Indiana Wesleyan's Kyle Mangas, one of the most decorated small college basketball players in recent memory, is looking to break that streak. On Saturday morning, Kyle is going to be presented with the Bevo Francis Award (the award for the best small college basketball player) for the 2019-20 season. Let's put what Kyle has accomplished throughout his NAIA career into context. His current 3,313 career points (and counting with two regular season games, the Crossroads Conference Tournament, and the NAIA tournament left) put him in rare company, nearing all-time college basketball scoring marks (Travis Grant with 4,045 points and 'Pistol' Pete Maravich with 3,667 from the 1960's/70's). The closest modern player to Mangas' production is Campbell's Chris Clemons, who finished his career out in 2018-19 with 3,225 points. These numbers have translated into team success. In fact, during his time at Indiana Wesleyan, their record is 117-18, with an NAIA DII title in his first season, 2017-18. As it currently stands, Wesleyan's record is 27-1, and they are ranked first atop the NAIA. As an aside, it is going to be incredibly fun to watch this year's NAIA tournament, with Shawnee St (EJ Onu) and University of Providence (Zaccheus Darko-Kelly) ranked 6 and 10 respectively.
Accolades aside, Kyle Mangas' game is extremely well rounded, and it is clear and obvious why his team has had the success that they have had over the years. With that said, Mangas projects to make the biggest splash at the next level scoring the basketball. Like many Villanova guards, Mangas regularly jump stops, shot fakes, and plays under control. Importantly, he is a remarkably efficient shooter, connecting on 38.7% of his shots from three point range, with basically all of them coming in the flow of the offense. His form is consistent, and he displays good mechanics and textbook balance when shooting the ball (notice his balance and the placement of his feet when shooting in the next few clips). Despite this, his shot is a bit deliberate in front of his face, which could lead to difficulties at a higher level against lengthier defenders. To compensate, Mangas picks his spots extremely well, and has implemented a subtle step back/gather step to create space from defenders.
Given the more rigid application of traveling calls at the college level, Mangas will probably be able to fade further away against professional defenses to get his shot off. The other possibility for Mangas to get his shot off against elite defenders at the next level is for him to quicken his release (though he has already done this to an extent, see below).
If these adjustments are made, it is possible that he will not have to tweak his form at the next level. In terms of his shooting preferences, Mangas is effective both off the catch and off the bounce.
He is also effective shooting the ball from the midrange and will take whatever the defenses give him. Additionally, Mangas' versatility is evident in the post, where his solid footwork and play strength enable him to score amongst bigger players.
At a higher level, any iso post ups on strength mismatches will serve as an interesting wrinkle in his game. At the NAIA level, Mangas does a nice job of attacking the body of a shot blocker and finishing through contact, habitually picking up the foul. Here his understanding of the game is very advanced and he pivots and reverse pivots to create space. Importantly, Mangas' excellent passing instincts are evident out of the high and low post (or on the move as seen below), where he often draws a couple of defenders, before swinging the ball crosscourt to an open teammate.
With that said, I imagine that he will only turn to these moves in special circumstances, where he can isolate himself. While the professional game is not as crowded in the paint, help defenses are infinitely quicker. Given the fact that he is not much of an explosive vertical athlete (due to his below average quick leaping ability), lengthier help defenders would be able to challenge his shot on post ups. With that said, he is a physical player who attacks the rim with reckless abandon.
In terms of his ability to create for himself off the dribble, Mangas possesses a very good (compact) handle and utilizes great play strength shielding the ball, and either spinning to the basket or attacking the defender's body off the dribble. Similar to post up scenarios, Mangas does an excellent job finishing through contact at the rim while on the move.
He is incredibly efficient with his dribble and sports a decent stop and go move. With that said, given his average to below average first step, I do not anticipate that Mangas will attack the rim much at the next level (especially initially), unless he is probing the defense to find a crease, opening up the game for his teammates. At the NAIA level, Mangas has been effective passing off the pick and roll.
