Here’s the main thing you need to know about Kansas State’s 65-43 loss against West Virginia on Saturday at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va.: Nijel Pack was unable to play because of an eye infection.
The Wildcats have performed miserably without their starting point guard this season, and that was once again the case in this game.
K-State is now 0-5 without Pack in the lineup, losing those five matchups by an average of 20.2 points.
For a while, it seemed like K-State might be able to challenge the No. 10 Mountaineers with little more than effort, rebounding and defense. The Wildcats stayed within a single possession for most of the first half and only trailed 26-22 at halftime. But the Wildcats were never able to find anything close to an offensive groove with their leading scorer watching from behind the bench in street clothes with sunglasses covering his eyes. West Virginia eventually pulled away.
The Wildcats only made 29% of their shots (15 of 51) and turned the ball over 18 times against coach Bob Huggins’ pressure defense.
Davion Bradord provided an inside presence on his way to 11 points and six rebounds. But he didn’t receive much help on the offensive end of the court. Mike McGuirl reached double figures with 10 points, but he needed 11 shots to score them. No other K-State player scored more than six points.
West Virginia began to pull away at the start of the second half when the Mountaineers opened the period with seven straight points while the Wildcats committed four fouls. K-State played hard enough to remain within 10 points until about midway through the second half, but it faded down the stretch.
Improved defense has been K-State’s calling card of late. The Wildcats had held three straight opponents below 60 points heading into this game, which allowed them to win consecutive games against TCU and Oklahoma. But their defense wasn’t quite as strong against the high-scoring Mountaineers, though it was their lowest-scoring game against a conference opponent this season.
Sean McNeil led the way for West Virginia with a game-high 16 points, and Derek Culver added 11 points and six rebounds.
K-State will try to bounce back in its next game against Iowa State in the regular-season finale.
The Wildcats will hope Pack is back and ready to play in that game.
