THE FINAL at K-StateOnline looks back on Kansas State and Mississippi State.

The first half certainly saw momentum shift back and forth. The Wildcats started slowly on offense, initially falling down 7-2 before finding any sort of rhythm. Once K-State got going it grabbed control, at one point grabbing a big as lead as 12 in the opening half.

That first-half offensive success was feeling, however, with K-State missing seven of its last eight shot attempts to see the Bulldogs tie the score at 32-32 heading into the break. The Cats got seven fewer shot attempts in the first half than MSU, but a 6-of-11 3-point shooting effort in the first 20 minutes were enough to even things up.

Neither squad could create any real separation to open the second half, with K-State entering the first media timeout after the break leading just 40-38 off a Cartier Diarra drive and finish. K-State entered that timeout with Mike McGuirl set to head to the free throw line after getting fouled on a break opportunity created by an aggressive contest and blocked shot on the defensive end. The junior would make one attempt, leaving the Wildcats with a three-point edge with just more than 15 minutes left to play.

It was a 3-point lead that would disappear to next trip down the floor, though, with a Bulldog triple. Undaunted at that point, the Wildcats continued to use its defensive pressure to create opportunities. K-State got a steal and run out dunk for Diarra and a pair of Xavier Sneed free throws to regain some control, leading by four with exactly 12 minutes remaining.

Center James Love did see his first action of the season midway through the second half, but freshman Montavious Murphy did not return to the lineup. Love grabbed a rebound with 10:36 left to play for his first statistical contribution. Sneed scored on a jumper on the ensuing possession, and then David Sloan scored on a drive to the basket to make it 49-43 K-State and the biggest advantage for either team at that point of the half.

Iverson Molinar certainly had the highlight of the night for Mississippi State, slicing through K-State's defense for a thunderous dunk in traffic to trim the Wildcats' lead to just a pair of points, and two free throws the next trim down left the two schools tied at 55 with five minutes on the clock.

Diarra missed an open look at a three in an attempt to respond the next trip, but he was still able to get to the foul line after a Wildcat offensive rebound kept possession alive. Diarra would make one, putting K-State back up 56-55. Diarra attacked, again, off a missed shot and found himself back on the line soon after the next time the Cats possessed the basketball, making both to go up 58-55.

That three-point lead evaporated, immediately, after a pair of turnovers led to back-to-back easy MSU hoops and the Bulldogs' first lead since 11-9 early in the contest. One was a travel on A. Gordon, the second a turnover by Diarra near the top of the key for a run out and finish. Levi Stockard had a wide open layup to regain the lead inside for K-State, but he was too cute with his shot fakes and didn't get a good attempt, missing wildly. MSU answered with another jumper, and suddenly Mississippi State was in control, up three, after the Wildcats seemingly controlled much of the second half.

K-State still trailed by three with two minutes left, after both teams traded 1-of-2 splits at the foul line. The dagger may have come on the next possession, though, as an offensive board and finish inside made it a five-point advantage for the Bulldogs. McGuirl kept K-State alive, putting back a missed triple to make it 64-61 with just less than a minute to play. It was K-State's first field goal make in a nearly nine-minute stretch.

The Wildcats got a stop late when needed, but A. Gordon turned it over while MSU harassed him, effectively ended K-State's chance for a late rally and what was a desperately needed non-conference win.

K-State lost shooting, offensive rebounding and turnovers. The Wildcats need to win at least one, to go with an incredible free throw rate. Shooting came back down to earth as the Cats went 0-of-7 from 3 in the second half. Also, another poor game from twos, as the Cats only made 33%.

Just too many mistakes down the stretch of both halves lead to another disappointing K-State loss. This kind of offense against any decent opponent simply isn't going to win games.

K-State got solid games from McGuirl and Diarra, but not enough from Mawien and Sneed. Also, Diarra ended with zero assists after dominating that stat most of this season.

Finally, the freshmen Gordons struggled, and Sloan played limited minutes. The offense was at its best with Sloan in the game, but evidently the defense suffers too much with him in there. This game it seemed like Sloan should have played more, especially with the Cats unable to finish twos and Diarra without a big assist game.

