Kansas State basketball had another loss on the season. The Wildcats hosted their second basketball game of the season against the Colorado Buffaloes and lost 76-58. In the last game of the Little Apple Classic on Friday, Nov. 27, the Wildcats blew an early 22-9 lead in the game. This led to the Buffaloes coming back and answering with 14 straight points, which lead to them winning on the road.
The last time these former Big 12 opponents met was back in 2011 when Colorado won in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament 87-75.
In this game, Colorado’s McKinley Wright IV had 24 points, five rebounds and five assists to help hand Kansas State its second loss this season. Wright is one of Colorado’s star senior players this year.
Colorado’s Maddox Daniels had 10 points, and Jabari Walker and Jeriah Horne both scored 9 points off the bench.
Kansas State senior Mike McGuirl only scored eight points. Freshman Nigel Pack was the leading scorer for the Wildcats and was 4 of 6 from three-point range and finished with 12 points to lead Kansas State early in the game.
Kansas State has not played this bad in a long time. The Wildcats started this season 0-2 with both games at home for the first time since 1962-63 and the first time overall since 2002-03.
Colorado started a season 2-0 with both games on the road for the first time since 1960-61.
What can K-State do to improve?
Kansas State has not even faced a conference opponent yet this season, and it not looking good for the Wildcats, but there is always room for improvement, and that starts off with making some changes in their game play.
For K-State to win games, it needs to be more aggressive and score more points.
In K-State’s first game against Drake, it scored only 60 points and lost by 10. In this most recent game, the Wildcats only scored 58 points. This is less than their last game and they got beat by almost 20 points. Scoring less than 60 points a game will not win you a basketball game in the Big 12 Conference.
Even though K-State’s Nigel Pack had made 4 or 6 from three-point range during the game, that is not enough points for the Wildcats to win basketball games. If they make more 3-pointers that’s a different story, but they cannot rely on making those every time.
Instead, Kansas State needs to be more aggressive down low and score more points in the paint. This will also help score more free throws because free throws win basketball games.
Kansas State currently has a free throw percentage of 60%, which is above average and can lead the Wildcats to scoring more points.
Kansas State in the past has been known to be a more defensive basketball team, but this needs to change starting this year because the Wildcats are not scoring enough points to win these games.
Also there needs to be more of a sense of leadership for the team by Mike McGuirl. McGuirl is the only senior on the team this year, and he needs to step up.
If Kansas State can do this, I have a feeling their season could turn around.
The Wildcats are set to face off against University of Missouri, Kansas City Roos, Monday at 8 p.m. ET. The Roos are currently 2-1 early on this season.
I believe if Kansas State comes together, it can pull out a win, but I believe it will be a close game.
Photo courtesy of KStateSports.com
