K-State basketball mounts 20-point comeback but falls to Drake in OT. Here are takeaways
Jerome Tang’s overtime magic has finally come to an end.
The Kansas State men’s basketball team failed to complete a courageous comeback against Drake and suffered a 73-70 overtime loss against the Bulldogs on Tuesday at T-Mobile Center.
K-State entered this game with an astounding 12-0 record in overtime games in just over two seasons with Tang as the head coach. But he is no longer undefeated in those nail-biting scenarios.
Drake emerged victorious thanks to a 3-pointer from Bennett Stirtz with four seconds remaining in the extra period. That shot came moments after Coleman Hawkins tied the game with a 3-pointer of his own on the other end. Max Jones raced up court and tried to send the game to double overtime, but his shot was off the mark.
Fans will remember this game for its late theatrics. But what happened earlier in the night was arguably more frustrating for the Wildcats. They didn’t come ready to play and fell behind 29-9 in the first half. Then they turned things around and played inspired basketball the rest of the way. K-State took a 63-61 lead in the final minutes and had a chance to win in regulation. But Brendan Hausen missed a shot at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.
An extra five minutes figured to favor K-State. But Drake looked like the more comfortable team at the end of the game.
Coleman Hawkins led K-State with 16 points, but he had some costly missed free throws in overtime.
The Wildcats (6-4) nearly handed the Bulldogs (10-0) their first loss since Ben McCollum took over as head coach. But it wasn’t to be.
K-State will next play at Wichita State on Saturday.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s action:
This was an encouraging effort for K-State
There is no such thing as a moral victory for a team like K-State, which entered this season with big dreams and NCAA Tournament hopes.
Still, this was arguably the best the Wildcats have played this year even though the game ended in a loss.
A victory could have served as a turning point in what has been a disappointing season. But even a competitive loss against a team like Drake shows that K-State is capable of more than it showed during its first nine games.
The Wildcats fell behind by 20 to the Bulldogs and then played inspired basketball the rest of the way. They nearly pulled off a wild come-from-behind win in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
Winning this game would have meant a lot to the Wildcats. Tang pumped his fists after big baskets in the second half and even jumped with excitement as his team mounted a comeback. He usually saves that kind of emotion for Big 12 games and the postseason.
K-State didn’t complete the comeback but played well outside of the first few minutes.
K-State players threw down some nasty dunks
Say this much for the Wildcats: They are putting together an impressive highlight reel of dunks.
K-State players added a collection of jaw-dropping slams in this game.
The three best ones belonged to David N’Guessan, Mobi Ikegwuruka and Coleman Hawkins. All of them were driving dunks that brought the house down when the ball wen through the net.
N’Guessan probably had the best dunk of the night when he beat his defender on the perimeter and sprinted to the basket for an athletic slam. But Hawkins got the biggest roar when he drove from the 3-point line to the basket and slammed home a tomahawk dunk that pulled K-State within three points in the second half.
The Wildcats have an abundance of size and athleticism on their roster. Good things happen when they use them.
Mitch Mascari and Drake are for real
It’s time for the Drake Bulldogs to start getting more attention.
Drake entered Tuesday’s action with an undefeated record and notable wins over Miami, Florida Atlantic and Vanderbilt, but it wasn’t ranked in the national polls. Perhaps that will change now that it also owns a victory against K-State.
The Bulldogs have all the qualities you look for a in a Cinderella team from a mid-major conference. They are well coached, they have fundamentally sound players and they have an absolute sharpshooter in Mitch Mascari.
Mascari torched K-State with eight 3-pointers on his way to 25 points.
If he keeps shooting the ball like that and Drake keeps winning, the Bulldogs could make noise come March.
Jerome Tang didn’t have K-State ready to play
One of the most fascinating things about this game was the fact that K-State had 10 days to prepare for it.
Some coaches benefit when they have extra time to get ready for a matchup because it gives them opportunities to work on new things in practice and deploy unexpected lineups or strategies against the next opponent on the schedule.
Would Tang use that time off to his advantage?
The answer: no.
Tang tried to throw some curveballs at Drake, such as inserting freshman point guard David Castillo into the starting lineup. But none of his adjustments helped K-State at the start of this game. In fact, the Bulldogs ran the Wildcats off the court in the early going.
Drake jumped out to an 11-0 lead and gave itself a major advantage at the game’s first media timeout. McCollum had several scripted plays ready to go on offense and Drake smothered K-State on defense.
Tang eventually made some adjustments and K-State went toe-to-toe with Drake for much of the night. But McCollum out-coached him at the beginning of the game, and that made a big difference in this game.
This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 9:41 PM with the headline "K-State basketball mounts 20-point comeback but falls to Drake in OT. Here are takeaways."