KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas State men’s basketball team will carry a losing streak into the NCAA Tournament.
K-State bowed out of the Big 12 Tournament with an 80-67 loss against TCU in the quarterfinal round of the event on Thursday evening.
It was a disappointing result for a team that had high aspirations for a weekend run at T-Mobile Center in front of purple-clad fans after putting together a stellar regular season.
The Wildcats (23-9) jumped out to an 11-2 lead but were no match for the Horned Frogs (21-11) the rest of the way.
Mike Miles and Chuck O’Bannon led TCU with 22 points apiece. Keyontae Johnson and Desi Sills both scored 14 for K-State. The Wildcats also lost their final game of the regular season at West Virginia, which means they will head into the Big Dance without any ounce of momentum.
But this defeat does come with a silver lining, of sorts. They will get a few extra days of rest before learning their NCAA Tournament destination on Sunday.
Until then, here are some key takeaways from Thursday night’s action:
—TCU GOT RED HOT FROM THREE-POINT RANGE
Most of the time, teams are happy to let TCU launch shots against them from three-point range.
It doesn’t usually matter if they are open shots or guarded shots. The Horned Frogs tend to miss whenever they look to score from beyond the arc.
It’s one of their biggest weaknesses. Heading into Thursday, they averaged 29.6% shooting from three-point range, a number that ranked last in the Big 12 and 352nd in the nation.
So it seemed like a good omen for K-State that TCU was willing to attempt 25 shots from the outside ... until a bunch of them started going in.
“It really surprised me, because this whole week we realized who we were playing and our scheme was to shrink the court and make them shoot threes,” Nowell said. “But today they were making them so it was pretty hard to stop. They saw some early ones go in and then they just started clicking. It was a season high for them so they played well when they needed to. You have got to give them a lot of credit.”
The Horned Frogs got unusually hot from the outside and bombarded the Wildcats with 11 three-pointers. As Nowell mentioned, that was a new season high for them.
They shot 44% from out there for the game. Miles and O’Bannon made four three-pointers to lead the Horned Frogs.
Given all the other things TCU does well, it is virtually impossible to defeat Jamie Dixon’s team when it makes shots.
—TOO MANY TURNOVERS FOR THE WILDCATS
If you’re going to beat TCU, you have to limit your turnovers. There are tons of different stats that affect every basketball game, but it really is that simple against an opponent like the Horned Frogs.
Their defense is designed to come up with steals that lead to fast-break scoring opportunities on the other end. With guards like Miles and Damion Baugh leading the way, they are one of the nation’s top scoring teams in transition.
With that in mind, it was of the utmost importance that K-State had a low amount of turnovers in this game.
K-State coach Jerome Tang usually aims for 11 or fewer. Well, the Wildcats sailed over that number and ended with 20. TCU turned those 20 turnovers into 20 points on the other end.
Combine that with the way the Horned Frogs were shooting from three-point range and it’s easy to see why they won this game convincingly.
Tang blamed himself for the poor effort in that area. “This is on me,” Tang said. “I didn’t do a very good job of preparing these guys for how physical and what force that people play with in the Big 12 Tournament. That will not happen again.”
—DESI SILLS THROWS A BLOCK PARTY
Welcome back, Desi Sills. The senior guard announced his return to the Wildcats’ roster following a one-game absence with a jaw-dropping defensive performance that featured four blocked shots.
He also provided 14 points and three rebounds for K-State, but those meant little compared to his blocks. Those were a thing of beauty. Sills was a pain in TCU’s side every time one of its players broke away for a potential fast-break dunk or layup.
With Sills trailing behind them in those situations, the Horned Frogs had much more trouble than usual converting at the rim.
That was most evident in the first half, when Sills racked up all four of his blocks.
The most impressive one of all came with 6:03 remaining in the first half when he swatted away a layup attempt from Chuck O’Bannon and sent the ball bouncing into the stands.
Sills celebrated by impersonating Dikembe Mutombo and wagging his finger at the crowd. Sills has 12 blocks this season. It is quickly becoming one of his biggest strengths as a basketball player. His play was one of only a few positives for K-State at this Big 12 Tournament.
