After a two-game road skid, Kansas State men’s basketball couldn’t get back on track at home, falling to No. 12 Houston 87-57 on Saturday. It was the largest margin of defeat under head coach Jerome Tang.
“Our effort was way better. I hope you all saw that, that our effort was way better today,” Tang said to K-State Athletics. “That’s just how good they are. This wasn’t an effort issue, they’re better than we are, at maybe every position.”
In the first four minutes of the game, both teams came out hot from the 3-point line. K-State made three triples to match its game total against Oklahoma State, leading 9-8 at the under-16 timeout.
Tang said after Oklahoma State said he wanted to get guard Brendan Hausen more looks which K-State was able to do and they were rewarded for it with the early lead.
However, the lead didn’t last long as Houston really tightened it up on defense and shut down K-State from that point on, starting with a 16-2 run which forced a K-State timeout.
Houston ranks first in the nation in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and scoring margin. The Cougars are known for their defense and challenged K-State defensively.
“They’re ridiculous,” Tang said. “But the great thing about that is that they set the standard, and it’s something for us to shoot for.”
Shortly aftrer, Houston went on a 19-5 run and ballooned the lead to 40-19. K-State wasn’t able to cut much into the deficit before halftime and trailed Houston 46-24 at the break.
In the first half, Hausen had half of K-State’s points with 12, all coming on 3-point baskets. Houston shot 58% from the field in the first half and outrebounded K-State 22-9.
Out of the break, K-State made a little run starting the half on an 8-2 run, but Houston again went on another run of its own and pushed the lead back out to over 20.
K-State continued to fight and give good effort in the second half but still couldn’t get any closer to Houston who proved its status as one of the best teams in the Big 12.
K-State was outrebounded for the game 44-20, giving Houston multiple second-chance baskets. Houston scored 52 points in the paint. K-State also turned the ball over 15 times in the game, leading to Houston’s 21 points off of turnovers.
The lone bright spot in the second half was guard Max Jones, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the second half. For the game, K-State was 10-25 (40%) from beyond the arc. Even with the good performance shooting from three, K-State wasn’t able to hit much inside the arch carded a season-low 57 points.
Houston had five reach double figures on the outing. No one had a huge individual game as each did their role perfectly, playing balanced basketball.
“You can see the balance in their scoring, right, like, I mean, they scored 30 points off the bench. [Joseph] Tugler, 13, J’Wan Roberts 10, L.J. Cryer, 11, Emanuel Sharp, 15, [Ja’vier] Francis, 11,” Tang said.
Up next, K-State will welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders who are fresh off a home overtime loss to No. 3 Iowa State. K-State will look to get back on track as well after losing three straight. The game is on Tuesday with tip-off at 8 p.m.
