Kansas State was unable to overcome Keyontae Johnson’s foul trouble against FAU

Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang couldn’t help but laugh at the question.

Did you feel like Florida Atlantic did anything specific to neutralize Keyontae Johnson during its 79-76 victory over the Wildcats on Saturday at Madison Square Garden?

Tang chuckled for a moment, gathered his thoughts and provided a brief answer shortly after K-State was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in an exciting Elite Eight game.

“Keyontae played 18 minutes,” Tang said, “and that’s why he was neutralized.”

Indeed, a nightmare scenario unfolded for the Wildcats, their head coach and their leading scorer in the most important game of the season. Johnson committed a pair of early fouls, and he was never able to get out of foul trouble as the contest continued.

That was terrible news for a K-State team that has leaned on Markquis Nowell and Johnson for the bulk of its scoring this year. Their usual recipe for success is for both of them to stuff the stat sheet and then get just enough contributions from role players to win. Foul trouble threw a wrench into that plan against the Owls.

Johnson, a senior forward who averaged a team-high 17.7 points per game this season, was only able to log 18 minutes of playing time. He only lasted 8 minutes, 16 seconds in the first half. Then he fouled out with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in the game.

“I was just trying to play as aggressively as I could and match the intensity that Florida Atlantic brought to the floor,” Johnson said. “It backfired on me and I ended up in foul trouble.”

Fouls have been a concern for Johnson all season, but he had mostly avoided them of late. That was not the case here.

Johnson picked up a pair of fouls in the first eight minutes of Saturday’s game, and he was relegated to the bench for most of the remainder of the half. He was a spectator for the next 11 minutes of action and only returned to the game for the final few seconds of the half.

K-State struggled to keep pace with Florida Atlantic as Johnson watched from the bench and the Owls took a 42-38 lead at the break. Tang wrestled with the idea of playing Johnson with two fouls, but he ultimately decided against it.

“As long as we could keep the game close in the first half, I was OK with leaving him on the bench,” Tang said. “The other guys did a good job, and it was a four-point game. If we don’t miss two layups, the game would have been tied at halftime. We were OK. I just didn’t want to be hamstrung in the second half if he had three.”

Tang assumed Johnson would be able to play carefree in the second half, but that was not the case. Johnson picked up a foul diving for a loose ball, got another one trying to draw a charge and then fouled out while fighting for a rebound with 2 minutes, 44 seconds left on the clock.

“I didn’t know why I deserved to get two of those fouls on me,” Johnson said. “I guess it was just how the game was flowing.”

Turned out, his early foul trouble was an omen of things to come.

“There is this crazy stat,” Tang said, “that if you sit a guy in the first half with two fouls, 90% of the time they don’t ever pick up their fifth one. He happened to fall in that 10% that did.”

He shook his head.

“Our All-American only played 18 minutes,” Tang said. “They did a really good job playing defense against him.”

It was difficult for K-State to play without Johnson on the floor, particularly on offense. This was only the second time he failed to score 10 points all season.

Johnson has been so good that he earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and third-team All-America honors this year.

Nowell, the team’s senior point guard, usually piles up assists by driving to the basket and then kicking the ball out to Johnson. Nowell was unable to do that for much of this game and ended up attempting 21 shots. Even though he finished with 30 points and 12 assists, it wasn’t his finest effort.

“I had to be more aggressive than usual,” Nowell said. “Keyontae was on the bench with two ticky-tack fouls. I had to me more aggressive while he was out.”

Perhaps things would have played out differently had Johnson avoided foul trouble. Alas, that is nothing more than a what-if scenario for the Wildcats now that their season has come to an end.