Kansas State men’s basketball led for a majority of the second half but a late TCU surge gave the Horned Frogs a 63-62 victory, handing the Wildcats a 12th consecutive road loss.
K-State dropped to 7-6 on the season and 1-1 in conference play after a 7-0 run was capped off by TCU’s Noah Reynolds’ layup with 12 seconds, and an ensuing defensive stand by TCU.
“This was one heck of a Big 12 basketball game with an incredible environment, and they made one more play than we did,” head coach Jerome Tang said to K-State Athletics.
In the first half, K-State was cold shooting and recorded just 26% from the field, a season-low for any half. However, a late three-point basket from guard Brendan Hausen cut the deficit to 27-24 going into halftime.
In the first half, the ‘Cats were 3-22 from three-point land as the shots were not falling but the Wildcats continued to take attempts. Hausen was the only Wildcat to make a 3-pointer in the first half, including a four-point play which led him to his first half and game total of 10 points.
“We’ve got good shooters, and we want to shoot the ball. Probably not that many. I thought we settled in the first half,” Tang said.
While K-State was cold from the outside it allowed a lot of offensive rebound attempts, including forward David N’Guessan’s 14 first-half rebounds, half coming off the offensive glass.
N’Guessan finished the game with a career-high 17 rebounds and 10 points for a double-double.
Out of the break, immediately tied things up with a Coleman Hawkins 3-pointer.
Hawkins was a major factor in this game facilitating, despite battling foul trouble late, putting together a strong start to conference play. He finished with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
The second half was back-and-forth but K-State held the slight advantage despite both teams picking up their play on offense. Coming down the stretch, guard Max Jones knocked down a triple to give K-State a six-point lead with around three minutes to go.
That three-point basket though was the last time K-State would score in the game as TCU scored the last seven points. Guard Dug McDaniel, who scored a team-high 12 points, got off a final shot but was off the mark and TCU escaped with a one-point victory.
“We wanted to go fast and I thought Dug McDaniel made the right decision,” Tang said. “He turned on the ball screen and got to the rim.”
K-State was just 2-5 from the free throw line in the game. The ‘Cats missed two one-and-one free throw opportunities late which were a big factor in the outcome of the game.
The Wildcats have a chance to end their road loss streak on Tuesday night as they travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face a struggling Cowboy squad at 7 pm.
