Rapid Recap: Nowell's status

Nijel Pack had a hip injury before the season started that concerned Bruce Weber and his staff enough that there was doubt on how much he would play this year. But he persevered and had an exceptional season.

The second-year star earned all-Big 12 first team honors. He was also named the conference's Most Improved Player of the Year.

Mark Smith is the smallest player to ever lead the league in rebounding. Those efforts helped him seal a spot on the all-Big 12 third team and a spot on the all-Newcomer team in his first and only season in Manhattan.

Markquis Nowell made his presence felt on both ends of the floor for Kansas State. He received the All-defensive team nod and was an honorable mention selection. Nowell proved his worth as the best perimeter defender for the Wildcats this season.

K-State finished ninth in the conference regular season due to a five game losing streak down the final stretch. Despite that fall from grace, the individual play from Pack, Smith and Nowell shined through and they were recognized, appropriately.

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Bruce Weber was asked if he and his team will consider any other tournaments outside of the NCAA or NIT. There is the CBI that is played in Las Vegas and a few other tournaments teams they can choose to be a part of if they wish.

However, he revealed that they would decline. They only have interest in accepting a bid to the NCAA Tournament or the NIT.

They'd have to win the Big 12 tournament to reach the NCAA tournament, of course, and if they were to lose either Wednesday or Thursday, there's a good chance that they'd fall short of an NIT opportunity as well.

Nowell practiced a little bit on Monday. The Kansas State point guard has been dealing with a hamstring injury that he suffered at the end of February.

"He seemed fine for the limited time we had him in there," Weber said referring to Nowell's participation in practice yesterday.

Nowell just has to be able to trust his own hamstring and be able to cut at full speed without issue.

Carlton Linguard has been in and out of the lineup, and that largely has to do with an ongoing knee injury. He has had surgery on the knee in the past, and it seems that is what has kept him from finding consistent time on the floor.

The first time K-State played West Virginia was in Morgantown when the Wildcats were dealing with issues pertaining to health and safety protocols associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

While all of their key contributors were in tow, they were without nearly their entire coaching staff, including Weber.

Jermaine Henderson was the only Kansas State coach on the sideline, and they nearly pulled off the road win. They built a 17-point lead in the first half but squandered it after halftime.

When Bob Huggins' team came to Manhattan, it was flipped. The Mountaineers battled in the first half behind a special performance from Taz Sherman and the Wildcats trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half.

But K-State found some rhythm and took control of the game.

West Virginia was on a seven-game losing streak before defeating TCU in the final regular season game of the year. Kansas State will look to avoid a six-game losing streak of their own when they take on the fellow bottom-dweller in Kansas City.