Kansas State basketball faces a monumental challenge against stingy Houston defense

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MANHATTAN — Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang isn’t kidding himself when it comes to facing Houston’s defense.

“Man, they don’t have any weaknesses,” said Tang, whose Wildcats (7-7, 1-2 Big 12) play host to No. 11-ranked Houston (11-3, 3-0) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum. “They can all guard their positions, (and) they can switch and guard multiple positions. They cover everything up on ball screens.”

And Tang was just warming up. After all, the Cougars lead the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 54 points per game on average, and have not given up more than 55 once during their current seven-game winning streak.

“If you ball screen them, in all the games I’ve watched, I haven’t seen one guard beat a big on a ball screen hedge this year,” Tang said. “I’ve only seen three fouls drawn on a ball screen hedge, so they do just a really good job of corralling that and loading up on the backside so that you have to throw a long pass, which they’re able to close out to.

“And then in the post … they do such a good job of doubling the post that it causes turnovers. So, people just abandon it.”

Related: What channel is Kansas State basketball vs Houston on today? Time, TV schedule, odds

Related: What channel is Kansas State basketball vs Houston on today? Time, TV schedule, odds

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang directs his team Tuesday against Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.

That could be bad news for the Wildcats, who in dropping six of their last seven games — the lone exception was a 70-67 upset of Cincinnati in their last home game — have increasingly relied on big men David N’Guessan and Coleman Hawkins for offensive production.

Guard Brendan Hausen, the team’s second-leading scorer at 12 points per game, is a deadly perimeter shooter when he’s on. But he attempted two 3-pointers in Tuesday’s 79-66 loss at Oklahoma State, and he is just 4 of 17 from beyond the arc in three Big 12 games.

“They just hug him and take him away,” Tang…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kansas-state-basketball-faces-monumental-151418444.html

Author : The Topeka Capital-Journal

Publish date : 2025-01-11 15:14:00

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