Kansas State's defense has been stagnant in the first half of the last two wins. It is why they had to dig themselves out of big holes to comeback and win from both of them against Iowa State and West Virginia

The largest culprit continues to be allowing offensive rebounds and affording the opponents second chance opportunities. They have to fix them so that they aren't a problem for the entire game and not just solve it at halftime.

Rebounding better on the defensive end of the floor will allow the Wildcats to build their own leads instead of being forced to crawl back from deficits.

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Mark Smith’s leadership has grown over the season. We were told that was a role he was owning in the offseason, despite being a new transfer, and it has only expanded ever since. The more comfortable he's gotten, the more consistent he's been as a voice and on-court contributor.

He holds himself accountable and leads the team on the play hard sheet by a very large margin. Bruce Weber doesn’t know if they have ever had that kind of discrepancy for one player over others on his personal chart throughout his career.

When others are playing well, it takes the pressure off Nijel Pack from having to force too many shots. He knows they need him to score, but when others are producing, he can focus more on playmaking, rebounding and being a solid defender.

We saw that come to fruition against West Virginia where he shot his worst percentage from the field on the season, yet still finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Ismael Massoud has scored in double figures the last two games and has been strong on defense. I asked Weber if that is enough to consider reinserting him into the starting lineup or if they still see his best value as a reserve.

The K-State head coach shared that they would consider doing it against smaller teams, but outside of that, Davion Bradford would remain the starter. They want to embolden Bradford's confidence and moving him to the bench isn't the right remedy for that.

Although it is off the bench, Massoud has seen the most frontcourt minutes as of late.