool. Our long term hope or best hope was two weeks, but probably a little longer than that. You gotta get him back in practice before we can take that chance. At least now he's weight bearing and shooting a little bit. It's a unique injury, and we just didn't know how long it would take him. He's got a pretty good pain tolerance, but it was a more severe injury than just a sprain."
On if Nijel Pack has surprised him…
"I'm happy. He's doing what I thought he would do. I thought he was this good. If you watched him in high school and AAU or whatever it was, he was pretty elite. It's not always transferable from high school to college, but he did some special things, especially when you go back to the EYBL where you're playing against a lot of the guys we're playing against now. He was special, and again, I'm really happy he's done it. If he wouldn't, we'd be in big trouble. Not that we're not in trouble anyway, but obviously he's helped us because of his play."
On how far along Nijel Pack is…
"If you go back, Cam had the best numbers and then he got hurt. I would say he's been a little more productive, but he's had to be. We've really had to depend on him in games. He's getting more looks, and he's getting a little more aggressive. He's gotta get at least 10 shots up if possible a game and try to get the ball in his hands more obviously."
On the performance against Texas…
"We made big improvement. There's no doubt about that. Obviously, you've gotta get a win somewhere. That's the goal. That's why you play the game. From Texas A&M after the Baylor game, you got Nijel back. You have a little continuity with the lineup even though you don't have DaJuan and you haven't had Montavious for a long time. It gives us a little continuity. I think our ball movement is better. I would tell you our defense in the last 10 minutes was pretty good. The rest of the game, I don't think it was bad, but they're just a really good team. I know Baylor is really good. You start matching kids and depth, and they're as talented as anybody. We did some good things and hung in with them. We just had the one stretch that we've had all year. I told our coaches that we went back to what we were in that one little stretch when we had our struggles offensively. That's where they made the run. Our guys, they've done it all year, they keep coming back. They fought back and got off the floor and gave us a chance. A little more improvement each time, and hope we can find a way to get a win here."
On hanging in there against Texas…
"I think our offense was much better obviously. If you go back to the second half the first time we played them, we scored 40-some points against them and we showed them that we can score against them and this is what we gotta do. Credit to our guys and our coaches. That's what we did. We found ways to score, not just in our set plays but a little bit of continuity within our offense to make the next pass and make the next play. We weren't perfect on defense. The rotations, they got a couple things. I think we had a better idea of what they were doing and how we could stop it. They just jumped up and made shots plain and simple. We jumped up and made shots too. We stayed in there. It was one game that we were able to stay in there with offense more than the defensive part. Our rebounding has been much better. Second chance points, I think we won that 11-2. All the other stats that you consider, points off turnovers we won. Points in the paint we won. Second chance points we won. Fast break points we won. Bench points we won. But we didn't win the game. The first time we played them, they kicked our butt and all those stats, I promise would be Texas winning by 10 or more in all those other stats."
On Antonio Gordon…
"He's accepted his role. He feels comfortable with doing what he does. Some of the guys keep trying to do things they can't do and force the issue. Antonio isn't doing that. He's not perfect, but nine rebounds and leads us on the play hard chart and eight points. Make one more shot, maybe another free throw and it's a really good game. It's just that I think he feels also that we don't have anyone to put in for him. He feels more comfortable that he's going to stay in the game and doesn't have to go and prove himself and try to do something he can't do. I think right now we have a little better idea of some roles. Antonio had no spring, no summer and missed most of the fall. He missed parts of early practice then missed 21 days in December, so now for him this has been his most consistent time on the floor since last season.
On Luke Kasubke…
"That's part of it, and he knows his role. He drove in the first half once and tried to go against Jericho Sims. We were all kind of watching the film and saying, 'What are you trying to do Luke?' For the most part, he stays within it. He's been pretty good defensively. Honestly, I'm surprised. You're going against really good guards. He's been able to switch and stay in front. He stays spread out and gives us space. He jumped up and made a three the other day. He's done a nice job of fitting in and figuring out how he can help us."
On Seryee Lewis and Carlton Linguard…
"Seryee is just a young guy, and he's gotta learn. This is hard. This step up to college basketball is a hard thing, especially the defensive concepts. We're playing against teams that play small ball or spread you out. Right now, Seryee is probably a backup at the five. Same thing with Carlton, and it's more the defensive part of it than anything especially with the teams we've been playing. They're playing small ball. We're going to play Oklahoma State, and I guess Isaac is the four. It's tough for those guys to guard those people. Seryee is a great young man. He texted me the other night and said, 'I'm so sorry Coach. I'm trying.' I just told him hey, I appreciate it and I understand. It's hard and is a big step. Just keep working at it. He would be our third five man just because of his athleticism. Carlton is a little better offensively, but defensively, he just missed so much and it's hard to catch up."
