Before we get started, a reminder to check out our end-of-the-decade roundtable post from yesterday and feel free to answer our questions yourselves in the comments.
Now, on to miserable and depressing stuff.
Women’s Basketball
Still struggling without Rachel Ranke, Kansas State (6-6, 0-1) dropped their conference opener yesterday at Bramlage to West Virginia 74-63. Yes, Peyton Williams had a double-double (15/10). No, Ayoka Lee did not (12/9). Angela Harris led the Cats with 16 points, and Jasauen Beard added a baker’s dozen. Kysre Gondrezick led the way for the Mountaineers with a game-high 24, and Tynice Martin contributed an additional 18.
What was the difference? Artillery. Gondrezick and Martin combined to go 6-18 from beyond the arc, while K-State was an anemic 1-15 from long range. 33% from outside would have won the game for the Wildcats.
This is a real problem for K-State, not because it’s forced Beard into the starting lineup and forced the team to run a three-forward lineup, but because it’s forced Harris into a different role. Ranke was dropping 35.7% from three-land before her injury; Harris has put up almost as many treys as Ranke, but is only 20% from range. With Ranke gone for the season, the Cats are either going to have to find a gunner or get the post offense working well enough that they don’t need one.
And yes, it sounds absurd to even say that as well as Williams and Lee have played, but as heroic as they’ve been it’s obviously not enough.
Next up: Saturday at Texas Tech.
Men’s Basketball
As reported by your own pal Luke Sobba, K-State fell 66-61 to Oklahoma on Saturday after blowing an 11-point lead. It must be something in the water in Oklahoma, seeing as how the Thunder keep pulling this nonsense too.
Other coverage:
- Austin Brown at Crimson and Cream Machine
- Kellis Robinett’s recap at the Eagle
- Ryan Black’s recap at the Mercury
- Robinett again, this time discussing the difference between how Bruce Weber and Lon Kruger handle players in foul trouble and how it let Oklahoma win
- and Black again, on much the same topic
Football
Well, at least there’s no bad news here.
At the Salina Post, Ron Wilson’s “Now That’s Rural” series takes a look at Atchison’s Harry Trotter, who came back home after a season at Louisville Cardinals.
Corbin McGuire has two items for you in Sports Extra, the first solely football-related: five takeaways from Chris Klieman’s first year in Manhattan, and the top 10 highlights of 2019 for K-State Athletics. In a shocker, K-State’s win over Oklahoma was only #3.