K-State (6-18, 2-13 Big 12) will meet Oklahoma for the second time this season after the Sooners posted a 76-50 win at home on January 19. Oklahoma has a 110-102 advantage in the series that dates to 1920, but K-State is 63-36 at home, including a 17-8 mark at Bramlage Coliseum with 8 straight victories dating back to 2013.
Tuesday's game continues a challenging stretch for the Wildcats, as the Sooners will represent the 11th ranked opponent this season, including the ninth in the last 11 games. Of head coach Bruce Weber's school-record 26 Top 25 wins, six have come against ranked Sooner teams.
Oklahoma is one of the hottest teams in the nation with wins in 8 of the last 9 games, including nationally-ranked foes Kansas, Texas, Alabama, Texas Tech and West Virginia. The Sooners ran their winning streak to 3 on Saturday with a 66-56 victory at Iowa State.
HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
On playing inside-out offensively...
"It's something we've tried to emphasize to them the whole year. Some of it is just getting to know each other, the continuity of it. We had some post feeds, but we had a lot where we got in the paint and were able to make the nice dish offs and reads off of it. We also got some transition layups. We haven't had many of those in recent games. I hope it's something they continue. The Oklahoma State game, our bigs were 9-for-14. Obviously, the Kansas game, we just didn't get it inside enough. Some of it is how people guard. TCU guards one way. It's the unique and challenging part of our league. Everyone guards a little different. As a player and as a staff, can we get them to understand how we can attack them? Here's what we can look for. That's the goal against Oklahoma. Yesterday what we watched, when we've had success and when we've had success in the past and what other teams have done this season, here's what we need to look for. Now can we go out and execute that?"
On Mike McGuirl's leadership…
"More than anything, the perseverance. You've gotta give him a lot of credit. I've talked about it, he's the first one that wanted to come back. He wanted his senior year to be special. We've had our struggles, but he's persevered. He's gone a long way. After a really tough outing for him against Kansas, to come back and do that and have a really positive game, 16, 9 and 5, and big passes and he defended. Selton deserves a lot of credit. Our team deserves a lot of credit for what we did on defense, holding them to the lowest of the season. Mike did a nice job on Miles, also. A good, complete game. He persevered. Happy for him. I text him right before the game and said relax, enjoy and don't force the issue. Let the game come. For the most part, he did that. Hopefully he'll continue that as we have this final couple weeks of the season."
On Selton Miguel's outside shooting…
"If you look, he shot 42 last year from three. Obviously, it's a little further back. The defense and time to get your shot off is a different and you're going against better athletes who are better prepared. But he can shoot the ball. Some of it is his footwork. Some of it is being ready to shoot. In high school, you're bigger and stronger. You're getting more open looks in rhythm and with your confidence. In college, it's a split decision. You have less than a second. Am I shooting it? Am I ready to shoot? That one corner, he had the game-winner against Omaha and then had a big one the other night. He can do that. When he just catches it and shoots it, he's fine. He fiddles with the ball. He spins it. He doesn't have his hands and feet right all the time. That's when he doesn't have that rhythm. He just caught that thing and shot it with no hesitation. I've emphasized to him and all of them to have their mindset right. Do what you do. He guarded the heck out of a really good player for 33 minutes. Then guess what happens on the other end? He scores seven points down the stretch. Good things happen if your mind is in the right spot."
On Oklahoma's defensive turnaround…
"Lon Kruger, I've gone against him a long time. He was at K-State and then Illinois. We might've even played him at Florida once. Way back, he was a more deliberate coach and more defensive minded. They were tough and played a little more conservative. At Oklahoma, they've been more free flowing with a lot of switching on defense. Coach (Jim) Molinari joined the staff. He was here at K-State and Lon's roommate and good friend for many years. He's always been a tough, hard-nosed defensive coach. I know I've talked to him about it. He's maybe instilled some of his philosophies. They're much tougher as a team. It's also the guys in the program. The two additions, (Elijah) Harkless, it's amazing how tough he is. He's become their tough guy and defender. (Umoja) Gibson, not only can he shoot it, but he seems to defend pretty well. Then the big fella gives them a whole different dynamic with defending the hoop. They're guarding one-on-one pretty well too, which is not an easy thing to do in this league with the good guards. Think a combination of the personnel, change in philosophy, then definitely the toughness has added to their good defense."
On K-State's defense…
"A couple weeks ago, we showed them some stuff from Dean and Barry's group. This is how you defend. This is what you can do. I don't want to say we totally mimicked it, but we've definitely seen how hard you have to play with rotations and how you can't take plays off. To our coaches' credit, I think it was Coach Lowery that time. They bought in. Each game, we've been showing them. This is how we did it against each team. Just seeing how those guys play with that intensity, maybe it's helped and maybe it hasn't. Now, it's just understanding. It's experience. Defense is pride and habits. Then it's concepts. We didn't have much time for habits. They've had to learn the concepts on the run. Over the course of the experience, they've gotten better at that. Coach Southwell did a good job. He challenged Selton and Mike to be stoppers for us. It always helps when you have a couple of guys that take that challenge. The other thing is the guys are doing a better job on ball screens, getting to the line and understanding where they gotta go. Now that Kaosi has a few weeks under his belt and feels a little more confident about his leg, now you've got a little better rotation. You can keep Davion a little more fresh. That helps in the ball screen defense. Everyone watches the guards. A lot of times, your defense is the other people. Especially in ball screens, those big guys are really important and probably get no credit for it."