On possibly redshirting Seryee next year…
"We'll just have to see how much progress for all these guys. Even Carlton, I've talked to Carlton. We would've redshirted him this year, because he was hurt. He didn't get to practice, workout or do anything. Even Luke, we wouldn't have played him. You're talking about a guy that didn't get back until mid-January. We would not have played him, so any of these minutes and experiences that they get in a way are a freebie for them. Now use the experience. What do you do with it? Whether it's Seryee, Carlton or Luke, any of the guys that have had this opportunity, where do you go and what do you do with that and how hard do you work?"
On Seryee's potential…
"He's got great upside. He really does. He has instincts. You have instincts that other guys do not have on our team, and he can go make plays that other guys can't. The game is too fast for him right now. He might have to come in on Saturday and help us, especially with them. They're kind of small and athletic and bouncy. I haven't given up on him. We've just gotten into a little bit better rotation, especially defensively. He has some natural ability. I think he wants it, and when you get past the season, it's like anybody. What do you do with it? The Barry Brown, Dean Wade, those guys, they used that experience to put their work ethic into double and triple gear. Then they put the time in, and that's why they made big jumps. Hopefully Seryee is that same kind of guy."
On carrying momentum from the Texas Tech game…
"I think those stats I mentioned to you. Whether it's turnovers with them, second chance and the toughness points, we've done much better on all of those. I think Antonio's rebounding has been a big factor. That has helped us. Our defensive rotations and block outs have helped us. We're doing things better, both offensively and defensively than we were two weeks ago. Now can we have a little more improvement and not have that one bad stretch in the game? You go back to Oklahoma State when we played them the first time, we're winning with under two minutes in the half with Joe (Petrakis) playing and limited guys. Again, we had a little stretch at the end of the half. We pushed them again in the second half, but then again a little stretch. We we be a little more consistent to give ourselves a chance?"
On taking positives from the past couple of games…
"Consistency. Keeping the faith and believing you can be successful. We've made improvement. Keep doing what we've done, and get a little more consistency so we don't have that one bad lapse. The other thing is just execution at gut check time. These experience are all new to us. I kind of laugh because I told the coaches going into Texas, remember when we played Texas when Dean and Cam freshman year. Dean had a shot with a chance to win it at the end or tie it at least. You think back, and it was a very similar game. Mike's got the ball to tie it. You gave yourself a chance. You didn't win, but those guys use that experience to become really good players and team down the road."
On the last matchup with Oklahoma State and holding Cade Cunningham to 5 points…
"I'd be really happy if we could hold him to under 10 again. I don't know if that's possible. He's gotten better. In the first half, we did a great job on him. We actually played pretty well if you go back and look. We weren't perfect by any means, but we did a great job of staying compact and took away some of his easy looks. Second half down the stretch, he did get going a little bit. When we pushed them, they got the ball into his hands. They're smart. When they need a basket, they put the ball in his hands. We're going to have to do a good job staying in front of him, not giving him easy ones and make him earn everything."
On lighting a fire under the team the past few games…
"My biggest thing is I've tried. I don't sleep a lot at nights. It's hard. You just wonder every day why things happen the way they do. I just want to stay positive with them. We keep pushing them. We did some drills we haven't done. We should've done them early, but we didn't have the opportunity to practice because we didn't have people. You would never do your toughness drills late, maybe once in a while. I just said heck with it, we're going back to where we should've been with the foundation back in October and November. The guys responded. We keep telling them that we believe. I hope they keep believing, and I hope something good happens for them."
Kansas State (5-16, 1-11 Big 12) is coming off an 80-77 loss to No. 13/13 Texas on Tuesday night, which came despite the Wildcats posting their best offensive effort of the season, as the team scored a season-high 77 points while registering their second-highest field goal percentage (51.0) and the highest in Big 12 play.
This will be the second meeting with Oklahoma State this season and the first since the Cowboys posted a 70-54 win over a short-handed Wildcat squad in Manhattan on January 9. K-State had just eight available players for that first meeting, as senior Mike McGuirl (15) and sophomore DaJuan Gordon (14) combined for more than half of the team's 54 points. OSU had 42 points in the paint, while it held a 33-6 advantage in bench points.
