Kansas State has Opportunity for First Big 12 Victory on Saturday

The Wildcats, coming off two poor shooting performances, visit ASU with both teams hoping to break through in the conference

Kansas State forward Elias Rapieque defends Arizona forward Koa Peat in Wednesday's game at McKale Center in Tucson. | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Kansas State’s men’s basketball team has a legitimate chance to win its first Big 12 game Saturday at Arizona State. Of course, ASU (also 0-2 in the conference) believes the same thing.

Winning in the mighty Big 12 is an enormous task this winter with four teams ranked among the top-9 teams and seven conference teams overall in the AP Top 25 Poll.

Every game potentially is a struggle when such quality teams are involved. Especially when you can’t put the ball in the basket.

Kansas State struggled with its shooting in a 101-76 loss at No. 1-ranked Arizona on Wednesday. K-State shot 8-of-36 (22.2 percent) from distance against Arizona, and shot 26-of-77 (a season-worst 33.8 percent) from the floor.

Coupled with 3-of-21 shooting from distance (14.3 percent) against BYU, K-State needs to start shooting the ball with efficiency.

“We got to take shots to make shots,” K-State coach Jerome Tang said in a postgame interview about the loss to Arizona.

“I actually wanted to see if we could get up to 40 [3-point field goal attempts] tonight. I thought in the first half we turned down four. The goal was to make 14 [3-point field goals], and that would give us a chance to win this game.

“We knew we had to rebound just to have a chance to be in the game. But the only way we were going to win is by making 3-pointers. Obviously, we only made 8-of-36 [shots from 3-point range].

“If we hit our goal of 14 made 3-pointers, we’re talking about a one-possession game. I thought our guys tried to execute the game plan. We just credit to Arizona for doing a great job of guarding the arc.”

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang reacts during loss at Arizona on Wednesday. | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Coming into the BYU game, K-State was ranked ninth nationally shooting from distance at 39.9 percent.

K-State also had trouble with Arizona’s length. K-State was outscored 56-36 in the paint. K-State, who was led by P.J. Haggerty's 19 points, was outrebounded by 55-32.

Wildcats moving forward

Kansas State is 9-6, 0-2 in the Big 12, the same record as ASU. Perceptions about Kansas State might be skewed. The Wildcats opened conference play against No. 10 BYU and No. 1 Arizona, the first time K-State opened conference play with two top-10 teams.

“You know, I coached here once before, and it was a great atmosphere then, too, and Arizona was a really good team,” Tang said.

“I was proud of our guys’ fight. The great thing about this league, we’ve played one team with a 10 in front of their name [BYU], and now we played one with a one in front of their name [Arizona] and then got a whole line of others to go compete against and excited for the next battle at Arizona State on Saturday.”

The Sun Devils mostly have been a middle of the road team under coach Bobby Hurley. ASU has made the NCAA Tournament only three times under Hurley, who started in Tempe in 2015-16. Since 2015-16, K-State has made the NCAAs only four times.

History aside, the more immediate concern for K-State is improved shooting and getting into the Big 12 win column. The matchup with ASU is at 2 p.m. CT, on Peacock.

Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley has led the Sun Devils to only three NCAA Tournament berths since he became the head coach in 2015. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

“Recovery, focus, when we put the game plan together, and just energy,” Tang said about the Wildcats heading into the ASU game.

“I mean, these kids, they’re resilient. They bounce back way quicker than we do as adults. And so, you know, this is gonna bother me probably way more than it bothers them.

“And so not that they don’t care. It’s just they have the ability to bounce back quicker than we do. I’m excited to get back at it.”

Big 12 picture

A Kansas State victory at ASU undoubtedly would give the Wildcats a much-needed and timely boost. Three of the Wildcats’ next six games are against ranked teams — No. 25 UCF, No. 22 Kansas and No. 3 Iowa State. Those three games are at Bramlage Coliseum.

“I’m trying to figure out how we’re going to win the next one,” Tang said. “I’m a small-picture guy.

“Let’s figure out what happened in this game, how we going to fix it, and what we’re going to do tonight, tomorrow, to give us the best chance to win on Saturday in this league. 

“All you could do is try and win the next one, and that gap happens in the offseason. You’re recruiting, that’s that. That’s how you close the gap in that area.”

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