On the plan to talk with Mike about coming back next year…
"I've talked to him. When I found out from the NCAA, I talked to him and his dad. I've always felt awful that we pulled him out of redshirt. The circumstance where Cardi really played well and Mike didn't get a lot of minutes. Although, he was really important in our run through the tournament. I felt like he missed a lot of his freshman year. I always say, 'God has a path for you, and now you have an opportunity to get this freshman year back'. I hope he comes back. I talked to him the other day, because we are honoring him. The school has made the decision like they did with football to honor all the seniors just in case guys decide or something happens so at least they are honored. We're honoring you, not because we want you to leave, but because you deserve it. We hope you come back, and we'll find another jersey to give you next year if that's possible."
On who Selton reminds him of…
"He is own unique guy, but a lot of similarities to Barry (Brown). One of the reasons we got Selton here was because of Barry. When Selton was young, we did some Florida recruiting. Kenny, the coach there that also coaches the AAU team, knew Barry and his family. He loved Barry's progress and the progress Barry made here in the program. That's part of the comparison. A stubborn guy. As a freshman, Barry was really stubborn. I've told the story many times. Who's going to be our defensive stopper? Barry kept raising his hand, and I told him to put his hand down. I think Selton has that same stubbornness. I wish he would've bought in earlier to be a stopper. We've thought all along that he's a really good one-on-one defender. Some of that is him learning and the concepts. If you remember, Barry had struggles offensively as a freshman. Then he put his time into the gym and that took him to possibly having his jersey put up in the rafters, that type of level. I hope Selton has that same desire and stubbornness to work at it and put the time in to improve his game like Barry did. There are some similarities there. He's got that big, strong body. I tease him all the time about it. Stretching and things he never thought of before are important to his progress."
On if Montavious Murphy can come back this year…
"He's done. I communicated with him over the weekend. He's started therapy. He'll probably be back on campus the first week in March. Hopefully back to making some progress basketball wise and get back on the court. They did surgery and then the first three weeks of therapy down there. Now with school being basically all Zoom for him, come back to campus for that."
On Murphy's injuries…
"The whole goal was to get rid of the pain. Guys have patellar tendon problems. He's not the first one. It's been there as far back as I can remember. There are more severe cases. Hopefully it's the right decision and the right surgery and he can come back and be pain free and make some progress."
On DaJuan Gordon possibly being back in the starting lineup…
"Credit to him. He came back and played against Kansas with two days of practice. We probably overdid the minutes. He still has a lot of soreness. He's done a little bit of practice and more shooting, but it's really tough right now. We do need him. He's been gutsy and shown some toughness to even play, because there are some guys who wouldn't have played. I appreciate him and that he's wanted to be a part of it and help us. The other day, two big free throws, a six on the play hard chart. That was a team win. Some guys stood out. Even Luke (Kasubke) comes in a handful of minutes and takes the ball off of (R.J.) Nembhard. Carlton (Linguard) goes in for a few minutes. So if we're going to have success, we need everybody playing their role. I feel for DaJuan, two injuries during the year. This one was definitely a little more tragic than the first one. He's had both feet, but he still wants to play. I said, 'We'll run the lob, are you ready for a dunk?' He said, 'I'm ready, coach'. That's just him. He has that toughness. He wants to get after it. Just hope he can get some of the soreness out. We've gotta be careful in practice so he can have good minutes in these games down the stretch."
On Antonio Gordon…
"Everyone plays their role. Every team is different that we play. They guard different. Some help off the four. He's been successful. I told our guys after he had 15 and 14 in the Oklahoma State game when we got back. I said, 'He did that without one play being run to him'. You don't run a play for me. Well, you are there and it's part of it. When you ball screen, it's not for you. It's for everyone else, and now everyone else has to play off of that. Antonio has really picked up that niche. He talked about (Dennis) Rodman, figuring it out and being successful. I shot with him yesterday for 40 minutes. We all want him to make shots, and hopefully he can find a way to get some openings, but if he keeps doing all of that other stuff, he can be a really valuable member for a team. I think I mentioned the big guys both played about 20 the other day, which gave us a little bit of freshness. If we can keep guys around 32 or so, it always helps, especially with the defense in the stretch run of the game and we're able to get some stops in close games."
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Head Coach Bruce Weber Previews Tuesday's Game with 7/8 Oklahoma - Kansas State University Athletics - K-StateSports.com
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