Three takeaways from Kansas State’s latest Big 12 loss against the Texas Longhorns
The problems that have plagued Kansas State during its recent stretch of disappointing basketball only got worse and more plentiful during a 62-56 loss against Texas on Monday at Moody Center.
K-State continued to look lost on offense and careless on defense. The result was another frustrating defeat that dropped the Wildcats to 15-11 overall and 5-8 in the Big 12. They have lost seven of their past eight games and are trending in the wrong direction.
The Wildcats lost this one by shooting 36% from the field and 26% from 3-point range. They have been struggling from beyond the arc of late, but they couldn’t even score near the rim against the Longhorns.
Frustration seemed to catch up to K-State late in the second half when freshman guard Dai Dai Ames committed a flagrant-2 foul on Chendall Weaver as the Texas wing was attempting a fast-break layup. Ames was ejected.
The Wildcats played well enough on defense to win, but that didn’t matter much without at least a few points coming on the other end.
K-State’s big three of Cam Carter (six points), Arthur Kaluma (15 points) and Tylor Perry (13 points) combined for just 34 points against Texas, leaving David N’Guessan to carry much of the scoring load with 12 points.
Dylan Disu led the way for Texas with 20 points.
An instant classic this was not. In fact, this was the polar opposite of the game these two teams played in Austin last season when the Wildcats won an absolute thriller 116-103. They would have needed about five overtimes to reach triple figures this time around.
Texas was the victor in the rematch.
The Wildcats will try to bounce back in their next game, against BYU, on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Monday’s action against Texas:
Struggles continue for Cam Carter
Cam Carter has looked like one of the most improved players in the Big 12 at times this season.
Not lately, though.
The junior guard has slumped hard in recent games, and he really struggled against Texas. Instead of leading the K-State offense in points or assists he watched much of the contest from the bench even though he wasn’t in foul trouble. Tang opted to play him for only 28 minutes as he scored just eight points on two of 10 shooting.
It’s hard to explain why he is currently struggling to sustain his scoring average of 15.5 points per game. But something is off. He even missed a dunk on Monday.
He has not made a 3-pointer in the past three games, only six points against TCU and now eight against Texas.
For a team that only has three reliable scorers, it is quite damaging for one of them to go into a slump.
To be fair, he isn’t the only K-State starter who is currently riding the struggle bus. Arthur Kaluma had one of his least efficient games in a lavender uniform on Monday when he went four of 16 from the field.
David N’Guessan among few bright spots for K-State
Little has gone right for the Wildcats over the past few weeks, but no one can blame David N’Guessan for the team’s struggles.
The senior forward has played with admirable levels of energy and poise in recent games.
N’Guessan was one of K-State’s most efficient players against Texas, finishing with 12 points in 33 minutes of action. He also grabbed seven rebounds while making five of seven shots.
It may be time for him to return to the starting lineup.
ESPN announcers question K-State’s effort
If you watched this game on TV, you heard some scathing commentary about the effort (or lack thereof) exhibited by the Wildcats Monday night.
Midway through the first half, ESPN announcer Reid Gettys remarked that: “The energy is not there. The sense of urgency that they need, I have not seen it yet.”
Those words may have been a bit too harsh.
Could K-State players have displayed higher levels of effort than they did while playing on the road against Texas? Sure, but that is true in most games.
From press row, effort seemed to be the least of KSU coach Jerome Tang’s worry in this one. If K-State showed up in Austin and decided to simply go through the motions, then why did the Wildcats hold Texas to 32% shooting and just 27 points in the first half?
How did they hold Texas to 62 points for the game? How did they stay within single digits while doing practically nothing of note on offense?
N’Guessan sacrificed his body and dove out of bounds for loose balls. Kaluma aggressively drove toward the basket. Perry fought his defenders in attempts to get open while running hard on the baseline. A team doesn’t make those kind of things happen without playing hard.
K-State suffered more from other issues, such as committing silly mistakes and missing shots and simply not having as much overall talent as Texas.
The Wildcats played hard enough to win on Monday. But they didn’t play well enough.