It was a casual start for K-State on the defensive end. Mississippi State ran a fairly simple screen the screener action on its first possession, and Xavier Sneed was slow to close out to the shooter. On the next possession, Sneed and Mike McGuirl were slow to communicate on an exchange, which led to another look from three. Coach Weber must have got their attention during the first media timeout, because the Wildcats came out a lot more intensity. Sneed had a much better close out with two high hands, and McGuirl played great on ball defense to force a tough step back jumper. Antonio Gordon finished the possession with a good box out on the back side.

The same pattern held suit on the offensive end. At the first media timeout K-State was only one of four from the field with two bad turnovers. What followed was their best stretch of basketball this season considering the opponent, and - like against Alabama State - they did it in a variety of ways. Cartier Diarra did a much better job of looking to advance the ball via the pass, as he hit Levi Stockard with a long pass down the floor and then DaJuan Gordon with a hit ahead pass along the sideline.

The Wildcats threw a ton of different actions at Mississippi State during that stretch. K-State ran some flex action followed by running D. Gordon off double baseline screens. On another possession, Stockard set a flex screen for D. Gordon followed by a flare screen for Diarra, who got an open three in the corner. Early in the game, K-State was running their screen roll and replace action with A. Gordon as the player who popped to the perimeter. Later, the Wildcats ran it with Sneed instead, and he got a three at the end of the shot clock. And yet another look was a ball screen for Sneed, which was set on the baseline side instead of the middle of the floor.

Unfortunately for K-State, they ended the half the way they started it. After a McGuirl three to push the lead back to nine, he committed his second foul with just over four minutes to play and went to the bench. That was last field goal K-State made in the first half. On one possession K-State had three cracks at it and couldn’t score. The possession began with Sneed not being able to finish an open lob and ended with Makol Mawien being called for a moving screen. On the defensive end, K-State gave up a couple of offensive rebounds and Sneed got caught going underneath a screen which led to an open three.

Continuing to rotate after the shot has gone up is just as important as rotating when the ball is being passed. Otherwise, you leave yourself susceptible to offensive rebounds. Early in the second half, K-State doubled the post, as they had done the entire game and forced an extremely difficult shot fading to the corner. Either McGuirl or Diarra missed the block out on the back side, which led to an easy offensive rebound and lay in for the Bulldogs. It is a little thing, but this team is going to have to learn how to win with the little things.

K-State never got into as good of a flow offensively as they did during the good stretch during the first half, but enough individual plays were made to K-State afloat. During a short stretch where both Stockard and James Love where on the floor, Sneed hit a pull up free-throw line jumper and David Sloan went coast to coast for a layup off a missed Mississippi State shot.

After building a seven point lead with over eight minutes to play, the K-State defense let them down over the next several minutes. The Wildcats got caught doubling too far out on the floor and no backside rotation gave the Bulldogs an easy layup. On two occasions, K-State allowed a Mississippi State guard to split their pick and roll defense. The first led to two free throws and the second a monster dunk. K-State also gave up several offensive rebounds during that stretch, but did have some good fortune in that the Bulldogs missed a couple of the put backs.

There isn’t a lot of analysis needed for the last four minutes. Simply put, K-State wilted down the stretch. There was a turnover after a defensive rebound, a lazy turnover at the top of the key, and a missed layup. The entire second half was much more of a grind it out style, and while K-State excelled in those types of the games the last couple of years, this team is not suited to play that style, at least not at this point.

BRUCE WEBER

On what the team needs to do to improve:

“Well, you know, each game’s been a little different but we talked before.. every game comes down to.. its tie score. And you know, which way is it going to go? And we cut Marquette down to one… Pittsburgh we had the lead, you know.. Each one.. there were the free throws. We didn’t finish it.The Marquette game didn’t get some stops. Broke down on defense. You know, today we didn’t finish, we were not very good from two. And um, when you shoot whatever it is… 30% from two, or worse, it’s hard to win games. So we made some strides, I thought we battled. Did a great job on Carter and Reggie Perry. But their other guys hurt us; they made the plays down the stretch. We just didn’t, so I’ve emphasized about toughness. I’ve emphasized all the little plays.. Little plays, like levi getting the rebound then losing the first half when maybe that changes the game. Mike Mc not seeing the ball, getting a foul. Now he is playing really well but now he’s got two fouls and he’s got to sit out. Now Antonio gets the ball, and we’re down 2, you know, grab the ball, hold it. He tried to dribble in traffic, but he’s a freshman. Um, and we’ve got to finish around the hoop. That’s one of the biggest things that we’ve got to do if we’re going to make strides. We did a lot of good things but we didn’t win the game, obviously.”

