Kansas State basketball overwhelms South Dakota State, 91-68

MANHATTAN — Kansas State's basketball team put together its most complete game, so far, on Monday night, rolling to a 91-68 victory over South Dakota State at Bramlage Coliseum.

"South Dakota State is a really good basketball team. They're going to win a whole bunch of games, and I personally was very concerned about this one," K-State coach Jerome Tang said afterward. "They didn't disappoint.

"I was really pleased in the first half. I thought we played about 15 minutes the way we're capable of playing, minus the turnovers — I'm talking about the defensive end — and then in the second half there was probably only about six to eight minutes."

The Wildcats, who improved to 2-1, clicked on offense most of the night, shooting 57.4% with 14 3-pointers.

Cam Carter led four K-State scorers in double figures with 25 to go with six assists and three steals. Tylor Perry added 22 points and five assists, R.J. Jones 14 points and Will McNair 10 points plus seven rebounds.

David N'Guessan led K-State to a 38-32 rebounding advantage with 11, and Dai Dai Ames tied Carter for the assists lead with six.

For South Dakota State (1-2), Charlie Easley had 21 points, Luke Appel 16 and Zeke Mayo 11. Mayo, who is from Lawrence, came in averaging 28 points.

K-State heads to the Bahamas next to face Providence on Friday in the Baha Mar Hoops Classic.

Here are three takeaways from the Wildcats' victory Monday night.

More: Kansas State basketball guard Ques Glover expected to miss 6-8 weeks with injury

Wildcats' offense coming around

Tang has said all along that it was only a matter of time before the Wildcats demonstrated the kind of shot-making ability they showed in practice on a daily basis. He also lamented the lack of inside touches in Friday's victory over Bellarmine.

The Wildcats rectified that early on, with their first eight points coming in the paint on two baskets each from McNair and N'Guessan.

"It was big," Tang said. "Will was a real presence, and the guys were attacking the paint.

"The flip side to that is that we kept them out of the paint, and they're really a paint-dominant team with the two bigs that they play."

K-State outscored the Jackrabbits in the paint, 40-32, which in turn opened the perimeter for Perry, Carter and Jones. The Wildcats were 14 of 25 from 3-point range.

The Wildcats also had 24 assists.

Cam Carter is a two-way threat for the Wildcats

For the second straight game, Carter broke loose for 15 first-half points. And this time he kept it up.

After scoring just two in the second half Friday against Bellarmine to finish with 17 points, Carter continued to punish South Dakota State after the break, scoring 10 more.

"I work hard for this," Carter said. "This is what I'm going to be doing every game. I'm just praying that I stay healthy."

Just as impressive as Carter's scoring was his lockdown defensive effort against South Dakota State's Mayo, who scored 28 points in each of the Jackrabbits' first two games.

"He's a great player, but I guess he had an off night tonight," Carter said of Mayo, who made 5 of 13 shots, including 1 of 3 three-pointers before fouling out. "But I know he's going to have a great season."

Tang suggested that Carter might have been too modest.

"I know Cam had a career high (scoring) but pleased with what he did on the defensive end, because that young fellow Mayo was averaging 28 coming in and he's a heck of a player.

"Some of it was he missed some shots that he normally makes, but a lot of it was Cam really being locked in."

Arthur Kaluma the latest Wildcats to sit out

As if K-State wasn't shorthanded enough, junior forward Arthur Kaluma was unavailable against South Dakota State, though Tang made it sound more precautionary than anything.

"His knee was bothering him after the last game," Tang said. "If you can't practice, you can't play. And he was unable to practice, and so it was probably wiser for us to let him rest."

Kaluma started each of the first two games, averaging 9.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.

K-State already was without guard Ques Glover, who hurt his knee in the exhibition game against Emporia State and is out six to eight weeks. On top of that, forward Nae'Qwan Tomlin remains suspended indefinitely following his arrest for fighting at a Manhattan bar.

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 basketball game story vs. South Dakota State