Kansas State Loses Heartbreaker on Three Foul Shots with 2.8 Seconds to Play
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Kansas State was mere seconds away Saturday night from securing its first Big 12 win of the season — a road victory at that.
But it wasn’t meant to be, as is often the case when teams winless in their conference are trying to get over the hump. Facing the pressure of the game on his shoulders, Oklahoma State’s Vyctorius Miller made all three foul shots with 2.8 seconds to play to give the Cowboys an 84-83 victory at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Miller is an 82.7 percent free-throw shooter, the second-best percentage on the team. Oklahoma State missed two shots from distance in the final four seconds but secured the offensive rebounds.
K-State had possession on one rebound, tried to call timeout but Oklahoma State tied him up for possession.
“I had a problem with not getting the timeout on the loose ball because it’s exactly what we wanted with the missed shot and loose-ball rebound,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said in a postgame news conference.
“We’re going to be the first to the floor, and we were going to call a timeout. And I thought my player had the ball, and two of our players were calling timeouts, as well as Taj [Manning] on the floor calling it.
“So, I thought that should have been a timeout, our ball.”
Nearly a victory
The Wildcats (9-9, 0-5 Big 12) still had a chance to win the game. Manning caught a pass at midcourt and called timeout. K-State leading scorer P.J. Haggerty, whose basket gave the Wildcats the lead with 49 seconds to play, came up short at the buzzer.
“We had two seconds, we thought they was going to foul,” Haggerty said in a postgame news conference. “I thought maybe I could have got a dribble … I thought it was money but it was just a little short.”
Haggerty played all 40 minutes and led K-State with 21 points. He made 8-of-17 baskets, including 4-of-7 from distance. He also had eight rebounds and three assists.
“Well, we thought they had fouls to give because they played unbelievable defense in the second half and only fouled four times,” Tang said about the Wildcats’ last shot.
“And so, when you have that many fouls to give at the end with two seconds, we thought they were going to maybe foul. And so, I told them that if they foul, you make sure you get a shot up.
“And you know, I got to do a better job of communicating in those moments. That would have probably helped."
Kansas State junior Abdi Bashir Jr. (15 points), senior Khamari McGriff (14 points) and senior Nate Johnson (14 points) also scored in double figures. Kansas State outrebounded OSU, 39-37.
Wildcats connecting
K-State rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit to take a 67-64 lead. The game had 13 lead changes and 11 ties.
The Wildcats had a great shooting game. They were 33-of-66 from the field (50 percent) and 15-of-34 from distance (an excellent 44.1 percent). The 15 three-pointers were the fifth-most in K-State history.
K-State was outscored from the foul line, 20-2. The Wildcats shot only 2-of-5 from the line.
“I wouldn’t say it’s really frustrating,” Haggerty said about the 25-5 free-throw discrepancy in Oklahoma State’s favor. “Sometimes when you go into away games, that’s kind of sometimes how the game is going to go.
“Sometimes the whistle may be in their favor but we just got to get better without fouling as much and just go back to the drawing board.”
Next for the Wildcats
Kansas State is home Tuesday night against Utah (9-9, 1-4), then play host to rival Kansas on Saturday.
Tang said his message down the stretch against Oklahoma State was: “To just continue to fight. One of the things we’ve been trying to stress is that we’ve got to play with energy, effort and enthusiasm, and that starts with me.
“If I have energy, effort and enthusiasm, it’ll trickle down. That’s what I wanted to bring to our guys tonight and they brought it for us. And I was proud of our effort. I was proud of our energy. I was proud of our enthusiasm.”
The Wildcats, 1-4 on the road this season, are 0-5 in the Big 12 for the first time since 1996-97.
“As a young person, you dreamt about being in these environments, and in the best league in America,” Tang said.
“And I’m sure our players did, too, and to play in a terrific game like that tonight was a lot of fun.
“Obviously, not pleased with the outcome, just disappointing that it came down to a call. But credit Miller for stepping to the line and drilling three free throws in a big-time pressure situation.”
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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