He will need to work with strength trainers on developing a greater initial burst, but also may be able to create space by utilizing more advanced lateral movements on his dribble drive, developing a more effective in and out dribble. While Mangas has flashed a basic Euro step, he should continue to advance this element of his game.
At the European level, he should have less issues here than in the NBA, where teams are heavily reliant on pick and roll iterations. As such, unless he signs with a European squad immediately (which is a distinct possibility), I anticipate that he would be initially relegated to a role as a shooter in the G League, so he should focus on his proficiency from beyond the arc and continuing to extend his range.
Mangas' ability to distribute the ball should also not be undersold. While he does not pass people open in the same way as a Jokic or even a Sharife Cooper, his basketball savvy will translate at the next level. As previously mentioned, he does an excellent job of finding open teammates, to the tune of 5.1 assists per game this year (on a virtual 2-to-1 assist to TO ratio). He makes the right play, finding open shooters cross court, shifting the defense, or feeding it inside. Mangas does a very nice job of throwing alley oops over the top of the defense, and I imagine he will turn to this in the pros more often, as his Indiana Wesleyan teammates did not always capitalize on his excellent feeds over the top (at least in the contests I witnessed). On the offensive glass, Mangas displays good box out fundamentals and possesses a good nose for the ball.
Overall, putting Mangas' offensive impact into context, his 67.56% eFG% would rank him 19th in NCAA Division I on 32.5% usage (he takes roughly this percentage of his team's shots when he is in the game; this would rank him 29th in DI). The only Division I players who have a better eFG% on higher usage are Corey Kispert (25.5% usage) and Kofi Cockburn (25.0% usage). When you factor in Mangas' 84% free throw shooting, he would rank ahead of Kispert (70.6%) in True Shooting Percentage at 71.5%. While I understand that the levels do not compare, it is important to note that offensively, what Mangas is accomplishing this year is virtually unprecedented.
On the defensive side of the ball, Mangas will struggle more at the next level, due to average to below average (amongst elite players) lateral quickness.
In a more spaced game like the NBA, Mangas would be tasked with guarding many lengthier athletes one on one and they would be able to shoot over the top of him.
While he will certainly be able to compete on defensive switches, due to his solid play strength and ability to weed out big men down low, he will most likely struggle to defend bigger, quicker athletes one on one. With that said, at the NAIA level, Mangas is certainly competitive on this end of the floor, and he utilizes good length and anticipation to deflect the ball away from his opponents. He possesses very good hands and is fundamentally sound moving his feet and does not reach that often.
Importantly, he often puts the onus on himself to take the toughest defensive assignment. Mangas regularly guarded Bethel (Ind.)'s NAIA First Team All American TreVion Crews in their matchup with Wesleyan and Kyle was effective keeping him in check when they faced off against each other. He moved his feet well and was able to drive Crews into the backside help man- his 7-foot teammate, Seth Maxwell. While Crews still scored effectively throughout the contest (making a variety of contested shots), Mangas' defense was certainly not the culprit. In fact, Mangas' job face-guarding Crews saved a lot of baskets.
At an NBA level, Mangas would still be able to guide his man into the helpside big, but the recovery timing (particularly on pick and rolls) is night and day from the NAIA level. While Mangas is productive defensively at the NAIA level (1.86 steals per game), he will likely have to work hard on this end of the floor to effectively close out on shooters and will need to adjust to defending pick and roll scenarios at a higher level.
All in all, independent of the accolades, Kyle Mangas is one of the most fundamentally sound players who has worked hard to refine his craft. He plays with an uncommon toughness on both sides of the ball. While he will have to overcome some physical hurdles (particularly on the defensive side of the ball), given his advanced understanding of the game and work ethic [and if he makes the proper adjustments], Kyle has a chance to function as a serviceable offensive weapon at the professional level.
(Image courtesy of chronicle-tribune.com; Videos courtesy of Indiana Wesleyan Stream)
Good article. His basketball IQ is off the charts.
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