Cats lose to Texas Tech despite rally

Basketball

Kansas State lost to #18 Texas Tech 74-58 in Lubbock yesterday. The Wildcats are now 1-2 in Big 12 play and 11-4 overall.

A brief rally in the second half by Kansas State was not enough to overcome a huge 18-point halftime deficit, as Texas Tech basically pummeled the Wildcats. The Red Raiders, shooting at nearly 70%, put together a near-perfect game in the first half and never trailed in the game.

There is no easy way to say this, but this game was a mismatch from start to finish. Where Texas Tech showed showed great depth and balanced scoring, Kansas State could only respond with inconsistency from an injury-depleted squad. The Wildcats could not score in the early stages, but worse, Kansas State couldn’t stop Tech from dominating every aspect of the game early on.

Texas Tech’s Keenan Evans had a game-leading 27 points and was 13-of-14 from the free throw line. For the Wildcats, Barry Brown led the scoring with 24 points while Dean Wade had 14 points.

Next up, the Wildcats will host Oklahoma State on January 10 at 7PM.

Meanwhile, fresh off a stunning upset of #12 West Virginia in Morgantown, the Kansas State women will host #8 Texas in Bramlage today in the 2017 Play 4 Kay game. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 PM and the game will be available on ESPNU.

Look for Peyton Williams and Kayla Goth, who combined for more than half of all the points in the last game, to lead the charge for the Wildcats. Williams leads the team in field goal percentage and is second in points scored, while Goth is the Big 12’s assists leader and currently leads Kansas State in points scored.

Track

Kansas State swept the Wildcat Invitational this weekend, with the Wildcats winning 22 titles, and setting a number of personal best marks in the process. The men’s team beat out Prairie View, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Texas Southern, while the women beat Prairie View and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Rhizlane Siba won the women’s high jump event with a leap of 1.82 m, good enough to be a new personal best and a new record in her native Morocco. Siba was also the previous national record holder in the event. Natron Gipson won the men’s high jump event (2.05 m).

Nina Schulz won the women’s long jump with an attempt of 6.04 m, while Claudette Allen won the women’s triple jump (11.45m). On the men’s side, Tom Pyle took the long jump title with a mark of 6.71m, while teammate Max Estill came in third in the same event. Isaac Smallwood won the triple jump event (13.27m).

On the track, A’Keyla Mitchell won the 60m dash, while Nina Schulz won the 60H event. Ranae McKenzie won the 300m race. McKenzie and Schulz later teamed up with Lauren Taubert and Akia Guerrier to win the women’s 4x400 race. Terrell Smith took the men’s 60m title with a time of 6.76.

Up next, the track teams will host Wichita State and Kansas in a triangular meet at Ahearn Field House on January 13th.