K-State Men’s Basketball Pulls Off Enormous Rally But Falls Short
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Kansas State had little reason to battle back, down 22 points on the road at Colorado, a lost season one game closer to completion.
But to their credit, the Wildcats found a spark and gave themselves a chance to pull off a most improbable victory. K-State cut the lead to one possession with 2:13 to play. But the rally wasn’t enough, as Colorado scored the final six points of the game to win, 79-70, at the CU Events Center in Boulder on Wednesday night.
The highly entertaining game was full of huge momentum changes, wild runs by both teams and, in the end, missed opportunities for the Wildcats.
The loss was K-State’s seventh consecutive on the road. K-State had two scoring droughts of about five minutes each and the Buffaloes took advantage. Colorado had five players finish in double figures.
“You can only execute so much at the end of the day, right?” K-State interim coach Matthew Driscoll said in a postgame news conference.
“Players got to make plays because it’s not about plays, it’s about players … We’re running good stuff. We have to execute the final part of it, which is making that basket.”
K-State (11-17, 2-13 Big 12) went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 73-70 behind four points each from P.J. Haggerty and Andrej Kostic. Then, the Buffaloes (16-12, 6-9) made 6-of-8 from the line to seal the victory.
No moral wins for Wildcats
“I'm not a moral victory guy,” Driscoll said. “I’ve never been. I’m not a guy that’s going to learn from losing. I’m not into that stuff.
“I’m into learning. I’m into keep pouring into the cup because the cups are a little bit empty. So whatever transpires, or however that transpires then we’re gonna have to figure out what that looks like.
“You can’t in the last two minutes of the game, you can’t get three shots blocked. We got to be better at playing ... to getting fouled, getting to the free-throw line, stopping the clock, being able to utilize those things.
“We have to be more efficient. So I don’t know if disappointment is the word or frustration, but I do feel like we’re right there, like we are right there.”
K-State making stops
Colorado went on a 16-0 run in the first half and soon had what looked like an insurmountable, 37-18 lead. That’s when the Wildcats made the first of their rallies.
K-State outscored the Buffaloes, 15-5, to go into halftime down by 42-33. But after K-State cut the lead to 42-37, Colorado scored the next 17 points and led, 59-37.
“I think it was early in the second half and the lead was 18,” Driscoll said. “We were in the timeout, and I said, ‘You don’t want to hear this. However, this thing’s about ready to get ugly because we haven’t decided we’re gonna get one stop.’
“And CJ Jones said to me, ‘Coach, we’re turning this around. And I said, ‘Really, you think you are?' I said, ‘By the way, we just cut it to seven with the ball to begin the half, and we let [them] get back up 18.
“Like that ain’t happening. Like, this thing’s about ready to get ugly.’ And CJ said, ‘No’ and he looked me right in the eye. I said, ‘Oh, is that right, CJ? I said, so you think we’re gonna get a stop, so we’re gonna turn this around?’
“And he said, ‘Coach, I know we are.’ And I said, ‘OK’ and I got up and I left the huddle. And they did. They got stop after stop after stop.”
Long-distance issues
Haggerty led the Wildcats with a game-high 25 points, and 10 rebounds. Nate Johnson and Kostic each had 10 points.
Distance shooting continues to hurt the Wildcats, who made only 5-of-23 (22 percent). Colorado shot 36 percent from distance (9-of-25).
“This is the best 3-point shooting team in the history of the school, but we didn’t make threes tonight and it was still 73-70,” Driscoll said.
“And I can’t tell you, there was what, four, maybe five bad threes we took, all the rest of them were threes that we normally make. So, I’m encouraged.”
Elias Rapieque returns
Wildcats junior forward Elias Rapieque returned after missing more than a month with an undisclosed injury. He last played Jan. 10 in a loss at Arizona State.
He scored five points and had three rebounds and one assist in eight minutes.
“Elias, he looked no different than before he got hurt, which is to his credit,” Driscoll said. “And what’s more impressive is he turned 22 today. It’s his birthday, and he never sulked.
“He never not coached. He was on the bench telling the guys when we were down 18 that we're going to do this. And at that point he hadn’t played yet. So to his credit, he came back just like when he left.”
Next for K-State is TCU on Saturday at 5:30 (CT), on ESPN2. In the first meeting, K-State lost, 84-82, as TCU scored the game’s final seven points.
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Chuck Bausman is a writer for Kansas State on SI. Chuck formerly was the Executive Sports Editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, Executive Sports Editor of the Courier-Post in South Jersey and Sports Copy Editor for the Detroit Free Press. He has been a Big Ten enthusiast for nearly forever. He learned how to cuss by watching Philly sports. You can reach Chuck at: bausmac@icloud.com