Takeaways from Kansas State’s ugly basketball loss on the road against St. John’s
This is what it looks like when a dream turns into a nightmare.
The Kansas State men’s basketball team could not sustain an incredible start and lost 88-71 against St. John’s in a Big 12/Big East Battle game on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y.
K-State led by as many as 10 points in the first half thanks to some red-hot shooting from Brendan Hausen, but the Red Storm made adjustments in the second half and rumbled past the Wildcats for a lopsided victory.
Zuby Ejiofor led the turnaround. The former Kansas Jayhawk was too strong for K-State as he scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Good things happened every time St. John’s got the ball to him on the inside.
Early on, St. John’s had no answer for Hausen. The Villanova transfer led K-State with six 3-pointers on his way to a season-high 27 points. Problem was, he scored 21 of those points in the first half. The Wildcats won the first half 39-35 but were unable to bury the Red Storm while they were shooting 53% from beyond the arc.
The second half was a different story. St. John’s won that part of the game 53-32.
K-State fell to 6-3 with the loss. It has been a disappointing season for the Wildcats, who are still searching for their first notable victory of the year. St. John’s improved to 7-2.
Next up for K-State is a neutral-court game against Drake on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s action:
K-State had no answers for Zuby Ejiofor
The Wildcats didn’t get to see much of Zuby Ejiofor when he was a freshman at Kansas (2022-23), but they learned everything about his game on Saturday.
The St. John’s big man torched K-State for 28 points and 13 rebounds. He made 11 of 17 shots and also sent out two assists. The Wildcats had no answers for him. That is not good news for a K-State roster that features several forwards who were brought in to play strong defense.
Of course, Ejiofor wasn’t the only player who gave K-State problems. The Red Storm scored at will in the second half and blitzed the Wildcats for 53 points after intermission. Ten different players scored for St. John’s. Four of them reached double figures.
K-State will need to defend much better than that in future games if it hopes to compete in the Big 12.
Brendan Hausen gave K-State a dream first half
K-State guard Brendan Hausen was the definition of “on fire” as a basketball player in the first half of this game.
The Villanova transfer had an unreal opening 20 minutes for the Wildcats.
His stat line was straight out of a video game, as he scored 21 points on just 11 shots. He did most of his damage from beyond the arc, where he drained six of eight shots. It didn’t matter where he pulled up from, his shots kept going through the hoop.
St. John’s entered this game with strong defensive metrics, but the Red Storm have struggled at times against the three ball. Hausen took advantage of that weakness in a big way. K-State players looked to get him the ball every time he was open, and he responded with an All-Star performance.
As he kept making shots, St. John’s began devoting more defensive attention to him. That allowed Hausen to pick up a few assists by passing to wide open teammates under the basket.
K-State led 39-35 thanks to his strong start. But he was unable to stay hot in the second half as St. John’s clamped down on him.
Jerome Tang could have used his timeouts better
There was a strange situation in the second half. Jerome Tang was clearly trying to get his players to call a timeout but the Wildcats played on as if their coach was sitting quietly on the bench.
The series began with St. John’s leading 47-42 and on a big run in front of its home crowd. Tang wanted a timeout to try and settle his team down in a raucous environment. He illustrated this by walking onto the floor and pointing at the court in front of him, which is typically a signal for K-State’s point guard to bring the ball to that spot and signal for a timeout.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, K-State big man Coleman Hawkins drove to the basket and scored a layup to make the score 47-44.
Hawkins either didn’t see his coach or chose to ignore him.
On the surface, the layup was good for the Wildcats. But things quickly turned south for K-State when St. John’s responded with six straight points to make the score 53-44. There was a reason why Tang wanted a timeout, after all.
The Red Storm began the second half on an 18-3 run before Tang stopped the action.
Fashion statement from both head coaches
K-State left New York with a basketball loss, but Jerome Tang won when it comes to fashion.
He may have been the best-dressed coach in all of college basketball on Saturday.
Tang wore a special throwback sweater on the sideline. The sweater was purple with black accents around the arms and shoulders that no one could have seen coming.
It’s unclear if Tang’s sweater was custom made for this game or if it has been hiding in the back of his closet for years. But he broke out the unique look for a good reason. Former St. John’s basketball coach Lou Carnesecca, who recently died at the age of 99, was famous for wearing loud sweaters when he coached the Red Storm in N.Y.
Both Rick Pitino and Tang wore custom sweaters in his honor. Pitino wore a special sweater that featured St. John’s colors — red and blue. Many have honored Carnessecca this week. But this might have been the best tribute yet.
This story was originally published December 7, 2024 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Takeaways from Kansas State’s ugly basketball loss on the road against St. John’s."