Improved 3-point shooting a priority for K-State for 2024-25 season

Perhaps one of the biggest problems that Kansas State men’s basketball coaches hope to correct from last year’s team was its dismal 3-point shooting.

The Wildcats were in the bottom third in the country in 3-point percentage, ranking 289th averaging 31.7%. K-State was dead-last in the Big 12 and among the 10 worst teams in one of the Power 6 conferences.

What made it all even more frustrating was reports coming out of practice throughout the year stated K-State was shooting the lights out in practice. Tang said multiple times that the Wildcats’ in-practice shooting performance reached a higher benchmark than any other team that he’s coached.

But for one reason or another, it didn’t translate. Only transfers Tylor Perry and Arthur Kaluma shot better than 33% from behind the arc, and K-State’s bench averaged a 27.8% clip from 3.

Finding talented 3-point shooters became a major priority for the Wildcat coaches while combing through the transfer portal this summer.

“Our shot quality (last season) was right there with all the top 10 offenses in the country,” Tang said. “I still felt like we had good shooters that for some reason did not make those shots. We also didn’t have the depth where you could look to the bench when the guys on the floor weren’t making those shots. Now we have the opportunity to have more guys who can make shots and if somebody on the floor is not making shots, we can now look to the bench and put somebody in that can deliver.”

And, if their previous stats are to be believed, Tang and company may have found just the right bunch of guys to shift the tide.

Of the nine incoming transfers, six players (Dug McDaniel, Brendan Hausen, CJ Jones, Max Jones, Achor Achor and Coleman Hawkins shot at least 36.8% from 3 last season. K-State’s best shooter from last season, Kaluma, only shot 34.5% from 3.

Of those six, four attempted more than 100 shots from 3 (McDaniel, Hausen, Max Jones and Hawkins), and three (McDaniel, Hausen, and Hawkins) shot more than 150 3s this season.

Add in the fact five of those six players are 6-foot-4 and taller, which gives K-State added versatility to go along with their freshly added firepower.

“I think what I like that stands out about the roster is that we’ve got a number of guys who can shoot the ball and can make the 3 at a high clip,” Tang said. “Whether they’re 6-foot-10 Coleman Hawkins or 5-foot-11 … Dug (McDaniel). We’ve got some guys who can make shots at a high clip … I feel like our roster is set up in a way that we can handle whatever problem is thrown at us by another team. We have a roster that can match any answer.”

K-State’s returners don’t offer much help in the 3-point shooting realm (David N’Guessan, Taj Manning and Macaleab Rich combined for four made 3-pointers last season), but incoming freshman David Castillo also has the potential to be dangerous from deep.

He averaged 23.7 points per game during his three seasons at Bartlesville High in Oklahoma before transferring to uber-talented Sunrise Christian in Wichita for his season.

“What he’s done very quickly is he’s gained our trust as a staff,” Tang said. “Down 1 with 30 seconds to go and the crowd’s going crazy on the road and he’s gonna be okay out on the floor. I can trust him out on the floor. He can make the right decision. I’m so impressed with him.”