The Kansas State Wildcats grappled against the UCF Knights on several fronts throughout the night. 

“We just didn’t deliver,” K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. “We had opportunities we didn’t take advantage of.” 

The sluggish first half for the K-State resulted in a 9-2 turnover ratio between the Wildcats and Knights, along with K-State shooting 34.4% from field goal range.

“We started the game, first eight minutes had eight turnovers and a couple shots that might as well have been turnovers,” Tang said. “They [UCF] got to get out on transition, and when you dig yourself a hole, it’s just hard.”

The pit was deep for K-State as UCF buried the Wildcats in a deficit of 42-28 at halftime.

“Second half, we were better, but we couldn’t get a stop,” Tang said. “We’ve got to keep grinding, and the great thing is we got a lot of games ahead of us, and we’ve got to develop more of a desperation.” 

Abdi Bashir Jr. got the second half going with back-to-back three-pointers, putting the ‘Cats within eight. Feeding off the energy, P.J. Haggerty drove to the lane through contact, drawing an and-one. Haggerty converted the three-point play, cutting the deficit to six points, 45-39, with 16:51 on the clock.

Despite scoring droughts leaking into the second half, K-State went on a scoring run, with 12:23 left in the game. The Wildcats were 6-for-6 as Haggerty converted his three-point play at the stripe, getting K-State within three points, 55-52.

With more intensity and focus coming from the Wildcats, Nate Johnson snatched the ball from the Knights and found Haggerty running the floor for an easy layup to get K-State within reach of UCF by one point. The Knights, however, responded with two three-pointers, extending their lead once again.

“They pressured us,” Tang said.  “They crawled up in us, they pressured us, they blew up every hand off. We didn’t play with poise and force early. They sped us up so we shot contested layups instead of playing on two feet and stopping and pivoting and finding the next pass.”

The Wildcats would try to close the gap, getting within three points — as Taj Manning had two back-to-back layups — before UCF would extend their lead to six points with 8:50 remaining in the game.

“We talked all week long about competing,” Tang said. “Competing like everything, every, every inch of the floor, every possession, every screen, every pass. And I’m pretty sure I can go back and see that we weren’t as competitive as we needed to be.”

Trying to push the pace and play catch-up, Haggerty found Johnson for a dunk off the fast break, getting K-State within five points. But that would be as close as the Knights would allow.

Even though UCF had a scoring drought over the last 3:07 of the game, its extensive lead left them in a comfortable position and ultimately left the ‘Cats with an 82-73 loss.

“We’ve got a resilient group, I’ve never questioned that,” Tang said. “Sometimes our problem [is] their overconfidence of what they can do on the offensive end. We have a saying that anybody can come back. Very few teams come back and win, and that’s what we gotta get.”

K-State’s next matchup is on the road against Oklahoma State. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m., streaming on CBS Sports Network. The Wildcats are now on a four-game losing streak, moving to 9-8 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

“We’ve got to be better at the business of basketball,” Tang said.