Kansas State Wildcats fall short against Alabama in Big 12/SEC Challenge
A road game against Alabama didn’t seem like an imposing matchup for Kansas State when the Big 12/SEC Challenge was announced before the season. But when tipoff arrived Saturday at Coleman Coliseum, things were every bit as difficult for the Wildcats as they have been in their own conference.
K-State was unable to overcome a large second-half deficit and lost 77-74 in front of a large crowd of Crimson Tide supporters who roared after every big moment like they were at a football game.
Sound familiar?
“I thought our guys showed character and played their butts off,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “We just have go to play smarter.”
Alabama students heckled K-State players before the game began by chanting the word “fight” in reference to the Wildcats’ much-publicized brawl with Kansas earlier this week. They also aimed a few chants at K-State coach Bruce Weber when he got too far out of the coach’s box or argued calls with officials.
This was the best basketball environment K-State has encountered in a SEC venue during the history of this challenge.
The Wildcats held their own in that environment for much of the game and even led 37-36 at halftime. But the Crimson Tide pulled ahead 59-43 early in the second half. That turned out to be too much of a deficit for K-State to battle back from.
Give it credit for trying, though. Behind some hot shooting from Cartier Diarra, the Wildcats stormed back to within one and made things interesting down the stretch. The game wasn’t decided until Diarra missed a half-court shot at the buzzer that could have sent it to overtime.
“It feels great to come play in an atmosphere like this,” K-State guard Mike McGuirl said. “We wanted to win. That’s what we came here to do, but we competed and we got some things we can take from this and build on. We fought and played with a lot of energy. That is something that has been missing at times.”
“If we continue to fight and continue to play hard all we have got to do is learn and listen to the coaches and learn from the film. We are going to improve and we are going to be a really good team.”
The Wildcats took some satisfaction out of their loss after they went from looking doomed to in control of their own destiny when Diarra made back-to-back threes to pull the Wildcats within 62-61 with 6, minutes, 26 seconds remaining. They actually got a stop on the other end and had two opportunities to take the lead. But it wasn’t to be, as Xavier Sneed missed a layup and Diarra misfired on a hurried three over K-State’s next two possessions.
Alabama never completely pulled away from there, but it never surrendered the lead, either.
The loss dropped K-State (8-11, 1-5 Big 12) another game below .500 as it tries to turn around a disappointing season. The Wildcats have lost six of their past seven.
The win pushed Alabama (12-7, 4-2 SEC) further into NCAA Tournament contention. Nate Oats’ team has won four in a row.
Diarra came off the bench for the first time all season to lead K-State with 17 points, while Sneed added 14 points and Makol Mawien ended with 13 and 12 rebounds in a game that was one of his better efforts of the season.
Alabama guard Kira Lewis had too many answers for the Wildcats. He led the Crimson Tide with a game-high 26 points and attacked the basket with reckless abandon after K-State made things close late.
The Crimson Tide got the Wildcats in foul trouble early and that was more difficult for Weber to manage than usual with two players at home serving suspensions.
Otherwise, Weber thought the Wildcats did a nice job handling the lingering distractions from this week.
“Our coaches did a good job,” Weber said. “I tought our players did a good job. I’m happy with how our players came to play. I’m happy with how our coaches handled it.”
The Wildcats will try to bounce back in their next game at home against Oklahoma on Wednesday.
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 7:31 PM.