Nate Johnson finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as he neared a triple-double in the big win for Kansas State as they beat UNC Greensboro 93-64.
Johnson also finished the game with the highest plus-minus, showing his dominance and impact on the offensive and defensive sides of the floor.
“Nate just wants to win,” K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. “Nate has the ability to dominate on both ends of the floor all the time, and it’s up to us coaches to help him learn how to do that and inspire him to do that.”
K-State also got big performances from All-American transfer guard PJ Haggerty, who scored 27 points and Abdi Bashir Jr., who poured in 16 points. All of Bashir Jr.’s points came in the second half as he knocked down four threes.
The Wildcats hit 11 threes in the second half, a half they started 8-9 shots from the arc before somewhat cooling down toward the end of the game.
The first half of the game was the complete opposite of the second half as the Wildcats got out of the gate a little slow, playing sloppily on offense and being forced into multiple turnovers. The slow start, however, can be expected due to early-season jitters and players trying to gel together.
“We came together, we had some first game jitters, for some people this is a different scene for them, having some guys that played overseas,” senior guard Nate Johnson said.
After a UNC Greensboro bucket to make the score 19-9, coach Tang called a timeout to set his guys straight and flip the momentum. After the timeout, K-State came out and played better, but hadn’t yet hit its best stride. After briefly taking the lead, UNC Greensboro still led 34-33 at halftime.
“We just had a little adversity,” junior guard PJ Haggerty said. “We always talk about how we handle adversity and I think we handled it well in the second half.”
One of the players who helped flip that momentum was returning guard C.J. Jones, who came in and gave the Wildcats a spark, something Tang praised him for.
In the second half, the ‘Cats came out on fire, shooting the three-ball well and scoring almost at will. They were led by their backcourt of leading scorers, Johnson, Haggerty and Bashir Jr.
“I agree with them that they are one of the best backcourts in the country,” Tang said. “I believe the other three guys they play with also add to that. I think I got six of them that can play anywhere, and now we just got to help them play together better.”
Those three guys scored 44 points combined in the second half as the Wildcats scored 60 total second-half points, which outscored the Spartans by 30 points.
Other offensive contributors included David Castillo, who scored seven points, all came in the second half and Andrej Kostic, who scored nine points in his debut for the Wildcats.
Kostic is a wing player who can really shoot from deep and his presence in the second half helped to space the floor and give his teammates more space to score.
In the second half, coach Tang decided to go with a four-guard look, which ended up working out well with their ability to shoot and not be outrebounded.
“[I liked] having four guards on the floor and them not being able to clog up,” Tang said. “The four guards made them [UNC Greensboro] have to spread a little bit more and when they didn’t we made shots. When you can play four guards and still rebound and defend, that makes us really hard to guard.”
While the Wildcats don’t have a true big, they have a lot of athleticism and strength at the forward position. While the bigs in the group didn’t have their best game, coach Tang is confident in their development going forward.
“Our forwards are going to make huge jumps over the next few weeks, because they’re going to figure out their spots, and we’re going to learn how to use them a little bit better,” Tang said.
K-State put on a far better performance tonight after struggling on defense in its two exhibition games before the season. If they can match the intensity on defense with their explosiveness on offense, they will be a tough team to beat.
The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday, November 8, as they will face Bellarmine. Tipoff will be at 7 pm.
