I've talked consistently about 3 keys going into Big 12 play, guard play, Walker, and defense.
As has been talked about, all 3 guards played well. Very good show of each playing their role well, and exactly what we need to keep winning in Big 12 play. Now if Fred can get healthy (I'm assuming his hand is still a problem) and give us 10 or so MPG and contribute its even better. 14 assists to only 3 TOs from that trio is a nice stat to see, along with the offense and defense they gave us.
Walker was a great player in the 2nd half after a tough first half while playing with foul trouble. However, he did a great job offensively setting up OU defenders and showing why he's a great player; a very high BBIQ to go with that explosiveness. He is learning to pick his spots for his perimeter game and attacking the basket. Defensively he did a solid job, though I'd like to see him hit the boards a bit more.
Defensively we're going to have to get better, but again Martin continues to be true to playing at a higher pace. However, unlike the XU game we played enough defense to not let OU ever get away from us. We just need to realize you're going to have to win games different ways in the Big 12 and not every night are we going to be able to win quite like this, though we'll be able to win like this more than any K-State team of recent memory. Martin also is staying true to his defensive philosophy of ball pressure and the guys are still learning how to play this way, especially in regard to help defense. There were plenty of times we had help position but at this point we just aren't quite quick enough in rotating, but that will come. Nice change of pace to go to the 3-2 and it was nice how well it worked for us while OU's attempt to change to zone backfired. Not alot of offense boards to be had b/c of the high shooting percentages, but no doubt OU was able to exploit that more than us and really was a major reason they were in the game.
Basically I'd say we won 2 of the 3 keys and showed that if we do that we can beat solid teams on the road. Good trend that I hope we can maintain, though I'd like to see us win defense more than we lose it b/c if you do that it improves you're chances of winning in this league IMO.
The other intangible trend we broke was at the FT line; giving up 28 attempts especially with Longar hitting at a much higher %-age could've been very costly, but we were able to overcome it. Plus we only hit 60% in the 2nd half.
Great way to start with a win though and the Cats will have an opportunity to start 2-0 in Big 12 play for the first time ever.
