Takeaways from Kansas State’s most lopsided defeat of the season against Houston
The Houston Cougars are among the best teams in all of college basketball.
The Kansas State Wildcats reside on the opposite end of the spectrum.
It’s hard to find a bigger gap between teams in the Big 12. That much became clear when Houston flexed its superiority over K-State during an 87-57 victory on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum. This game was men vs. boys.
“They are one of the most underrated teams in the country,” K-State coach Jerome Tang said. “Every time we made a mistake, they made us pay. And sometimes when we didn’t make a mistake, they still made us pay. They have different-level athletes.”
Indeed, Houston did anything it wanted. That was especially the case on offense as the Cougars handed K-State its most lopsided loss of the Tang era in front of a sparse home crowd.
“We could play our best game against (Houston) in a packed arena and it would be hard to win,” Tang said afterward. “When we don’t play our best game you just tip your hat to them.”
Much has been made about how well the Cougars play on defense. But they did more than simply limit the Wildcats to 57 points on 40% shooting. They also scored at will. Houston raced to a 46-24 halftime lead thanks to a pair of big runs. Kelvin Sampson’s team pulled ahead at first with a 14-3 run, then put the game out of reach with a 16-3 surge at the end of the half.
The Wildcats managed to pull within 14 in the second half behind 15 points from Brendan Hausen. But the Cougars pushed back hard thanks in part to 15 points from Emanuel Sharp.
Houston (12-3, 4-0 Big 12) has won eight straight games. K-State (7-8, 1-3 Big 12) has lost three games in a row and six of its past seven. A disappointing season continues.
“This is a tough stretch for us, but everyone committed to this and everyone is together,” Hausen said. “I don’t think that there’s quit in us. These coaches are coming in every day and giving us a plan. The guys are showing up and giving energy. We all committed to this and we have got to find a way, because it’s not getting easier in the Big 12.”
The Wildcats will next be in action on Tuesday at home against Texas Tech.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s game:
This was an embarrassing game for K-State
Losing to Houston is one thing. Getting blown out by Houston on your home court is an entirely different animal.
The oddsmakers only made Houston an 11.5-point favorite heading into this game. Some expected K-State to play hard and push the Cougars inside the Octagon of Doom.
But the opposite transpired.
Houston dominated this game from the very beginning. K-State was overmatched in every way imaginable. The Wildcats scored a respectable 57 points. No other team had topped 55 points against Houston during its current winning streak. But it didn’t matter because they couldn’t stop the Cougars on the other end of the court.
The Cougars averaged 1.369 points per possession and out-rebounded the Wildcats 44-20.
Perhaps worst of all, Houston only committed five turnovers.
Buckets came easily for Houston. K-State didn’t play with enough passion or execute well enough to prevent the Cougars from getting good looks. When they missed, they often grabbed the rebound and scored anyway.
Tang defended his team’s effort and actually said the Wildcats played harder than they did in many of their other recent losses. But it didn’t always look that way.
“Our effort was way better today,” Tang said. “But that’s just how good they are. This wasn’t an effort issue. They’re just better than we are, maybe at every position.”
Still, this loss is not a good omen for a team that still has plenty of difficult games remaining on the schedule.
Brendan Hausen got more looks from 3-point range
The K-State guard only scored two points earlier this week against Oklahoma State. He eclipsed that number in a matter of seconds against Houston.
Hausen drained a corner 3 on the first possession of the game to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
It was a sign of things to come. Hausen fired away from beyond the arc and finished with five 3-pointers on his way to 15 points. He was the team’s best source of offense in this matchup, and he didn’t hesitate to shoot when he was open.
Coach Tang said he wanted to create more looks for Hausen heading into this game, and he followed through.
There weren’t many positives for K-State in this lopsided affair, but Hausen’s confidence could benefit after a shooting performance like this.
“It was nice to see a few go through,” Hausen said. “We knew going in to today that there were going to be some opportunities to get some shots. I don’t think that I’ve really lost my confidence at all. I have just got to be ready to step in and hit shots.”
Houston is once again a Big 12 title contender
Some may have written off the Cougars after they lost Jamal Shead and then began this season with early losses to Auburn, Alabama and San Diego State.
They only entered this week ranked at No. 12 in the national polls even though they were on a lengthy winning streak.
But it would be wise to start paying attention to them once again.
Houston hasn’t gone anywhere. This is still one of the best teams in the Big 12, right along with Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas.
A performance like this reinforced that the Cougars aren’t one-dimensional. They can beat teams with both their offense and their defense. They will be hard for anyone in the Big 12 to beat the rest of this season.
This story was originally published January 11, 2025 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Takeaways from Kansas State’s most lopsided defeat of the season against Houston."