Kansas State goes cold in 61-54 loss to Tulsa | The Kansas City Star

The simplest way to beat a zone defense is by making three-pointers. Without them a team can be left searching for answers every time it possesses the ball.

Kansas State lived that experience during a 61-54 loss to Tulsa on Saturday at Intrust Bank Arena.

The Golden Hurricane (5-4) went with a zone defense and the Wildcats (8-2) went ice cold. K-State attempted 31 outside shots against packed defenders and made just four of them.

That made it incredibly difficult for the Wildcats to score. They entered this game averaging 78.9 points and came nowhere close to that number, shooting 32.1 percent from the field and 12.9 percent from three-point range.

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Xavier Sneed led K-State with 15 points, Dean Wade had 13 and Kamau Stokes added 11, but the entire team struggled on offense.

Junior Etou led Tulsa with 22 points and seven rebounds.

This was a bad loss for K-State. Tulsa, though one of the better nonconference opponents on K-State’s schedule, has lost twice to Illinois State and once to Lamar this season.

It felt like the Wildcats were on their way to a rough outing from the start.

The first half was new for K-State in many ways.

For starters, they played in front of a lively crowd. Attendance has been spotty at Bramlage Coliseum this season, but the lower bowl of Intrust was filled with purple on Saturday.

The Wildcats fed off the crowd and played with extra energy on defense, but they struggled a bit on offense. That was in large part due to Tulsa’s zone defense.

They found it difficult to work the ball inside against packed defenders and settled for three-pointers on most possessions. That seemed like a good strategy coming in, given that Stokes had made 50 percent of his outside shots and Barry Brown had also been productive from deep. But they couldn’t find the bottom of the net in the opening half.

K-State made three of 17 three-pointers, with only Sneed and Wade connecting. Stokes missed all four of his attempts, while Brown missed four. The Wildcats trailed 14-8 early and had to push to take a 30-27 halftime lead.

They took control of the game with defense and two-pointers. They were at their best while attacking. That was most evident Xavier Sneed threw down a put-back dunk and Amaad Wainright followed with a transition slam to give K-State a 26-25 lead.

Those moments were too few and far between as the game went on.

Missed three-pointers were the biggest issue. Stokes went 1 for 8 from three-point range, while Brown went 1 for 7 and Sneed went 2 for 8.

The Wildcats have been good from behind the arc this season. But those shots stopped falling and they paid the price against the Golden Hurricane.

If K-State hopes to evolve into a quality basketball team this season it will need to improve its zone offense.

Tulsa	Min	FG-A	FT-A	R	A	F	Pt
Etou	33	7-15	3-5	7	1	2	22
Igbanu	30	1-5	8-8	8	0	3	10
Henderson	30	2-7	2-2	4	2	2	6
Taplin	28	4-7	0-1	8	6	0	9
Wheeler	23	1-1	0-2	5	0	2	2
Joiner	21	2-5	1-2	2	2	1	7
Artison	18	1-3	0-0	5	0	3	2
Scott	10	1-2	1-2	0	0	2	3
Jackson	8	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0
Totals	200	19-46	15-22	39	11	15	61

Kansas St.	Min	FG-A	FT-A	R	A	F	Pt
Mawien	27	1-1	1-1	4	0	4	3
Sneed	32	4-12	5-5	8	4	0	15
Wade	31	5-11	2-2	7	2	3	13
Brown	38	4-13	2-3	3	1	5	10
Stokes	35	3-13	4-6	4	4	1	11
Wainright	13	1-3	0-0	1	0	0	2
Diarra	10	0-2	0-0	0	1	2	0
Stockard	7	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0
Sallah	5	0-0	0-0	0	0	3	0
Patrick	2	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	0
Totals	200	18-56	14-17	28	12	18	54

Tulsa	27	34	—	61
Kansas St.	30	24	—	54