In a contest where both teams were looking for bounce-back performances after tough losses, Kansas State men’s basketball was bested by Oklahoma State, 79-66 in Stillwater Tuesday night.
K-State drops to .500 on the season at 7-7 and 1-2 in Big 12 play, following a last-minute heartbreaking loss at TCU on Saturday. Oklahoma State, which ranked last in the Big 12 across many metrics, moved to 9-5 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
With inclement weather in Manhattan, K-State stayed on the road between Saturday and Tuesday. Head coach Jerome Tang said it didn’t affect the Wildcats’ preparation. However, it proved to not help their cause on the floor.
Out of the gate, OSU looked like the more aggressive team, trying to get its first Big 12 win of the season. The Cowboys were fresh off a bad loss at West Virginia on Saturday and were out for revenge.
At the under-16 timeout, the Cowboys led 11-5 over the ‘Cats. However, K-State was able to hang with them and keep it close for the majority of the first half. Two free throws by guard Max Jones made the OSU lead 28-24 with 4 minutes to go in the first half.
After the free throws by Jones, the Cowboys shifted gears, going on a 15-0 run to end the half including hitting a buzzer-beater jump shot after a Wildcat turnover. The shot made the lead 43-24 at the break.
In the first half, K-State forward Coleman Hawkins picked up third fouls causing him to sit quite awhile. His absence proved difficult for the Wildcats as they couldn’t get much offense going without him.
The main issue for the Wildcats though was stopping Oklahoma State center Abou Ousmane. Ousmane in the first half had 17 points, shooting almost perfectly from the field. His size and ability to stretch the floor caused mismatch problems for K-State.
The Xavier transfer Ousmane for the game finished with 27 points on 11-15 shooting, leading the Pokes to a win.
Coming out in the second half, K-State started 7-foot center Ugonna Onyenso, who had only played 11 minutes since the start of December, to try and combat Ousmane.
K-State also defensively switched to a zone defense to make it harder to get the ball inside.
The zone K-State was in on defense slowed down the game, making a big comeback harder because of the slow game. Oklahoma State also shot 43% from three (9-21) making K-State pay for running the zone.
K-State cut the deficit to 11 points two different times, but Oklahoma State always had an answer and never let it get closer than that.
K-State also had 19 turnovers, which is not a recipe for success on the road in Big 12 play. The high number of turnovers gave the Cowboys plenty of easy buckets as they scored 31 points off turnovers.
In the second half, Coleman Hawkins started to find his groove scoring 16 second-half points and being the aggressive player he has been since the start of Big 12 play.
Other double-digit scorers were forward David N’Guessan with 12 points and also 12 rebounds, recording his second consecutive double-double. Jones also reached double digits with 10 points in the outing.
Onyenso, who is a big-time shot blocker, did some nice things for the Wildcats on the offensive end, scoring 7 points on 3-3 shooting. Onyenso also played 18 second-half minutes, proving he can play for an extended period of time.
Whatever the rotation might be, the Wildcats will need to figure it out quickly as they face a tough road ahead in conference play, starting with No. 12 Houston on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum. The tip-off is at 5 pm.
