Heads hung as the Kansas State Wildcats walked off the court in an unfortunate 95-61 loss against Iowa State.

“They did a great job,” K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. “They’re [Iowa State]just way better than we are, and so all the credit goes to them for the win.”

The first half was rough for the Wildcats, only shooting 31% from the field and 11.1% from the three-point line.

Dorin Buca attained K-State’s first points of the game with a throwdown at the rim, along with a layup to take the lead from the Cyclones 4-2.

Iowa State came out ready to play, though, going on a 17-2 run over 5:56 early in the first half.

Struggling to score, the ‘Cats would entera dry spell of 2:45 before Haggerty put up a floater from the lane. During that same stretch, Iowa State would go on a 20-2 run, severely extending their lead.

Three Cyclones hit double digits as they lead 50-21 at halftime. Tamin Lipsey and Nate Heise each produced 11 points, with Joshua Jefferson adding 10 points for the half. 

“The season’s not over, so a lot of games to be played,” Haggerty said. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself. I mean, at the end of the day, you just got to keep fighting.”

Coming back from the break, Wildcats Haggerty and Castillo displayed a glimpse of energy as they knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to 25 points.

K-State closed the scoring gap to 23 points when Haggerty hoisted the ball in for a layup, but that’s as close as Iowa State would allow for the remainder of the game.

The Wildcats just couldn’t stop the flow of the Cyclones, allowing them to go on five, eight, and nine-point runs in the middle of the half, and growing the deficit to 39 points under the three-minute mark.

Despite K-State’s playmaking skills, the Wildcats would fall to a highly competitive Iowa State team, 95-61.

Haggerty led K-State once again with 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Castillo added 11 points and two assists, and Nate Johnson, along with Andrej Kostic, put up a combined 16 points.

“I’m not disappointed at all,” Tang said. “I’m with these dudes every single day, and I know everything that they’re going through, and y’all [media] don’t, and so I was proud of our guys, especially in the second half.”

The Wildcats will be on the road for their next matchup against TCU at 1 p.m. on Feb. 7.