Slow Start Dooms BYU Basketball in Loss to Kansas State

On Saturday, BYU traveled to Manhattan, Kansas to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. The Cougars lost 84-74 in what has become familiar fashion for road games in conference play. A slow start was compounded by poor shooting from three. Then BYU struggled to get stops, and the Cougars did themselves no favors from the free throw line. BYU shot 6/30 from three, just 20%. Kansas State, one of the worst offensive teams in the conference, shot 47% from three.

Of all the things that BYU didn't do well in this game, it was BYU's slow start that hurt them the most. Kansas State got out to a 16-4 lead in the first 4:20 of this game. BYU outscored Kansas State 70-68 the rest of the way. BYU's starting lineup, in particular, struggled coming out of the halftime locker room. Kansas State got off to a quick 5-0 run in the first minute of the second half. If you exclude those two runs at the start of both halves, BYU outscored Kansas State 70-63.

That has been a disconcerting trend for BYU's starting lineup of Dallin Hall, Spencer Johnson, Trevin Knell, Noah Waterman, and Aly Khalifa. Against Baylor, the Bears got out to an 8-0 run in the first half and a 6-0 run in the second half in BYU's 78-71 win. If you exclude those runs to start both halves, BYU outscored Baylor 78-57.

On the defensive side, BYU had no answer for Arthur Kaluma. Kaluma had a career high 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists.

With the loss, BYU moved to 2-6 in true road games this season. It doesn't get any easier over the next few weeks. BYU's last two road games will be played at Kansas and at Iowa State. Simply put, BYU has to take care of business at home to preserve a single-digit seed in the NCAA tournament.

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