Kansas State Basketball: Building on the last two seasons for a potential great 2018-19

The untimely injury to Dean Wade

A bright spot for the Wildcats during the regular season was the emergence of junior forward Dean Wade who was averaging 18.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and three assists during league play. Weber and his team were confident as the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. They held off TCU in the quarterfinals, advancing to face top-seeded Kansas in the semifinals. However, the Wildcats were delivered a big blow before even taking the floor. Wade suffered a foot injury that would cause him to miss all but eight minutes the rest of the season.

Junior forward Xavier Sneed says, “going down without some of our key guys, it was a tough luck game. Just to have some of our rotational guys come in and play big minutes for us and do all that they did, shows the great upside in our team.”

That meant the Wildcats would have to enter the NCAA tournament without its most dynamic player. Other players were going to have to step up if Kansas State were going experience March success. They did find success and one player that did was Sneed. When the games mattered most Sneed delivered, averaging 19 points and over 7 rebounds in the South regional semifinals and finals.

Without Wade the Wildcats buckled down defensively in the tournament, giving up an average of just 59 points per contest, compared to the 71 they surrendered during the regular season. Did they have to adjust the way they play without Wade on the floor?

“Just moving me to the four (power forward position), being able to space the floor more and using me as a threat, when bigger defenders are guarding me, bringing them out to the perimeter, using my game and my strengths and it played well for us,” Sneed said.