Oklahoma State is 12-6 on the season and has lost 2 of its last 3 outings, including a 78-66 setback at Kansas on Monday night. The Cowboys are 6-3 at home this season.
HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
On if DaJuan will be ready for Saturday...
"No, I don't think so. He's made some progress, but he's just starting to get on the court and shooting and a little running in the pool. Our long term hope or best hope was two weeks, but probably a little longer than that. You gotta get him back in practice before we can take that chance. At least now he's weight bearing and shooting a little bit. It's a unique injury, and we just didn't know how long it would take him. He's got a pretty good pain tolerance, but it was a more severe injury than just a sprain."
On if Nijel Pack has surprised him…
"I'm happy. He's doing what I thought he would do. I thought he was this good. If you watched him in high school and AAU or whatever it was, he was pretty elite. It's not always transferable from high school to college, but he did some special things, especially when you go back to the EYBL where you're playing against a lot of the guys we're playing against now. He was special, and again, I'm really happy he's done it. If he wouldn't, we'd be in big trouble. Not that we're not in trouble anyway, but obviously he's helped us because of his play."
On how far along Nijel Pack is…
"If you go back, Cam had the best numbers and then he got hurt. I would say he's been a little more productive, but he's had to be. We've really had to depend on him in games. He's getting more looks, and he's getting a little more aggressive. He's gotta get at least 10 shots up if possible a game and try to get the ball in his hands more obviously."
On the performance against Texas…
"We made big improvement. There's no doubt about that. Obviously, you've gotta get a win somewhere. That's the goal. That's why you play the game. From Texas A&M after the Baylor game, you got Nijel back. You have a little continuity with the lineup even though you don't have DaJuan and you haven't had Montavious for a long time. It gives us a little continuity. I think our ball movement is better. I would tell you our defense in the last 10 minutes was pretty good. The rest of the game, I don't think it was bad, but they're just a really good team. I know Baylor is really good. You start matching kids and depth, and they're as talented as anybody. We did some good things and hung in with them. We just had the one stretch that we've had all year. I told our coaches that we went back to what we were in that one little stretch when we had our struggles offensively. That's where they made the run. Our guys, they've done it all year, they keep coming back. They fought back and got off the floor and gave us a chance. A little more improvement each time, and hope we can find a way to get a win here."
On hanging in there against Texas…
"I think our offense was much better obviously. If you go back to the second half the first time we played them, we scored 40-some points against them and we showed them that we can score against them and this is what we gotta do. Credit to our guys and our coaches. That's what we did. We found ways to score, not just in our set plays but a little bit of continuity within our offense to make the next pass and make the next play. We weren't perfect on defense. The rotations, they got a couple things. I think we had a better idea of what they were doing and how we could stop it. They just jumped up and made shots plain and simple. We jumped up and made shots too. We stayed in there. It was one game that we were able to stay in there with offense more than the defensive part. Our rebounding has been much better. Second chance points, I think we won that 11-2. All the other stats that you consider, points off turnovers we won. Points in the paint we won. Second chance points we won. Fast break points we won. Bench points we won. But we didn't win the game. The first time we played them, they kicked our butt and all those stats, I promise would be Texas winning by 10 or more in all those other stats."
On Antonio Gordon…
"He's accepted his role. He feels comfortable with doing what he does. Some of the guys keep trying to do things they can't do and force the issue. Antonio isn't doing that. He's not perfect, but nine rebounds and leads us on the play hard chart and eight points. Make one more shot, maybe another free throw and it's a really good game. It's just that I think he feels also that we don't have anyone to put in for him. He feels more comfortable that he's going to stay in the game and doesn't have to go and prove himself and try to do something he can't do. I think right now we have a little better idea of some roles. Antonio had no spring, no summer and missed most of the fall. He missed parts of early practice then missed 21 days in December, so now for him this has been his most consistent time on the floor since last season.
On Luke Kasubke…
"That's part of it, and he knows his role. He drove in the first half once and tried to go against Jericho Sims. We were all kind of watching the film and saying, 'What are you trying to do Luke?' For the most part, he stays within it. He's been pretty good defensively. Honestly, I'm surprised. You're going against really good guards. He's been able to switch and stay in front. He stays spread out and gives us space. He jumped up and made a three the other day. He's done a nice job of fitting in and figuring out how he can help us."