On the progress made by the team:

“I thought we made some progress. You know, we’re giving ourselves a chance. I think Mississippi State’s a good team; they’ve got some really good players, I know they’re going to get another player to make them even tougher. So I think we’re making some strides, and you know, you always question… We used the bench quite a bit the first half, didn’t do it quite a bit or as much the second half. Maybe it needed a little more bench play and have a little more confidence on those guys in the second half. Maybe that gives us a little more depth and rest some guys and maybe they play a little better and maybe those little mistakes won’t happen.”“You know 7 turnovers and 1 for 6 is not very good production. I mean that’s just a fact of life. You know, first play we go to him and he’s got a hook and he turns back and loses it. I just keep telling him, “I need you; don’t waste your senior year.” And he’s better. You’ve seen him. Guys that have watched him play for two years.. he’s played high level basketball in the elite 8 games. He’s played 29 in the Big 12 tournament. Somehow he’s got to get his mindset right. Same with Xavier. Same with Cartier. Obviously it’s much harder to be the guys than it is to be the other guys, and we’ve got to go through some struggles.. learn about it. That’s life. Nothing in life is easy, and you’ve got to go through it sometimes to feel how bad you really want it. And as I said we’re not far off, but record puts us in a big bind right now. We’re gong to have to figure some things out pretty quickly.”

On being 0 for 7 in the second half:

“I think we forced some – a couple at the end of the game obviously, but I thought our.. we just talked about ball movement and keeping the game going. And I thought first half, we did a decent job of getting it going. Second half – maybe not quite as much. We’ve got to have someone else play-make. Cartier has been one of the leading assist guys in the country. He had some assists that lead to free throws, but you know, he gets 0 assists… but he gets 20 points. Are you happy because he got 20 or… You know, so we’ve got to have some more people play-make and help everyone. Mike McGuirl shot the ball really well, which is great. For him, I’m happy for him. He’s put in time. He’s back home in Connecticut… Great for him to play well. But got to help each other; we have to help and create for each other to get good shots. We’re not shooting the ball well overall, because I don’t think we always take the best shots.”

On Sloan’s +/-:

“Yeah, there’s no doubt, as a couch you question it, you know? It’s the first thing I told the guys. Maybe I have to do a better job too, and you know, you go with guys you trust. We might have to play him because he play makes and rotates with others. He has some deficiencies, but you know.. he did a nice job. And he was in when we made that run in the first half obviously, and we probably didn’t get him as many minutes as we needed to in the second half.”

On next steps:

“We’re going to the city to have dinner tonight; they get to see their families. Off tomorrow. Got the Christmas party. Practice on Monday; get ready to go. Practice has got to be important, realizing, so we can make that step where we can find a way to win a game. Right now all I can worry about is St. Louis, and that’s it.”

On what K-State did on their visit to New Jersey/New York:

“We went to 9/11 yesterday, I thought it was a great experience for our guys. And you know, it’s hard as a coach. We had to get to fly late Thursday night and wake up early and practice early, but I thought it was important that they saw 9/11. A lot of them have heard of it but they don’t realize or go through it. You watch the movies, you see President Myers. Our President of our University, Chief of Staff at that time, was at Pentagon at that time, so you see him on tape and realize he’s a pretty special individual so it was great for our guys to experience that, and see that, and see New York. We’ll take a little time York before we fly back tonight.”

