K-State Wildcats Q&A: Losing streaks, basketball predictions + Ayoka Lee’s injury
The Kansas State women’s basketball team keeps winning and the Kansas State men’s basketball team keeps losing.
You might not think that combination would lead to many fun topics for a mailbag about the Wildcats. But you would be surprised.
We have plenty of great questions this week, so let’s dive right into them. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
Do you have any particular guesses for the road losing streak in men’s basketball? Is it the routine/travel/crowd or something else? -@garretts_myth via X.
This is a hard question to answer because the Wildcats aren’t currently winning anywhere.
Yes, they have lost an astonishing 15 straight road games dating to last season. But they have also lost plenty of games at neutral sites (two) and on their home floor (three) this season.
K-State has lost to LSU by 11 and to Houston by 30 at home. The Wildcats also lost to Liberty and Drake on neutral floors.
With those results in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Wildcats can’t buy a win on the road.
I’m not sure there is a specific reason why K-State is struggling this mightily on the road. But it’s worth noting that home court is more valuable in college basketball than it is in other sports. Jerome Tang likes to say a capacity crowd is worth 10 points for the Wildcats inside Bramlage Coliseum. I wouldn’t go that far, but it can definitely be worth around five.
There is no shame in losing in frenzied environments against teams like St. John’s, Kansas and Baylor.
Big 12 teams might as well forfeit when they hit the road for games against Houston and Iowa State this season.
But you can’t simply point at the crowd to explain recent road losses against Oklahoma State and TCU. Gallagher-Iba Arena was a library when K-State strolled into town and Schollmaier Arena wasn’t much louder.
The Wildcats lost those games because they played poorly. Not because they they were on the road.
Jerome Tang needs to figure out a way for his team to start scoring more points in the clutch moments of road games. The Wildcats went cold in the final minutes against Baylor, Kansas and TCU to lose those road games by a combined total of 19 points. But they also missed everything they looked at late against Texas Tech, and that game was played at home.
Bottom line: K-State needs to play better ... regardless of location.
Give me a compelling reason to keep watching the K-State men’s basketball team during this disaster of a season? - Abby B. via e-mail.
K-State has managed to cover the spread in three straight games.
The Wildcats lost all three of those contests, so that stat won’t mean all that much to anyone outside of K-State bettors. But it does show that Jerome Tang’s team is exceeding current expectations. This isn’t a team that rolls over, unless Houston is the opponent. Coleman Hawkins, David N’Guessan and many of their teammates are still playing hard. They are fighting.
Usually, a team that is able to cover the spread on a regular basis (even in a losing effort) is capable of pulling off a few outright upsets.
This team is not a train wreck. If you want to see one of those, check out Miami.
Has Gene Taylor shown any reaction to this men’s basketball team this year? - @William_Wildcat via X.
He is frustrated by the results, just like everyone else in EMAW nation.
But he is also supportive.
K-State coaches rave about working for Taylor because they know he has their back, even when things aren’t going well.
I’m not trying to say that Taylor will blindly support all of his coaches. We have already seen him part ways with Bill Snyder, Bruce Weber, Brad Hill and others. But this is only Tang’s first losing season with the Wildcats. Taylor is going to do anything he can to help get things turned around.
What is the Over/Under for basketball wins in the final 13 games of the regular season? - Jeff M. via e-mail.
Despite its recent struggles, K-State is projected to win four more games by college basketball statistician Bart Torvik.
That number may sound too high to some of you. So I will set the O/U at 2.5.
For what it’s worth, I would bet the over. I bet K-State beats Oklahoma State and Colorado at home. Can it find another win somewhere else? Probably. The Wildcats have already played the hardest part of their schedule, save for remaining games against Arizona and Iowa State (twice).
With games remaining against Arizona State (twice), BYU, Utah and Cincinnati I vote yes.
Bold prediction: K-State will beat KU in the Sunflower Showdown rematch.
There is a realistic path to a handful more wins for K-State.
Can the Kansas State women’s basketball team survive without Ayoka Lee? - Andrew B. via e-mail.
I expect the Wildcats to continue winning with or without their star center.
You can’t replace a player like Lee, who is out indefinitely with a fracture in her foot, but the Wildcats are good enough to keep winning without her ... in the short term.
K-State went 4-0 without Lee in the lineup last season (if you count a forfeit against TCU) while she battled an injury. The Wildcats beat Kansas 69-58, Baylor 58-55 and BYU 68-65.
In a surprise twist, K-State started losing games after Lee returned to the lineup and Jeff Mittie’s team encountered problems against Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa State (twice) and Kansas.
The good news for this K-State team is that Oklahoma and Texas are no longer on the schedule. And Iowa State is down compared to last season. K-State will be a big favorite in its next two games, against Colorado and Iowa State.
Mittie should be able to treat those contests as warm-ups before the Wildcats move on to more difficult games.
Then comes a trip to rival KU, which could be tricky. TCU on Feb. 5 will be a test.
Serena Sundell and Temira Poindexter are both excellent scorers. K-State shouldn’t suffer much of a dip on offense without Lee. But the Wildcats will miss her easy baskets around the rim. Things could be more of a challenge on defense without her. That will be interesting to monitor.
K-State is all alone in first place of the Big 12 standings at 7-0. It might be a challenge for the Wildcats to stay there all season without Lee, but they aren’t in danger of tumbling down the table.
For K-State football: with the new roster limits (plus all the transfers) would we be over the limit? And would this mean walk-ons are being told to look elsewhere? How does this work? -@ChadFullington via X.
College football teams will only be allowed to roster 105 players in future seasons.
That is good news for some college football players, as all 105 of them will be allowed to receive a scholarship. Right now, a team can only sign 85 scholarship players at any given time. But it will also be bad news for some college football players, because it will mean the end of walk-ons.
K-State listed 125 players in its media guide heading into the 2024 season. Most of them (around 85) were on scholarship. The rest (around 40) were walk-ons.
The Wildcats will need to narrow down their roster heading into the 2025 campaign.
Chris Klieman has openly criticized this rule change, because it takes away opportunities for walk-ons. That’s fair, especially at a place like K-State where there is a storied history of successful walk-ons.
But I’m not sure it will change things all that much at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Most of the players that used to contribute as walk-ons can now start off on scholarship.
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "K-State Wildcats Q&A: Losing streaks, basketball predictions + Ayoka Lee’s injury."