After falling short in its first major test of the season, Kansas State will try to regroup when it plays host to Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday night at Manhattan, Kan.
The Wildcats (2-1) faced a power-conference team for the first time on Thursday and fell 76-65 at home against LSU. David N’Guessan and Dug McDaniel each scored 16 points for Kansas State, which was held to a season-low 37.7 percent shooting from the floor.
Coleman Hawkins scored eight points for the Wildcats to reach the 1,000-point mark in his college career, including four years at Illinois.
The Tigers outrebounded the Wildcats 43-25.
“You can’t get pounded on the glass the way they pounded us on the glass,” Wildcats coach Jerome Tang said. “You know they’re athletic, right? But everybody in the Big 12 is athletic, too, so it’s an area that needs to improve. And the great thing about it is that it can be corrected.”
In his first start of the season for Kansas State, Michigan transfer McDaniel had five assists with just one turnover and shot 7 of 15 from the floor.
“Dug did a great job with a start, and we got a ways to go,” said Tang, who lost to a non-conference team at home for just the second time in three seasons with the Wildcats. “And because the point guards are like pitchers, they’re judged by wins and losses, but it’s not Dug’s fault. This is my fault.”
Playing a monster schedule, Mississippi Valley State is coming off an 89-43 defeat at Texas on Saturday that came after a 111-39 loss at Missouri on Thursday. The Delta Devils (1-3) also lost to Iowa State, and they have games upcoming against BYU and Utah.
Alvin Stredic scored 11 points with eight rebounds for Mississippi Valley State against the Longhorns, while Greg Moore scored 10 points. The 6-foot-8 Stredic leads the team with averages of 10.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
The Delta Devils returned just three of the top 14 scorers from a squad that finished with a 1-30 record last season. They opened that campaign by playing four consecutive power-conference teams, including eventual national champion UConn.
It will be the first-ever meeting between Kansas State and Mississippi Valley State.
–Field Level Media
