Markquis Nowell was Kansas State's best player once again on Sunday evening. He had 22 points and 8 assists with just two turnovers on 7 of 13 shooting. Bruce Weber praised him and acknowledged his efficiency.

Not only was he the best player on Sunday, he has been their best player since being inserted into the starting lineup against Wichita State, which was only due to the concussion suffered by Nijel Pack.

In those three games, he's averaging 16.3 points per game and 7.6 assists.

He has enjoyed the last three games and is focused on improving every single day, but he's more pleased that they're getting better as a team and are growing more comfortable with one another on the floor. That has made his job as a distributor much easier.

His teammates love playing with him. Mark Smith acknowledged that and how special he's played and how he has been a complete package for the Wildcats.

Weber was looking for a new leader to give the team energy and he believes he found one in Ismael Massoud.

Massoud has stepped into a leadership role and began to be the vocal presence that was doing the communicating. And what ensued was a perfect performance from the field, a perfect performance from the three-point line and a perfect performance from the free throw line.

As his head coach liked to explain it, the game rewarded him for his leadership.

According to Smith, everyone on the team listens when Massoud speaks.

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There could be a dilemma in the near future. What happens when Pack returns to full strength?

What will the starting lineup look like? Nowell has been the most effective player, but it was thought that the two little guys playing together a considerable amount would be a problem.

One of the lineups being floated around by the Wildcat coaching staff is starting both Nowell and Pack. It has been discussed before. It was discussed when they left the locker room after Sunday's contest.

They're going to play together a lot. It's too tough to remove Nowell from the starting lineup and Pack is one of the more gifted shooters and scorers that they have on the team.

Mark Smith's role at Kansas State is a lot different than what it was at Missouri.

He was a spot-up shooter at Missouri didn't really rebound a bunch. Smith is penetrating off the bounce, the leading rebounder by a fair amount and filling up the stat sheet in Manhattan.

Smith has recorded three double-doubles this season at K-State after only having one in his first four years.

Weber even asked him after he entered the transfer portal if he could still rebound, drive and hit open shots like he did in high school. That's because he hadn't been doing that, though it was the recruiting pitch used on him the first time around.

That's not all he's trying to provide, either. Smith is hoping to be a source of energy as well and has had zero problems with exerting effort on the defensive end and picking up the opponent's top offensive threat.