Kansas State looked about as bad as a basketball team can look while winning a conference game by 19 points on Tuesday at Bramlage Colisuem.
The Wildcats shot a lousy 30 percent from the field, played with low energy on both ends of the floor and looked completely befuddled trying to score against a zone defense.
For those reasons, no one walked away happy. Frank Martin pondered how his players could show up for a game in February with so little enthusiasm, Shane Southwell said K-State’s inconsistencies are becoming truly frustrating and one fan told me he felt like he had just finished watching paint dry on his way to the parking lot.
None of those are good signs for a team preparing to play its most important stretch of the season. Up next is a tough game at Texas, then comes Kansas, Baylor, Missouri and Iowa State. How the Wildcats perform in those games will determine whether they advance to the NCAA Tournament. At 17-6 overall and 6-5 in Big 12 play, they are in good shape to earn an invitation. The bubble is soft this year. A .500 conference record is all it should take.
The question is, can K-State shake off its disappointing game against Texas Tech and play up to its potential over the next two weeks? One could certainly argue it can. It’s hard to blame players for not getting excited about facing the Red Raiders. They are by far the worst team in the Big 12, and possibly the worst team the conference has ever seen. No matter how badly the Wildcats played on Tuesday, everyone knew they were going to win.
That won’t be the case the rest of the way, and that will fire them up. Motivation shouldn’t be a problem from here on out. Still, it’s disappointing that it was on Tuesday.
Player of the game
Shane Southwell. Hey, someone had to score points in the first half. Without Southwell coming off the bench, knocking down a three and leading K-State with 13 points that game could have been much uglier than it was.
Play of the game
Martavious Irving made a three-pointer to put K-State ahead 18-10 late in the first half. Before that shot, Texas Tech was using a triangle-and-two defense that held the Wildcats without a field goal for nearly 9 minutes.
Statistically speaking
K-State made 15 of 50 shots and won going away. When was the last time you saw a team do that? It made up for it by making 30 of 40 shots from the free-throw line.
Do it again!
Adrian Diaz seemed to find his comfort zone late in the second half. He finished with seven points and eight rebounds. It would be nice to see him continue attacking.
How about a do-over?
Jamar Samuels is glad to be done with Texas Tech. The senior forward lasted a total of 26 minutes against the Red Raiders this season, and played horribly. He committed nine fouls compared to one point.
Quote to note
“It’s called immaturity and not respecting the fact that your senior teammates are down to eight opportunities. We should be past that this time of year. Obviously, we were not today. I did not do a good job of getting them excited.” — Frank Martin on his team’s lack of enthusiasm.