Kansas State’s road woes hit a new low in blowout loss against the rival KU Jayhawks
Kansas State’s dreams of earning an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament may have come to an end on Tuesday when the Wildcats lost a rivalry game 90-68 against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.
If K-State wants to avoid a trip to the NIT, or no postseason destination at all, it almost certainly has to win the Big 12 Tournament next week in Kansas City.
That is not good news for the Wildcats, who will need to win four or five games at T-Mobile Center to achieve that goal.
But there is some good news for K-State as it turns its attention to the remainder of the season. Jerome Tang’s team doesn’t have to play anymore true road games.
Winning away from Bramlage Coliseum has been quite the challenge. K-State has posted an impressive record of 13-3 at home this season and will try to improve on that mark in its next game against Iowa State on Saturday. But it has been a different story outside of Manhattan, where it has gone 4-10 with an ugly 1-8 mark in Big 12 games.
Worst of all, the Wildcats have lost eight straight road games since they defeated West Virginia in their first away game of the conference season.
It’s rare to see such a wild discrepancy between home and road results, but it’s worth pointing out that winning on the road has felt exceptionally hard in the Big 12 this season. Iowa State and Houston have turned their home arenas into fortresses. Winning at Baylor, BYU, Kansas and Texas Tech is also never easy.
The Wildcats weren’t up for those challenges this season. This game was a microcosm of those struggles.
K-State jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the early going as KU coach Bill Self started five seniors instead of his usual lineup. But the Jayhawks dominated after their primary group was on the floor.
KU raced to a 41-33 lead at halftime and then completely blew the game open in the second half. K-State could do little to stop the Jayhawks or fight back with buckets of their own. Its problems were most noticeable on defense with KU gaurd Nick Timberlake coming off the bench to score a whopping 18 points.
But KU averaged 1.27 points per possession. Timberlake had lots of help, including 15 from Hunter Dickinson and 19 from Kevin McCullar.
The Wildcats couldn’t find much success at all on the other end of the floor, as reserve big man Will McNair surprisingly led the team with 17 points. This was a game to forget for two of K-State’s star players. Cam Carter mustered only three points on 1-of-7 shooting, and Tylor Perry delivered just two points on six shots. He didn’t make a single field goal.
Tang pointed out after the game that K-State is capable of beating any team in the country when their big trio of Carter, Perry and Arthur Kaluma all play well on the same night. But when they combine for 15 points on 24 shots like they did against KU, ugly results can happen.
It was a surprise to see Perry struggle the way he did. He has been hot and cold at times all season, but almost never for a full game. Even when he has a bad first half he usually drains some 3-pointers in the second. That wasn’t the case here. Despite entering this game in good form, having scored 29 and 26 points in his past two outings, he couldn’t get anything going against the Jayhawks.
Perhaps that was to be expected. Not only has K-State lost eight straight games on the road, it hasn’t won in Lawrence since 2006 when Jim Wooldridge was the coach.
Some thought K-State, on Tuesday, might be able to end those losing streaks, given how KU has struggled of late and this was more or less a must-win game for the Wildcats.
But it wasn’t to be. Winning away from home is not this team’s forte.
This story was originally published March 5, 2024 at 10:32 PM with the headline "Kansas State’s road woes hit a new low in blowout loss against the rival KU Jayhawks."