LUBBOCK, Texas — If Kansas State is no longer in contention for a Big 12 championship or a high seed in the NCAA Tournament when the regular season comes to an end next month it may look back at a 71-63 loss against Texas Tech as the reason why.
The Wildcats played one of their worst games of the season on Saturday inside United Supermarkets Arena and walked away with a humbling defeat that drops them two games behind Texas in the race for a conference title.
K-State (19-6, 7-5 Big 12) lost to one of the worst teams in the league and played some of its worst basketball of the season while doing so. Texas Tech (13-12, 2-10 Big 12) led for the entire second half and came up with clutch plays as the Wildcats turned the ball over too often and missed far too many shots to steal the game away.
De’Vion Harmon led Texas Tech with 20 points, while Markquis Nowell led K-State 18.
Offense was hard to come by for K-State in this one. Keyontae Johnson failed to score 10 points for the first time in a K-State uniform and the Wildcats only made 35% of their shots from the field.
This game was a good reminder of just how difficult it is for any Big 12 team to win a conference game on the road. The Wildcats held a ton of advantages on paper and beat the Red Raiders earlier this season by double digits. But a change of venue energized Texas Tech.
K-State has now lost four straight road games in conference play. It will try to bounce back in its next contest at Oklahoma on Tuesday.
Here are some thoughts on Saturday’s action:
Too many missed opportunities
One play that summed up Kansas State’s misfortunes in this game occurred late in the second half when the Wildcats were only trailing the Red Raiders by one.
Johnson ended up with the ball directly under the basket and went up for a reverse layup that could have given K-State a 61-60 lead. Had the shot got in, it could have dramatically changed the final few minutes of the game. Instead, the ball hung on the rim for a second or two and then fall off.
Texas Tech grabbed the rebound, pushed the ball up court and scored two quick points on the other end. Just like that, the Red Raiders led 62-59 and held all the momentum. They never looked back.
K-State missed too many shots when it had opportunities to put pressure on Texas Tech and gave the ball away too many times. Johnson only scored nine points. Nowell turned the ball over seven times. Overall, K-State had 23 turnovers as a team.
Neither team played particularly well in this game, but the Wildcats played worse.
Coach Jerome Tang and K-State players both called Texas Tech the tougher team in this game. That was summed up by the final score.
Worst half of the season from K-State
There is no kind way to put it. The Wildcats got off to a dreadful start against the Red Raiders.
K-State looked lifeless in the first half against Texas Tech and trailed 33-26 after 20 minutes. It was lucky the deficit wasn’t even bigger.
Few things went right for the Wildcats in the first half. But the biggest thing that went wrong was turnovers. They gave it away 14 times and the Red Raiders scored 17 points off of those gifts.
Combine that with unusually cold shooting from Nowell and Johnson and they were in comeback mode the rest of the way. K-State made 34.6% of its shots in the first half, with only three of its makes coming from the three-point line.
Ismael Massoud was the team’s leading scorer at halftime with six points.
Road struggles continue for Wildcats
K-State began Big 12 road play by going on the road and beating Texas and Baylor in a pair of away games that made it seem like the Wildcats were road warriors.
That now seems like a distant memory.
The Wildcats have lost their past four road games in conference play and made their chance at a Big 12 championship extremely tough at this point. The first three losses in the stretch came at TCU, Iowa State and Kansas. Those three defeats were all understandable against ranked opponents. This one was different. Texas Tech seemed like the easiest road test left on K-State’s schedule, but the Wildcats couldn’t take advantage.
