Kansas State basketball's loss at Allen Fieldhouse nothing new, but Wildcats remain resolute
LAWRENCE — When it was all said and done, Kansas State left Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday night much as the previous 16 Wildcat teams had — still looking for a road victory in the Sunflower Showdown.
But while the No. 6-ranked Wildcats trailed most of the way and their 90-78 loss was the 17th straight in the building against Kansas, they gave themselves a fighting chance. It's worth noting that K-State's Big 12 championship teams in 2013 (83-62) and 2019 (64-49) both suffered similar fates.
That is why first-year coach Jerome Tang, who already owns a victory over the No. 8 Jayhawks — an 83-82 overtime decision two weeks ago in Manhattan — was quick to put this loss in perspective. At 18-4 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12, K-State is in a four-way tie for second place with KU, Iowa State and TCU, just one game behind league leader Texas.
"Well, we're 6-3," Tang said. "Y'all picked us to be like 0-9 right now, so where do you all think we're at?
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"I feel good about where we're at. I don't think we've played our best basketball, and so I think we can keep getting better. I'm fired up about it."
Tang was so fired up during the game that he picked up a technical foul, a rarity for him, with 11:40 left in the first half while protesting a foul call against the Wildcats' Ismael Massoud. But his players saw that more as a tactical move than born out of anger and frustration.
"I knew the reason why he was doing it," said point guard Markquis Nowell, who led K-State with 23 points, four assists and two steals. "He wanted to fire us up. He wasn't really mad."
Tang agreed. Well, partially.
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"I didn't want to get a technical, (but) I didn't mind getting the technical," Tang said. "I've been in here too many times (in the previous 19 years as an assistant coach at Baylor), where I feel like the crowd impacts the referees. And they're human beings, OK, and this is no knock on them because we shot more free throws than they shot. We made more free throws than they did.
"But it's when you shoot the free throws, that matters. So I just want them to know that I did not feel like the calls were being even on both ends. Now I think John (Higgins) gave me the tech so he wanted to let me know, 'I will kick you out this game if you keep acting like that,' and so he got his point across, and I hope I got a little of my point across."
To Tang's point, each team was whistled for 23 fouls, and K-State shot 36 free throws to 35 for the Jayhawks. But in addition to putting the officials on notice, he got his team's attention as well.
"I felt like we dug ourselves a little hole in the first half, but my guys competed," Nowell said of the Wildcats' 49-37 halftime deficit. "We played hard to the end, so I'm proud of them."
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The loss to KU was the second straight in the conference for K-State, sandwiched around an impressive 64-50 blowout of Florida in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge series on Saturday. The Wildcats dropped an 80-76 decision at Iowa State before that.
But both of those losses came on the road against ranked opponents. The Wildcats, who were picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll, already have road victories at No. 9 Texas and No. 11 Baylor. They play host to the first-place Longhorns at 3 p.m. Saturday with a chance to reclaim a share of the league lead.
"I told them, 'I don't remember us making a turnover. I don't remember us missing a shot. I don't remember us missing an assignment tonight.' " Tang said. "We're going to wash this thing and we're going to focus on what's next, and that's the only way.
"Otherwise you let a team beat you twice, and we don't want that to happen."
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 men's basketball ready to move on after loss at Kansas
