Short-handed Wildcats give their all in Big 12 Tournament loss to Kansas

Dean Wade sat on the bench with a medical boot on his left foot as Barry Brown rested a few seats away with an ice pack covering his right eye.

It’s hard to imagine a more nightmarish scene for the Kansas State basketball team.

Wade, an all-conference forward, didn’t play against Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals on Friday at Sprint Center. He injured his left foot a day earlier and Bruce Weber didn’t want to push him before the NCAA Tournament. Brown, an all-conference guard, was on the floor for less than two minutes before KU guard Devonte Graham inadvertently poked him in the eye and he toppled over in pain. Just like that, he was also done for the night.

From there, the outcome was predictable. The short-handed Wildcats couldn’t keep pace with the Jayhawks and lost 83-67.

But the journey to that final score was filled with twists and turns that had to make K-State fans proud.

Sophomore forward Makol Mawien continued his impressive streak of games by scoring a career high 29 points. Usually a role player next to Wade, the sophomore forward put the Wildcats on his back and gave them legitimate upset hopes.

If he can bottle up this aggression and play with it as K-State marches forward in the postseason … Look out.

Xavier Sneed and Cartier Diarra also had moments of brilliance. At one point in the second half, Diarra hit Sneed with a lob pass from half court and Sneed threw it down in impressive fashion.

Amaad Wainright and Mike McGuirl came off the bench to provide valuable minutes, as well.

Kansas led 43-30 at halftime and surged ahead by 16 early in the second half, but the Wildcats fought back and pulled with 53-51 with 10:19 remaining. Then they got a stop and had an opportunity to take the lead. The purple-clad fans in attendance were going wild.

A group of role players and reserves were punching above their weight class, threatening to beat rival Kansas for the first time in eight tries.

You could see why Weber said the Wildcats “played their (butts) off” in his halftime interview with ESPN.

Unfortunately for K-State, the Marcus Garrett stole the ball away with KU leading by two and hit an easy layup. That led to a snowball effect, and the Jayhawks were back in front by double digits.

It was a disappointing way to end the game, but also an encouraging sign for what could happen when the Wildcats get their best two players back for the NCAA Tournament next week.

This story was originally published March 9, 2018 at 8:32 PM with the headline "Short-handed Wildcats give their all in Big 12 Tournament loss to Kansas."