PLAYER GRADES: 'Cats come up short in Elite Eight loss
Kansas State got another masterful performance out of Markquis Nowell but wound up losing the school’s third straight Elite Eight game to a team seeded 8 or worse. Here are player grades from the 79-76 loss to Florida Atlantic.
Markquis Nowell: 5 stars
There’s only so many different ways that people can say “Markquis Nowell was awesome,” but this tournament did its best to ask that question as many times as possible. Nowell finished Saturday night with 30 points and had 12 of the Wildcats’ 14 assists in the contest. He was spectacular in every sense of the word, but had a personal tournament-high five turnovers in the loss.
Kansas State only had two players score in double figures against the ninth-seeded Owls, with Nowell going for 30 and Nae’Qwan Tomlin scoring 14. Compared to the Owls’ four scorers in double-figures, the Wildcats lack of help surrounding the 5-foot-8 guard was unfortunate.
The last minute from Nowell will remain an ultimate K-State ‘What if?’ Nowell decided to drive and take a contested layup while trailing 74-71, missing it and giving FAU free throws. When down 77-74 -- the fifth-year guard created space when FAU center Vladislav Goldin played drop coverage against the K-State pick and roll -- Nowell opted to pass inside to Tomlin for a layup rather than rising up from deep on a night he was 5-for-11 from 3-point range. And on the last possession of the game, Nowell dribbled past halfcourt and never got his eyes on the rim, instead passing the ball to junior forward Ish Massoud, who was stripped of it and never got a K-State shot off.
It was a wonderful tournament run for Nowell, but it wound up being more Steph Curry than Kemba Walker-esque, for those familiar with NCAA Tournament history.
Keyontae Johnson: 2.5 stars
Foul trouble did Johnson in during this contest. Johnson picked up his first two fouls in the first eight minutes of the game and sat for the vast majority of the first half because of it. In the second half, Johnson was whistled for a loose-ball foul diving on the floor and attempted to take a charge with more than 14 minutes to go to pick up his fourth.
When he re-entered the game in the final six minutes, he air-balled a mid-range jump shot that was drawn up for him. Throughout the regular season, Johnson battled foul trouble with somewhat regularity. In Saturday’s loss, it was one of the main factors leading to the Wildcats downfall.
Johnson’s final game in a K-State uniform finished with nine points on 4-for-7 shooting. He was one of two KSU players to finish the game with a positive in the plus/minus category.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin: 3.5 stars
Tomlin was the second-leading scorer for the Wildcats, contributing 14 points on above 50 percent shooting. He did, however, have three turnovers and fumbled multiple passes sent his way from Nowell.
In a game where Kansas State was outrebounded 44-22, Tomlin only secured six rebounds. It was a team-high amount for KSU, but was not enough given the frequency with which the Owls rebounded their own miss. In a critical situation late in the game with the Wildcats trailing 72-69, Tomlin failed to box out on a free throw, leading to a second chance layup for FAU that gave the Owls a five-point advantage late in the game.
Desi Sills: 2.5 stars
Sills had nine points on 4-for-8 shooting, but he was part of the reason the Wildcats went into the halftime break with a deficit. After Nowell stripped an Owl for one of his team-high five steals, he rifled a one-handed pass to Sills, who spun into open space in transition before smoking a wide open layup, leading to a Tykei Greene foul and FAU free throws.
It was the most glaring mistake from Sills in a game that the Wildcats came a few plays short of winning. Given the Wildcats’ inability to grab rebounds and the need for gang rebounding to win games, his singular rebound leaves a little to be desired, as does his team-worst -6 plus-minus rating.
Cam Carter: 3.5 stars
K-State’s sophomore guard made a few crucial plays to keep the Wildcats in things. He had a steal and score early to give the Wildcats a 4-3 advantage and also made a pull-up 3-pointer in the game’s final minutes to cut the deficit to 75-71.
Given his role, and the zero turnovers he had, there’s not much that can be complained about from what Carter did.
Ish Massoud: 2 stars
Massoud made his first 3-pointer of the night, a catch-and-shoot opportunity in transition. The remainder of the game saw him go 0-for-2 from the floor and have zero catch-and-shoot chances. Both of Massoud’s other two shots came on pull-up jump shots, which isn’t exactly the best part of his game.
On the defensive end, Massoud was the wrong matchup for Jerome Tang and the Wildcats’ attempt to guard Vladislav Goldin. The junior forward attempted to front the 7-footer from FAU but had little success. He wasn’t able to take away scoring or passing for the FAU big man and allowed the Owls to have success on the offensive end running offense through the post during the first half.
On the game’s final possession, Massoud was put in an unfortunate situation nearly 35 or 40 feet from the basket. He brought the ball down below his waist and was unable to get a shot up as time expired.
Bebe Iyiola: 4 stars
Iyiola’s role for the Wildcats is to give a few good minutes, and in Saturday’s game he did just that. A steal-and-score in transition was one of K-State’s more surprising highlights of the day, as the nearly 7-footer for the Wildcats operated successfully on the slow break.
Iyiola got caught in a switch during the second half late in the game and forced an air ball against FAU’s leading scorer, guard Alijah Martin. That gave the Wildcats the ball back trailing 74-71, but the KSU offense couldn’t get things done.
Tykei Greene: 2 stars
Greene did a decent job staying in front of FAU’s guards on the defensive end during the five minutes of play that he did, but he is not a shot-maker and did not make the lone shot that he took in the game. It came on a catch-and-shoot from the corner directly in front of the FAU bench.
Greene also committed a silly reach in foul after Sills missed his wide-open layup late in the first half, giving FAU easy points at the free throw line on a play nearly 94 feet from KSU’s basket.
David N’Guessan: 2 stars
N’Guessan played most of this tournament with a level of toughness that was admirable from the 6-foot-8 forward. But in this one the Wildcats junior forward wasn’t nearly as strong on the defensive end, committing five fouls and grabbing zero rebounds in his 16 minutes on the floor. N’Guessan’s final foul came after one of the Owls 14 offensive rebounds of the night, when FAU was leading 72-69.