Texas Tech beats K-State after Cartier Diarra misses dunk, argues with Bruce Weber
The lasting image of Kansas State’s 69-62 loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday at United Supermarkets Arena has to be Cartier Diarra missing a windmill dunk with a chance to tie the score midway through the second half.
Not only did the error cost his team two valuable points as the Wildcats tried to end a five-game losing streak, it led to three important points for the Red Raiders. The ball bounced far enough off the rim for Kyler Edwards to scoop it up in stride and quickly pass it ahead to Davide Moretti in transition, who calmly drained a three-pointer that gave Texas Tech a five-point lead with 9:27 remaining.
That one sequence summed up this game and, in some ways, the entire season for the Wildcats.
“There were a lot of plays in the game that were momentum killers, the little ones like that the missed layups and missed assignments,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “We missed Moretti. That dude always comes up with big shots.”
K-State played hard enough to challenge a NCAA Tournament team on the road and gave itself several opportunities to take a second-half lead with a mixture of steady defense and opportunistic offense, but it wasn’t enough.
When the Wildcats had a chance to seriously put pressure on Texas Tech, they failed to take advantage. Their losing streak now sits at six games.
“Didn’t play our best game, but I thought when it mattered most we dug in and we had some separation,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “Didn’t want to be in a one-possession game with K-State with Coach Weber tonight. I thought we had enough cushion to take care of the game, to avoid another one-possession game tonight.”
Texas Tech (17-9, 8-5 Big 12) pulled away after Diarra’s missed dunk and never let K-State (9-17, 2-11) back in the game.
This was a disastrous outing for Diarra, even though he started and scored 10 points. Not only did the junior guard miss a crucial dunk, he was also caught on camera appearing to mock his head coach during a timeout in the second half.
Video replays showed Diarra exuberantly clapping in Weber’s direction as they huddled up on the floor. Then he forcefully shared some words of his own and Weber reacted by thumping his stool on the floor in frustration.
That exchange went viral on social media during the game, but Weber downplayed it afterward, calling it a display of “great passion.”
“Great energy on the bench,” Weber said of Diarra. “(He is) trying to play hard and to get (his teammates) to play at a high level.”
When asked if there was any bad blood between Weber and K-State’s second-leading scorer, Weber shook his head.
“Nah,” he said, “they are trying to compete. Everyone wants to do well. That is just part of it.”
Diarra explained the exchange with a statement on his Instagram account after he returned to Manhattan with the team early Thursday morning.
“I just wanted to clear the confusion and apologize for making it seem as though my coach and I had an altercation,” Diarra wrote. “Coach wanted me to take advantage of the switch instead of shooting, and all I said was that I’m going to make the next shot.
“Coach knows I’m a competitor and I give my all and all he was doing was challenging me and that’s how I responded. I was raised right and I’ve never cursed at Coach Web or any former coach for challenging me. I would love if this negative storyline could go away. EMAW tatted on the skin and it ain’t for no reason. I’ve always been about K-State.”
That explanation matches up with what transpired before the timeout, as Diarra missed a step-back three with a defender in his face at the 15:21 mark of the second half. Driving to the basket seemed like a better scoring opportunity. Diarra then appears to tell Weber “watch me make it” during the timeout exchange.
Diarra has come under fire from some fans and ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla for displaying poor body language and focusing too much on his professional future this season, but Weber didn’t seem to think those were real problems on Wednesday. He said all of his players could use better language and work better with the coaching staff. Most players across the country could.
Weber backed up those words by continuing to play Diarra after the timeout incident, but Weber seemed peeved about the missed dunk. Diarra was immediately benched afterward.
Texas Tech didn’t have any of those internal problems. Moretti led all scorers with 18 points, while Jahmi’us Ramsey had 17 and Edwards added 14.
Xavier Sneed had 15 points for K-State, while Antonio Gordon had 14 points and Diarra finished with 10.
Gordon was a pleasant surprise for the Wildcats.
“I was just playing my hardest, trying to give everything I could to the team,” Gordon said. “I came in and wanted to win on the road. I was just trying to do my part.”
He will try to build off that momentum when K-State plays its next game at home against Texas on Saturday.
Texas Tech seemed well in control early, as it raced to a 28-17 lead. But K-State fought back the same way it has during many games this season and cut the deficit at halftime to 30-27 behind a string of baskets from Gordon.
The Wildcats kept the pressure on throughout much of the second half and made the Red Raiders play a sloppy game. They finished with 18 turnovers. But they made many more clutch baskets than K-State.
And they didn’t miss any windmill dunks.
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Texas Tech beats K-State after Cartier Diarra misses dunk, argues with Bruce Weber."