MORGANTOWN, W.V. — The Kansas State men’s basketball team was no match for West Virginia during an 89-81 loss on Saturday at WVU Coliseum.
K-State (23-8, 11-7 Big 12) ended a memorable regular season with a thud. West Virginia (18-13, 7-11 Big 12) likely locked up a berth in the NCAA Tournament with the win.
The Big 12 tournament is up next for both teams next week.
Until then, here are some thoughts on Saturday’s action:
West Virginia exposed a flaw in K-State’s defense
The Mountaineers did the bulk of their scoring from 2-point range against the Wildcats.
Protecting the rim has been a challenge for K-State at times this season, and West Virginia took advantage of that weakness all game long. WVU hammered the ball inside and made 23 of 37 shots from within the arc.
It also got to the free-throw line 25 times and scored 22 points at the charity stripe.
On paper, West Virginia is a challenging matchup for K-State. Because of their size, the Mountaineers can score in bunches around the rim, grab offensive rebounds and get to the foul line. They did all three well against the Wildcats, and that is the main reason why they won rather easily despite falling behind 8-0 in the opening moments.
The Wildcats missed Desi Sills
Coach Jerome Tang had to alter K-State’s starting lineup for the first time in nearly three weeks, because one of their best players didn’t make the trip to Morgantown.
Senior foward Desi Sills was away from the team in order to attend a funeral, according to a team spokesperson.
Sills is expected to return in time for the Big 12 tournament, but his absence was clearly felt on Saturday. The Wildcats went with a bigger lineup that featured David N’Guessan at the five spot, and they were much less versatile than usual on both ends of the floor.
K-State went on a 4-0 tear in games after Sills was inserted into the starting lineup. That showed how valuable he is to the Wildcats. Losing without him was also a sign of what he means to the roster.
K-State wastes a strong game from the 3-point line
Let’s say someone told you that Keyontae Johnson (24 points with four 3-pointers) and Markquis Nowell (24 points with six 3-pointers) both would score at a high rate against the Mountaineers.
You probably would have expected a K-State win, right?
Well, they were both excellent in the scoring department and knocked down several shots from 3-point range that left most of the fans inside WVU Coliseum frustrated.
But the Wildcats needed more to hang with the Mountaineers on a day when they averaged 1.17 points per possession.
That shows how much K-State struggled on defense in this game.
Questionable call goes against K-State
By no means was it the reason K-State lost this game, but Tang was beyond heated when Kedrian Johnson swatted away a layup attempt by Nowell midway through the second half.
Tang thought it was a blatant goal-tend by the Mountaineers, but the officials on hand called nothing.
It is hard to say if Tang was right or wrong, because no replays of the block were shown within the arena or on the ESPN+ broadcast. But Tang clearly thought the refs missed one. He was so sure of what he saw that he argued with John Higgins for more than a minute during the next timeout.
Thank you, Iowa State
It’s rare for any K-State fan to say nice things about Iowa State, but many of them were congratulating the Cyclones for their unexpected victory at Baylor on Saturday.
Why?
It guaranteed the Wildcats a top-three seed at the Big 12 Tournament. K-State was at risk of falling to the No. 4 seed at the event when the day began. But that was no longer a concern by the time tipoff arrived.
Depending on what happens in the Kansas-Texas game later Saturday, K-State will begin the Big 12 Tournament as either the No. 2 seed (with a KU win) or the No. 3 seed (with a Texas win).
