Takeaways from Kansas State’s win vs. LSU in Wildcats’ first true road game of season
You can’t rattle the Kansas State basketball team.
The Wildcats went on the road and throttled LSU 75-60 on Saturday at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. It was perhaps their most impressive performance of the season, which is impressive when you consider that they had been dealing with a long week of off-court drama that resulted in on-campus protests and Nae’Qwan Tomlin being removed from the roster.
Even after all that, K-State stayed focused and ready to play at a high level.
No one could have blamed the Wildcats for suffering an emotional letdown and not playing well against the Tigers. But the Wildcats didn’t appear distracted in the slightest and took care of business as if they had prepared for this game under normal circumstances.
Junior guard Cam Carter led the way with 21 points, and Arthur Kaluma chipped in 17.
The Wildcats raced to a 42-34 halftime lead and then pulled ahead by 17. They had to sweat a little in the second half, but they made enough plays to prevent a comeback from LSU and win by a comfortable margin.
K-State will next be in action on Dec. 17 when it hosts Nebraska. It will try to build off this and continue its winning streak in from its home crowd.
Until then, here are some thoughts on the LSU action:
Stellar homecoming game for Cam Carter
It’s unusual for a member of the visiting team to hear anything other than boos when he is introduced during starting lineups, but Carter was an exception to that rule on Saturday.
The junior guard was showered with applause when his name was announced.
That’s what happens when you play a college basketball game in your home state. Carter, who grew up in nearby Donaldsonville, had dozens of family and friends on hand to watch him showcase his skills in a contest that felt like a homecoming for him.
Carter took advantage of the opportunity by playing one of his finest games in a lavender uniform.
He finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
What made this game impressive for him was the versatility he showed. Not only did Carter make shots from the perimeter, which is his forte, but he also made noise around the basket and even threw down an alley-oop dunk.
Tang scheduled this game, in part, to give Carter and his other Louisiana players a fun road trip to look forward to. Sometimes players don’t perform their best in those situations, but Carter relished the environment.
Fans were cheering for him when he walked off the floor victorious, too.
Too many turnovers for the Wildcats
K-State could have won by a much larger margin than it did on Saturday, but turnovers allowed LSU to stay in the game. Giveaways from the Wildcats fueled a 16-2 run by LSU in the second half that cut a 17-point lead from K-State down to three.
In total, the Wildcats had 17 turnovers.
Tang likes to limit turnovers to the single digits. An effort like this could turn out to be a good teaching moment for him, as K-State could have run LSU out of its home gym simply by taking better care of the basketball.
A poor effort from the free-throw line (0-for-6) from David N’Guessan was also disappointing for K-State.
Big shots from Arthur Kaluma
The Wildcats were in trouble when the Tigers went on a big run in the second half and made the score 58-55 with 10 minutes, 2 seconds remaining.
LSU was playing its best basketball of the day and the crowd was starting to get behind Matt McMahon’s team.
How would K-State respond to that kind of adversity? No one knew the answer, especially when you consider this was its first true road game of the season. But it turns out they had enough resolve to regain control of the game.
The Wildcats can thank Arthur Kaluma for that.
The Creighton transfer came up huge for the Wildcats when he grabbed an offensive rebound following an errant 3-pointer from Tylor Perry and made a layup that put an end to the LSU run. A few moments later, following a layup from Will McNair, he drained a clutch 3-pointer that put the Wildcats ahead by 10.
K-State could have easily let this game slip away without those two shots. Instead, it pushed back and won by 15.
Kaluma has strung together a number of solid outings for K-State. He quietly became the team’s leading scorer earlier this week and seems like he can be depended on as a go-to player in the future.
