Kansas State's NCAA Tournament run ends in Elite Eight with loss to Loyola-Chicago
One of the most magical NCAA Tournament runs in school history came to an end for Kansas State on Saturday at Philips Arena.
Loyola-Chicago beat the Wildcats 78-62 in an Elite Eight battle of underdogs that had both teams dreaming of their first Final Four trip in more than 50 years.
Things seemed to fall perfectly into place for K-State to keep dancing when it improbably knocked off Kentucky two days ago. Very few gave this group a shot in that game. But things were different in this round. A matchup with Loyola-Chicago, a No. 11 seed from the Missouri Valley Conference, was far from intimidating.
And yet, much like 2010, the last time K-State advanced to the Elite Eight and lost to Butler, the Wildcats seemed to run out of energy one game shy of college basketball’s biggest stage.
"I'm just so proud of our guys, how hard they've worked, how we've overcome so much through the year and did some special things," K-State coach Bruce Weber said.
The loss will leave a sour taste in the mouths of some K-State fans, coming so close and not completing the journey. Still, these Wildcats accomplished more in the past two weeks than even the most optimistic of supporters expected, particularly playing without star forward Dean Wade for all but eight minutes.
They beat Creighton, became the first No. 9 seed to beat a No. 16 seed and earned national respect against Kentucky. Fittingly, they made history even with this loss, becoming the first No. 9 seed to lose to a No. 11 seed in the regional finals. Such a matchup had never occurred until Saturday.
Loyola-Chicago won this game by doing what K-State had previously done to teams in this tournament.
It made life miserable for the Wildcats on defense, playing pressure man defense and dropping four players back after shots to limit their transition game.
"They jumped out to that big lead in the beginning," K-State sophomore Xavier Sneed said. "It was hard for us to come back from that. They just kept their foot on the gas."
K-State seemed bewildered against the Ramblers' pressure from the start.
It didn’t help that Loyola-Chicago came out red hot. The Wildcats have made a habit of winning postseason games by slowing things down and playing suffocating defense, but the Ramblers made 10 of their first 12 shots, including all three of their first three-pointers, to build a 25-14 lead.
K-State had not trailed by more than seven in the first three rounds of the tourney, and that deficit came in the opening moments of the game against Maryland-Baltimore County. The Wildcats quickly came back and controlled the game otherwise.
No such luck against Loyola-Chicago, which continued to play like a team of destiny as famous fan Sister Jean cheered them on.
The Ramblers led 36-24 at halftime and pulled ahead by as many as 23 in the second half. Blue Valley Northwest High product Ben Richardson led the way with a career-high 23 points. His former high school teammate, Clayton Custer, had seven.
That was too much for the cold-shooting Wildcats. Sneed had 16 points, Barry Brown had 14 and Kamau Stokes added 13, but few other players found an offensive rhythm.
"I've got to credit my teammates for finding me" Richardson said. "That's what's so special about our team. We've got so many unselfish guys, and we have so many weapons."
Perhaps playing without Wade, who went back to watching this game from the end of the bench, finally caught up with K-State. The Wildcats got by, and occasionally thrived, without him in their first three NCAA Tournament games, but that wasn’t the case here.
Kansas State missed its best player, an all-conference junior who averaged 16 points in the regular season. His scoring ability could have made a big difference. Instead, the Wildcats had to play another man down in the first half when freshman guard Cartier Diarra briefly exited with a leg injury.
Playing catch-up was difficult. Loyola-Chicago was 22-0 with a halftime lead before Saturday, and K-State is not the type of team that usually goes on big runs.
K-State did what it could and showed grit fighting back from a 61-38 deficit in the final 10 minutes. Junior guard Stokes did the most damage by hitting a string of shots that pulled the Wildcats within 13, at 61-48. But Richardson drained a three on the Ramblers’ next possession.
That seemed to clinch the game. K-State never got back within single digits.
Just like that, Loyola-Chicago is headed to the Final Four for the first time since 1963. K-State will be back next year trying to get there for the first time since 1964.
"It's hard to get to this spot, and right now we've got a lot of sad faces, a lot of tears," Weber said. "But I told (the KSU players), 'I appreciate you so much.'"
This story was originally published March 24, 2018 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Kansas State's NCAA Tournament run ends in Elite Eight with loss to Loyola-Chicago."