Kansas State basketball can clinch No. 2 seed in Big 12 with victory at West Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Kansas State said its goodbyes to Bramlage Coliseum for the season but certainly not to the season itself.
After reeling off four straight victories to cement their position among the Big 12 elite, the No. 11-ranked Wildcats still have plenty to play for Saturday, when they close the regular season with a 1 p.m. game against West Virginia (17-3, 6-11) in WVU Coliseum.
K-State, 23-7 overall and 11-6 in the league, currently is tied for second with Baylor and Texas. But the Wildcats hold the tiebreaker against both teams, which means another road victory would secure them the No. 2 seed in next week's Big 12 tournament.
Not bad for a team that was picked dead last by conference coaches to start the season. But the reason they're in that position in Jerome Tang's first year as head coach was established well before that.
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"It's the habits we created from day one," said senior point guard Markquis Nowell, one of just two holdovers from last year's team. "Just going 1-0 each day (and) doing everything possible to get better. Coach Tang embodied that in us from the first time he stepped foot on campus.
"And we just live by that each and every day, so now it's a habit. We try to win at everything that we do."
The Wildcats have done plenty of winning of late, a sharp turnaround from a stretch of four losses in five game that had them fighting just to stay above .500 in the conference. It started with back-to-back home victories over Iowa State and Baylor, continued when they broke a five-game losing streak at Oklahoma State and culminated in a dominating 85-69 home-court victory on senior night Wednesday against Oklahoma.
And the thing is, there is still room for improvement.
"We still turn the ball over a lot. We're still trying to make big plays instead of simple plays," said senior forward Keyontae Johnson. "I feel like we can get better at rebounding.
"There's still a lot of things can get better at. But I feel like everybody's getting comfortable with each other. Everybody has confidence in each other, and we're just trying to keep it going."
On challenge in facing West Virginia is the fact that a lot of time has passed since K-State beat the Mountaineers, 82-76, in the Big 12 opener on Dec. 31.
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"Remembering that they got up like an 18-2 (lead, actually 17-3) or something like that," Tang said. "And I was thinking, man, we might not be able to score in the Big 12. Because all our guys remember is that we beat them, but it was an overtime game.
"It's one possession. A free throw doesn't go in or something, and it's different. And it seems like every time we get ready to play somebody, they're the hottest team in the league. They're as hot as any team in our league right now."
That might be a slight exaggeration, but West Virginia has won two of its past three, with only a two-point loss at Kansas between victories over Oklahoma State at home and on the road against Iowa State.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State men's basketball to close regular season at West Virginia
