‘We don’t want to share:’ K-State determined to stay atop Big 12 race after KU loss
Kamau Stokes has a message for anyone who thinks the Kansas State basketball team lost even a shred of confidence following a 64-49 loss at rival Kansas on Monday.
“We talked about it in the locker room,” Stokes, a senior guard, said. “At the end of the day, we’re still in first place. In order to stay there we have got to worry about Saturday. Only difference is we’re sharing it now. I feel like our confidence is to the point where we don’t want to share with anybody.”
The Wildcats (21-7, 11-4 Big 12) could certainly use some swagger as they try to make an already strong season even better over their final three games.
They are still technically alone in first place of the conference standings, but they are tied with Texas Tech (22-5, 10-4) in the loss column and one up on Kansas (21-7, 10-5) and Baylor (18-9, 9-5). That means the Wildcats control their destiny in the Big 12 championship race. If they win their next three games — Baylor, at TCU, Oklahoma — they clinch at least a share of their first league title since 2013.
But they will need Texas Tech to drop a game somewhere to have any shot at winning the trophy outright.
A win over Kansas would have all but eliminated the Jayhawks from the race and given the Wildcats some breathing room. But it wasn’t to be. KU extended its home winning streak to 13 in the Sunflower Showdown.
K-State’s path to a championship is harder now, but that doesn’t seem to bother its veteran players.
“Super high determination,” K-State guard Barry Brown said. “We have got a good team coming in Saturday against Baylor at home. We have just got to be locked in ... It’s going to be a challenge, but we have to bounce back and get a win under our belt.”
It seems like Bruce Weber has circled Baylor on the schedule. The K-State basketball coach said that game would end up being even more important than Kansas, because no matter what happened against the Jayhawks the Wildcats would need to beat the Bears to maintain their position in the conference standings.
He now says K-State is facing a “three-game season in eight days.”
“What are we about?” Weber said. “Are we about leadership, toughness and discipline? If we are about those things, we will be fine.”
It remains difficult to handicap the Big 12 race.
Texas Tech seems to be playing the best basketball, but the Red Raiders still have road games against TCU and Iowa State.
Kansas might have the most favorable remaining schedule, but the Jayhawks probably need to end the year on a four-game winning streak to catch K-State or Texas Tech, and they haven’t won four straight games since December.
K-State has already beaten the final three teams on its schedule, but it will have to overcome nagging injuries to Dean Wade and Stokes to sweep those opponents.
Neither player has practiced much over the past three weeks, and that has made it hard for them to play their best in games.
“When you don’t practice,” Stokes said, “it’s hard to get into a rhythm.”
Those issues haven’t bothered K-State much in Big 12 play, but they seemed to catch up with the Wildcats on Monday.
That could make this a difficult loss to put behind them, but they have no choice. Not if they want to win an outright conference title.
“I don’t feel like it’s any different at all,” Stokes said. “After you watch film on this game we have to learn from it and get ready for Baylor. That will be a tough game. We just have to forget about this and move on.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 2:29 PM with the headline "‘We don’t want to share:’ K-State determined to stay atop Big 12 race after KU loss."