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Presented with the chance to get out of the grueling Big 12 for a Saturday matchup against Mississippi, one of the SEC’s weakest teams, K-State shot poorly, refused to rebound, and did not defend well enough in a 67-56 loss in Oxford. The Cats shot 30.2% (19-63) from the floor and were out-rebounded 43-33.
Nijel Pack was a bright spot, scoring 18 and tossing 7 assists. But after scoring 9 of K-State’s first 11, he disappeared for too long, and nobody else stepped up to fill the void. Mark Smith carried the Cats from a double-digit deficit to get them within 6 early in the second half. He finished with a double-double—20 points and 16 rebounds, which was only enough to make the outcome merely embarrassing, rather than humiliating.
K-State led briefly in the first half, but was in chase mode the rest of the way and never truly threatened to take the lead back.
Luke Kasubke had 7 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. No other K-State player’s performance merits a mention.
Having spent more than two hours watching this drainswirl of a game, I’ll spend no more of my time (nor waste yours with excessive pointless verbiage) describing it.
The Wildcats (10-9, 2-6 Big 12) host Oklahoma State Tuesday at 8:00.