On Seryee Lewis and Carlton Linguard…
"Seryee is just a young guy, and he's gotta learn. This is hard. This step up to college basketball is a hard thing, especially the defensive concepts. We're playing against teams that play small ball or spread you out. Right now, Seryee is probably a backup at the five. Same thing with Carlton, and it's more the defensive part of it than anything especially with the teams we've been playing. They're playing small ball. We're going to play Oklahoma State, and I guess Isaac is the four. It's tough for those guys to guard those people. Seryee is a great young man. He texted me the other night and said, 'I'm so sorry Coach. I'm trying.' I just told him hey, I appreciate it and I understand. It's hard and is a big step. Just keep working at it. He would be our third five man just because of his athleticism. Carlton is a little better offensively, but defensively, he just missed so much and it's hard to catch up."
On possibly redshirting Seryee next year…
"We'll just have to see how much progress for all these guys. Even Carlton, I've talked to Carlton. We would've redshirted him this year, because he was hurt. He didn't get to practice, workout or do anything. Even Luke, we wouldn't have played him. You're talking about a guy that didn't get back until mid-January. We would not have played him, so any of these minutes and experiences that they get in a way are a freebie for them. Now use the experience. What do you do with it? Whether it's Seryee, Carlton or Luke, any of the guys that have had this opportunity, where do you go and what do you do with that and how hard do you work?"
On Seryee's potential…
"He's got great upside. He really does. He has instincts. You have instincts that other guys do not have on our team, and he can go make plays that other guys can't. The game is too fast for him right now. He might have to come in on Saturday and help us, especially with them. They're kind of small and athletic and bouncy. I haven't given up on him. We've just gotten into a little bit better rotation, especially defensively. He has some natural ability. I think he wants it, and when you get past the season, it's like anybody. What do you do with it? The Barry Brown, Dean Wade, those guys, they used that experience to put their work ethic into double and triple gear. Then they put the time in, and that's why they made big jumps. Hopefully Seryee is that same kind of guy."
On carrying momentum from the Texas Tech game…
"I think those stats I mentioned to you. Whether it's turnovers with them, second chance and the toughness points, we've done much better on all of those. I think Antonio's rebounding has been a big factor. That has helped us. Our defensive rotations and block outs have helped us. We're doing things better, both offensively and defensively than we were two weeks ago. Now can we have a little more improvement and not have that one bad stretch in the game? You go back to Oklahoma State when we played them the first time, we're winning with under two minutes in the half with Joe (Petrakis) playing and limited guys. Again, we had a little stretch at the end of the half. We pushed them again in the second half, but then again a little stretch. We we be a little more consistent to give ourselves a chance?"
On taking positives from the past couple of games…
"Consistency. Keeping the faith and believing you can be successful. We've made improvement. Keep doing what we've done, and get a little more consistency so we don't have that one bad lapse. The other thing is just execution at gut check time. These experience are all new to us. I kind of laugh because I told the coaches going into Texas, remember when we played Texas when Dean and Cam freshman year. Dean had a shot with a chance to win it at the end or tie it at least. You think back, and it was a very similar game. Mike's got the ball to tie it. You gave yourself a chance. You didn't win, but those guys use that experience to become really good players and team down the road."
On the last matchup with Oklahoma State and holding Cade Cunningham to 5 points…
"I'd be really happy if we could hold him to under 10 again. I don't know if that's possible. He's gotten better. In the first half, we did a great job on him. We actually played pretty well if you go back and look. We weren't perfect by any means, but we did a great job of staying compact and took away some of his easy looks. Second half down the stretch, he did get going a little bit. When we pushed them, they got the ball into his hands. They're smart. When they need a basket, they put the ball in his hands. We're going to have to do a good job staying in front of him, not giving him easy ones and make him earn everything."
On lighting a fire under the team the past few games…
"My biggest thing is I've tried. I don't sleep a lot at nights. It's hard. You just wonder every day why things happen the way they do. I just want to stay positive with them. We keep pushing them. We did some drills we haven't done. We should've done them early, but we didn't have the opportunity to practice because we didn't have people. You would never do your toughness drills late, maybe once in a while. I just said heck with it, we're going back to where we should've been with the foundation back in October and November. The guys responded. We keep telling them that we believe. I hope they keep believing, and I hope something good happens for them."
Players Mentioned
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