Kansas State matches longest losing streak in 19 years with blowout defeat to Texas
The Kansas State basketball team will need more than throwback uniforms to recreate its glory days, or anything close to them.
Texas drove a metaphorical bulldozer over the Wildcats and their classic two-tone uniforms on its way to a 70-59victory Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum. Courtney Ramey was at the controls.
That result will go down as the most demoralizing loss of a demoralizing season for the Wildcats. Unlike their loss at Texas last month, the Longhorns were not at full strength for this game. They played without three of their normal starters, including star forward Jericho Sims.
But it didn’t matter. Ramey, a sophomore guard from St. Louis, came out hot and stayed hot as he made 10 of 16 shots and scored a game-high 26 points. The Longhorns raced to a 19-point lead before halftime and never let the Wildcats back in the game.
“Our guys have really taken ownership of what we’ve asked them to do, starting with this guy (Ramey),” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “He’s really taken a leadership role and done a great job, first and foremost in practice and in our preparation, owning the message that the coaches gave given them. Today we asked them to play with grit. It’s hard to come in here and win if you don’t have a level of grit to you. Courtney did a great job setting the tone with that, and our other guys did a great job, as well.”
K-State (9-18, 2-12 Big 12) played like a last-place team against Texas (16-11, 6-8) that lost its most previous road game by 29 points against middling Iowa State.
Will the Wildcats win another game this season? It’s fair to wonder. Up next are daunting games against Baylor and Kansas. Then the regular season ends with more manageable contests against Oklahoma State and Iowa State.
Perhaps the best news for fans, at the moment, is that only four games remain before the Big 12 Tournament.
Bruce Weber’s team has suffered seven straight defeats, matching the program’s longest losing streak since 2001 when Jim Wooldridge was just starting out as coach.
“It’s tough, there’s no doubt,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “It’s no fun for anyone, not for the guys or the coaches. But that is our job as coaches to try and encourage them. That’s all we can do. I think the guys have been good. They have come to practice and are focused, but we have to be a little better.”
This was not what anyone had in mind when CBS purchased the TV rights to this game from ESPN and announced it would broadcast the game nationally months before the season began.
Viewers watched the Longhorns keep their slim hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament alive and the Wildcats solidify their place at the bottom of the conference standings.
Ramey set the tone for this game early by making eight of his first 11 shots for a whopping 21 points in the first half. He guided the Longhorns to a 42-23 halftime lead, rendering everything that happened during the final 20 minutes moot.
K-State was also not at full strength, as it played without freshman forward Montavious Murphy, who injured his knee earlier in the week. But his absence hardly explains a defeat of this magnitude.
Here’s what does: the Wildcats allowed a team that normally struggles to score to attempt open shots at will. The Longhorns shot 52% from the field and found lots of success against K-State’s usually solid defense.
K-State also struggled on the offensive end, shooting 34% from the field and 55% from the free-throw line.
Xavier Sneed led the Wildcats with 15 points.
“We didn’t come out with that same intensity in the beginning of the game and it showed,” Sneed said. “We just tried to bounce back from there. It’s tough to fight uphill and keep fighting uphill.”
One second-half play from Texas summed up the game well. Will Baker, a seldom-used freshman forward, came off the bench and threw down a driving dunk with his left hand while Makol Mawien fouled him in the paint. Texas coach Shaka Smart screamed like he just won the lottery on the sideline and Baker finished off the and-one play with a free throw moments later.
The Wildcats could do nothing to stop him or the Longhorns. They were on their way to another defeat.
This story was originally published February 22, 2020 at 3:27 PM.