K-State’s Modest Winning Streak is Snapped by Texas Tech

Well, Kansas State’s winning streak was fun while it lasted. And for the Wildcats, it only lasted one game.

K-State lost at 13th-ranked Texas Tech on Saturday, 100-72, at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock.

The Wildcats were coming off a win over Baylor on Tuesday in interim coach’s Matthew Driscoll’s first game after replacing the fired Jerome Tang. And with Tech All-American JT Toppin injured (torn ACL) and out for the rest of the season, the Wildcats had hope for an upset.

But K-State’s reliable star P.J. Haggerty had an off game. He still scored 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting. He was 1-of-3 from distance. From the foul line, Haggerty was only 2-of-6. Haggerty was coming off a 34-point game in the win over Baylor.

Haggerty’s problems

“Whether you like this answer or not, I’m gonna have to give it to you, because I’m gonna tell you how I feel in my heart today,” Driscoll said in a postgame news conference.

“I think you found out that P.J. Haggerty, when he gets cut, he bleeds, too. He’s a regular human being.

“He had a very tough day for P.J. Haggerty, because he is usually very strong from three and will knock down some free throws. He will always get somewhere between 20 and 25 [points] and on good night, he gets 35, right?

“And today, on 17 shots, he gets 17 points. He’s human. And did they do something to him? Were they more physical with him? Did they try to run at him?

“Can you imagine all the stuff teams run at him when he is averaging 20-plus points? And so, to their credit, they play tough, they play hard. But P.J. just had a bad day.”

Consistency has been Haggerty’s game, scoring in double figures in all 27 games this season.

Guard Nate Johnson, who scored 33 against Baylor, had 15 points Saturday, and junior forward Taj Manning had 10 points as K-State fell to 11-16, 2-12 in the Big 12. Texas Tech is 20-7, 10-4, in fourth place, two games behind first-place Arizona.

Tech’s spread offense

Without Toppin, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, each of Tech’s starters scored in double figures. It was Tech’s first game without Toppin. Tech led 49-35 at the half.

“I think two of the first 3-pointers were off offensive rebound kickouts, if I’m not mistaken,” Driscoll said. “But then they just shared the sugar. They got downhill; they created two on the ball.

“They got an advantage. They made a crackdown. They were able to throw the ball out and get open 3s on the backside, which is what we like to do, too.”

Tech shot 34-of-62 from the field (54.8 percent), and 13-of-28 from distance (46.4 percent). K-State shot 43.8 percent from the field (28-of-64), and 30 percent from distance (6-of-20). Tech outrebounded K-State by 40-28, and had eight blocked shots to the Wildcats’ three.

“I’m going to try to say this the right way, this team [Tech] was not concerned that JT wasn’t playing,” Driscoll said.

“They were like JT is not playing, so what’s next? Like they always say, life is 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 percent of how you react. This team came out with that kind of a mindset to their credit, and we were able to play well without him.”

K-State on the mend

K-State snapped a six-game losing streak when it defeated Baylor on Tuesday, days after Tang was fired for cause. Driscoll has been putting the pieces back together so the Wildcats can have some say down the stretch of their dismal season.

“Wednesday was great, because it was a complete day off for everybody, staff, players, everybody,” Driscoll said. “And so Thursday, we came back in and remember, we’re not going to change. We’re gonna be a little different, right?

“And so, this group came in, they prepared. They did what they needed to do. There is no sulking. There was no, ’It’s my time.’ Because right now, this can become an individual deal.

“But the problem is, marketability always comes into play, and so the things you do on the floor are always going to be on video.

“So, the way in which you grow and way in which people see you, those that have eligibility left, those that want to go on and do something else, somewhere else, all that stuff is going to matter.

“And so, they’re very, very, very understanding of that, and we’re coaching them just like we would coach them if Coach Tang was here. And so, to their credit, they haven’t missed a beat in that sense.

“They’ve been really, really responsive to me, because I’m different. I got a lot of odd things about me, but the one thing I’ve always been is I’ve had a disciplined commitment to consistency.

“I am who I am. I’m gonna do what I do, and I’m gonna be who I am. And so, to these guys’ credit, they’ve embraced it.”

K-State is on the road Wednesday at Colorado (15-12, 5-9) at 8 p.m. CT, on FS1. The Wildcats only have four regular-season games remaining.

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