Kansas State flashes potential, but falters late during home loss to Colorado
The Kansas State basketball team couldn’t sustain a hot start and showed its inexperience during a 76-58 loss to Colorado in the final game of the Little Apple Classic on Friday at Bramlage Coliseum.
Two days after opening the season with a double-digit loss to Drake, the Wildcats came out like a squad on a mission against the Buffaloes. They made shots, played terrific defense and took an early 22-9 lead midway through the first half. It seemed like they had legitimate hopes at pulling off an upset, even inside an empty home arena.
But K-State was unable to achieve staying power.
“I was pleased with the energy and effort,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “If we would have had that energy against Drake I totally believe the outcome would have been different. It’s part of dealing with a young team. You have to be patient.”
This team still has a long way to go before it can play to its potential for a full 40 minutes. That showed most when its upset bid began to unravel following a flagrant foul against freshman forward Davion Bradford.
The foul was called at the same as Bradford was also whistled for a separate shooting foul, which allowed the Buffaloes to attempt (and make) four free throws while also retaining possession. That string of good fortune, along with a collision that forced K-State point guard Nijel Pack to exit the game for the remainder of the first half, helped Colorado score 14 straight points.
Just like that, all of K-State’s early momentum was gone.
Seriously. It was all Buffaloes from then on. They ended the game on a 67-36 run. K-State did enough things right to secure a 31-30 lead at halftime, but Colorado scored the first seven points of the second half to take control.
The results were both encouraging and discouraging for a team that is in rebuild mode with nine new scholarship players following last season’s 11-win campaign.
“I don’t see nothing wrong with us,” Pack said. “I still see us as a great team. We are a young team that is learning. The season is still very early. I thought we made big improvements from the first game against Drake. We came out with more energy, and defensively we played together.
“I just feel like this is a long season. We will continue working together and practicing on things more and more and we will be able to be great by the end of the season.”
The Buffaloes provided something to shoot for.
McKinley Wright, one of the nation’s top point guards, was too much for K-State to handle and led all scorers with 24 points. He also scored 20 points during Colorado’s opening victory against South Dakota, which made him the best player at this tournament, which the Wildcats created to replace the Cayman Islands Classic.
Alas, the host team didn’t enjoy its tournament very much. K-State blew leads in both of its games to finish the event at 0-2. This is the first time the Wildcats have started with consecutive losses since 2002.
Pack led K-State with 12 points, but he was the only player on the Wildcats’ roster to reach double figures. Mike McGuirl, Kaosi Ezeagu and Antonio Gordon all finished with eight points.
A lack of scoring was hardly their only issue, though. K-State allowed Colorado to score seemingly at will over the final 30 minutes, finishing the game with six three-pointers and 34 points in the paint.
Still, those opening 10 minutes left a lasting memory with some players.
“I definitely think we are improving as a team,” Gordon said. “Once we put it together for two halves, we will be a dangerous team.”
The Wildcats will try to put a complete game together when they next take the court against UMKC on Monday in another home game.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Kansas State flashes potential, but falters late during home loss to Colorado."