K-State basketball falls at home to Bowling Green for 3rd straight loss: Takeaways
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- Kansas State dropped its third straight, an ugly home loss to Bowling Green.
- Wildcats trailed by double digits at half as Bowling Green scored efficiently.
- Coach Tang rotated frequently; David Castillo earned a starting role.
Any optimism that the Kansas State men’s basketball team gave its fans by starting the season with five straight victories has disappeared.
Even the most loyal and supportive K-State backers have to be concerned about this group after it lost to Bowling Green 82-66 on Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats (5-3) trailed by as many as 18 points and were unable to mount a serious comeback attempt against the Falcons (6-2), a MAC team that entered day with a national rating of 139 in Bart Torvik’s college basketball database. To make things even more embarrassing for K-State, it was the first time Bowling Green had defeated a team from a power conference in 20 years.
K-State has now lost three straight games, and it hasn’t looked good at any moment during its past two defeats.
This was the worst of the bunch. Losing to Nebraska and Indiana is one thing. But getting beaten soundly at home by Bowling Green will go down as K-State’s ugliest nonconference loss of the Jerome Tang era.
A result like this had to feel particularly humbling for Marcus Johnson and Nate Johnson. Both K-State players were on MAC teams a year ago. Now they are losing to Bowling Green at home with the Wildcats.
Sam Towns led Bowling Green to the upset by scoring a game-high 27 points. But he got plenty of help from Javontae Campbell and Javon Ruffin, who both scored 17.
David Castillo led the Wildcats with 22 points and PJ Haggerty added 17. But it wasn’t nearly enough.
Castillo said K-State lacked “toughness” afterward.
Head coach Jerome Tang was in no position to argue. This might be a soul-searching loss for him.
“We didn’t play hard enough,” Tang said. “We didn’t deserve to win. We didn’t deserve to wear a K-State uniform tonight. I would have walked out if I could have. I would have left with some of the fans. We have got fans freezing outside and doing all the things they’re doing, and that’s the effort that we give. Man, that’s on me. That’s on me. We’re going to fix some things.”
He will need to make major adjustments before the Wildcats are back in action Saturday against Seton Hall.
Until then, here are takeaways from Monday’s loss ...
Another slow start for the Wildcats
At this rate, it may not be accurate to describe what is happening to Kansas State early in games as slow.
Falling behind might simply be the norm for these Wildcats.
For the third straight game, K-State trailed by double digits in the first half. That was forgivable against opponents like Nebraska and Indiana, especially away from home. The Wildcats understandably entered those games with nerves, and they didn’t possess a talent or size advantage.
But there was no excuse for K-State to trail 49-35 at halftime against Bowling Green.
That is exactly what happened, though. The Falcons averaged nearly 1.6 points per possession in the first 20 minutes, thanks in large part to 17 first half points from Sam Towns.
“I didn’t think anybody played defense today,” Tang said.
The Wildcats also weren’t scoring at a high enough clip to keep up.
David Castillo and Khamari McGriff were the only consistent scorers for K-State in the first half.
It’s hard to know what the solution might be to that particular problem. K-State got off to quality starts in its first few games. But it hasn’t happened lately.
Jerome Tang can’t settle on a rotation
Marcus Johnson, a 6-foot-7 and 265-pound wing who didn’t see a single minute of action in the first seven games of the season, played two first-half minutes for K-State against Bowling Green.
Andrej Kostic and Dorin Buca, a pair of touted European players whom K-State spent a great deal of time and effort recruiting, spent the entire night on the bench.
Taj Manning and Mobi Ikegwuruka played prominent minutes together in the second half while leading scorer PJ Haggerty and top 3-point shooter Abdi Bashir watched from the sideline.
It was hard to keep up with all of Tang’s substitutions in this game. It wasn’t easy to understand them, either.
K-State basketball results are going to be erratic until its head coach can find a rotation that he trusts.
David Castillo has earned a permanent spot in the starting lineup
Sophomore guard David Castillo got his first start of the season against Bowling Green.
It won’t be his last.
Castillo should be a mainstay in the starting lineup after the way he played against the Falcons. He has been one of K-State’s best players all season, and he proved it once again here.
The 6-foot-1 playmaker did more than just provide a spark for his team. He led the Wildcats with 22 points. He was one of the few K-State players who put up a good stat line in the first half. And he is starting to look like one of the most consistent players on the team.
Tang has problems to sort out moving forward. But Castillo may not be one of them.
This story was originally published December 1, 2025 at 9:17 PM.