by @Alec_Busse
In an early season game, Cam Carter buried a pair of 3-point attempts in the first half of a game that K-State would later go on to win. But first-year Kansas State coach Jerome Tang wasn’t happy with his players afterward.
Tang was upset that Carter’s teammates failed to recognize that he caught fire in the first half from beyond the 3-point line. They stopped passing him the ball in the second half, so Carter wasn’t able to continue his hot stroke.
In the end, it didn’t matter too much because K-State won the game and moved to their next opponent. But, it did serve as a learning opportunity for Tang’s team. The Wildcat coaching staff made the point that when a teammate is confident shooting the basketball, that they should be fed opportunities to let it fly.
Nearly two months later, K-State learned from its previous failure. In the first half of Tuesday’s game vs. No. 6 Texas, Carter scored 11 first-half points – nearly doubling his season average of about six points entering the contest. Part of his 11 first half points came when he drilled a pair of 3-point attempts to put K-State ahead 28-19 and later 49-31.
Carter finished the game with 17 points, the most he has scored in a game this season.
“No moment is too big for him,” Tang said. “So, he just plays. I think that is what happened against Texas. … I thought he just relaxed and hooped.”
Carter’s first season with Kansas State – he spent his freshman season with Mississippi State – has been inconsistent. There have been nights – like Texas and Kansas City – where he scored more than 15 points. There have also been nights – like West Virginia – when he goes scoreless and missed all eight of his shots. Mostly, though, Carter has been somewhere in the middle. In games vs. high major opponents this season, he is averaging about 5.8 points per game.
Carter’s roll this season at K-State is much larger than it was a year ago when he was in Starkville. While he did start four games last season for the Bulldogs, he played only 8.5 minutes per game and had less than 2.5 total shots per game.
“It has a lot to do with it,” Tang said of Carter’s inconsistent play at times this season. “I mean, maturity, right? I mean, if Cam was consistently giving us 17 points a night, we’d be talking about him going to the draft, right? He’s inconsistent because of experience.”
In an effort to find more consistent play, Carter is crediting his work ethic. But he’s also aware enough to recognize that most of his production isn’t coming off of shots that he created on his own. Instead, most of Carter’s scoring opportunities are catch-and-shoot attempts, an area that he ranks in the 71st percentile nationally.
“I can’t always create shots for myself – most of my shots are catch-and-shoot shots,” Carter said, “so I can’t score those points without my teammates getting me the ball.”
As Carter continues to gain more experience, K-State expects him to get better, and more consistent.
“The more experience he gets, the more consistent he’ll become,” Tang said. “That’s just the part of the process.”