CARTIER DIARRA

On his turnover:

“I don’t know how that was my turnover, but I guess it is. It was off the handoff. He played the handoff right. When I was about to get it, he swiped it out of my hand. Yeah, on the handoff he swiped it out, he made a great play, so credit to him on that. Thinking back on it, I probably should’ve held it on my hip and then got the handoff and came up the screen and ran the play right. Of course, that was a key one that made them go up one. But still we had chances to win the game but just great defensive play by him. I think he had like 12 and 10 tonight and 4 offensive rebounds and we shouldn’t have let that happen.”

On progress of the team:

“For sure, it’s the little things. If it were big things, it’s a different story, but because it’s little things – those can be easily corrected. Securing a rebound, knowing the situation, knowing who you are, and just executing and finishing layups. We didn’t finish in the paint as well as we should have, but I feel like defensively, at times, you know the best player, Robert Perry, has 7 points tonight. 2 for 14, so I mean I think our bigs did a great job on that, but they had a lot of offensive rebounds and put-backs and second chances so we’ve got to adjust that. I think that also comes down to us guards also coming down and cracking down and boxing out the big when they go double team Robert. So it’s just those little small plays like I said that are the difference maker.”

On being one of the leading assisters in the nation:

“Trying to put my teammates in the right positions, and them making shots at the end of the day. I can pass the ball off all I want, but if they don’t make any shots I’m not going to get an assist. But me also trying to get those easy layups, I feel like I tried to do that today. Some of them were fouls, some of them we just missed the layups, our bigs. It was just a weird game. Bigs didn’t play as well as they used to. But I tell our guys: amnesia. You know, you’ve got to move onto the next game. You had a bad one; don’t say my bad. Let’s see what you’re going to do next game, and let that be the makeup, and that’s the biggest thing that I tell my guys. Let’s keep it going. There’s a lot of basketball left. I think we’re 9 or 10 games in, so we’ve still got 20 more, so let’s handle our business.”

On leading scoring with McGuirl:

“Just staying in the gym. I feel like I made some good reads for my guys, and I feel like I also could’ve done better. You know, drag out the big more, kept him in the ball screen, and then dished it off. I feel like sometimes I pass it a little too late, so you know they couldn’t really create. It’s just staying in the gym and just telling them, “keep shooting.” That’s the biggest thing, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to keep shooting and keep playing my game and being as good as I can be.”

On if playing in this Tribute Classic is different from other games:

“Honestly no, I play every game the same way, prepare the same way. I’m always fully dressed up ready to play. I’ve been doing that for the last year. My first three years I would wear the warm up and stuff, and I would see full going, and I was like, “you know what? I’m ready. This is just me being ready, prepared, sweating, getting prepared for me to play the game.” And that’s just how I go: listen to my music, get in my groove. I kind of keep it the same a lot, but I change it up; different music, different intros when I come out. I probably don’t shoot for a little bit just to keep myself as much energy as possible. It was a little hot in here earlier, so I shot a little bit then I kind of chilled out a little bit and was like “you know, let me save this energy for the game.”

MIKE McGUIRL

On toughness of team:

“I was just trying to process everything; it actually hurts, as a competitor. This is the best time of my life, I’m not going to get this back, so I was just processing everything. Cartier spoke up. We all just have to come together.”

On being gut-check time:

“That’s exactly what it is. We’ve got to learn from this. There are no more wake-up calls. This could be the last one, but what are we 6-4? 5-4? So no more wake-up calls. It’s now or never.”

On playing close to home state, Connecticut:

“I mean, it’s nice having family in the crowd, but once the ball goes up I’m just thinking, “play ball, do what I can to help us win.” Tonight wasn’t enough, therefore it does ruin part of the experience because, you know, I want to win for them. They came out, and it’s nice to have them here, but we lost. It wasn’t good enough.”

On takeaways from this game:

“I mean, to me a loss is a loss. I don’t think of anything positive to take away. There are a lot of things we did wrong, a lot of things we could’ve done better, and the game would’ve looked a lot different. So now we just have to learn from it and grow.”

On his three rimming out near end of game:

“Yeah, just do whatever, I just wanted to win by any means necessary. Needed a shot. We needed a lot of shots though, it wasn’t just then. It crumbled all down-hill; it started in the first half. There were a lot of plays that really bothered me, and we’ll see on film. Gotta learn from it.”