Kansas State basketball suffers first loss, 76-64, against Butler: Three takeaways

The Butler Bulldogs showed Kansas State the magic of their historic home arena and had the Wildcats on their heels from the start Wednesday night in their Big 12/Big East Battle matchup at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Butler opened a big first-half lead and survived a pair of Kansas State rallies in the second period in handing the Wildcats their first loss of the Jerome Tang coaching era, 76-64, in Indianapolis.

All five starters scored in double figures for Butler, which improved to 5-3 and remained unbeaten in four games at Hinkle. Center Manny Bates led the Bulldogs with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

For K-State, Keyontae Johnson provided most of the first-half offense, scoring 14 of his 20 points in the first 20 minutes, and led the Wildcats with 12 rebounds. Desi Sills came off the bench to score 17 points and Markquis Nowell had 13 points and eight assists.

Butler led 37-25 at halftime and never trailed in the second period. K-State got within five, 48-43, on a Cam Carter steal and layup with 14:16 left, but Butler used a 17-2 run to regain control. K-State closed within eight points late, but got no closer.

Here are three takeaways from a rough night on the road for K-State.

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Kansas State defense AWOL in Indiana

On the way to a 6-0 start to the season, Kansas State hung its hat on solid, tenacious defense. That defense did not travel well to Indianapolis as Butler broke down the Wildcats time and again.

While K-State had trouble scoring in the first half, it was the lack of defense that left Tang miffed.

"Offense was easy for them," Tang said. "Our defense creates offense for us, and when teams are shooting 50 percent the first half and then they come out and shoot 61 percent the second half, this is not about offense.

"This is all about the defensive end. So we have to put a better game plan together, to put our guys in a better position to win."

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Already leading by a dozen at the half, Butler made 11 of its first 14 shots in the second period to turn back a K-State comeback. The Wildcats also had just three steals, which hurt their chances to score in transition on the other end.

For the game, Butler shot 54.9%, including 61% in the second half. The Bulldogs also outrebounded K-State, 31-27.

Turnovers not the only problem for Kansas State

Tang's greatest source of frustration with the Wildcats so far has been turnovers, with a lack of offensive rebounding a close second.

True to form, the Wildcats gave the ball away nine times in the first half against Butler and 14 times for the game. They also had only six offensive rebounds.

Surprisingly, those weren't the biggest culprits in the end, as K-State had 12 points off turnovers to seven for Butler, and held a 10-7 advantage in second-chance points.

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The Wildcats' shot selection was a bigger problem as they were 4 of 20 from 3-point range, as opposed to 25 of 43 for 58% inside the arc. And they got to the free-throw line just three times, making two.

K-State was 2 of 11 on 3-pointers in the first half.

With Butler relying almost exclusively on its starting five, Tang also wanted to put pressure on the Bulldogs in order to get them in foul trouble.

"Knowing that we wanted to get to their bench by creating fouls and making them have to sub," Tang said. "I thought in the second half we came out and executed that game plan a lot better."

Desi Sills provides instant offense

One bright spot for K-State was Sills' instant offense off the bench. With Johnson and Nowell the only consistent weapons among the starters, Sills sparked a pair of second-half comebacks by scoring all 17 of his points after intermission.

"Desi is a fighter and a winner," Tang said of Sills, a fifth-year transfer from Arkansas State who started his career at Arkansas. "In the first half he had taken more threes than twos, which is not necessarily the strength of his game."

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Sills got to the lane and attacked the basket effectively in the second half, hitting 8 of 12 shots and making one of his two 3-point shots when Butler backed off of him.

"When I first started out (in the second half), I saw open gaps, and coach said he was going to start running some plays for me and I just tried to capitalize any way that I can," Sills said. "My teammates got me the ball and I just felt I capitalized, and I tried to do whatever I can to cut the lead."

During one stretch, where K-State trimmed a 20-point Butler lead to eight with under four minutes left, Sills scored 11 straight Wildcats points.

After four straight games away from home, K-State returns to Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game against Wichita State.

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball suffers its first loss of the season at Butler