K-State remains winless in Big 12 after loss to UCF. Here are the takeaways
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas State’s 0-4 Big 12 start drops its at-large NCAA chances near zero.
- UCF dominated early, built a 36-20 lead and sustained pressure to seal victory.
- K-State depends on Abdi Bashir’s 3-point shooting; cold nights cripple offense.
Just two Big 12 men’s basketball teams remain winless in conference play.
Kansas State is one of them.
The Wildcats stayed stuck at the bottom of the league standings after suffering their fourth straight defeat, a 82-73 home loss to the UCF Knights on Wednesday at Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State (9-8, 0-4 Big 12) is off to its worst start in conference play since Bruce Weber’s final season as head coach in 2022.
Some thought the Wildcats might be able to play with extra energy and passion to avoid another loss, but it didn’t happen. The Knights (14-2, 3-1 Big 12) played like the better and hungrier team from the opening tip.
UCF raced to a 36-20 lead in the early going, and that turned out to be too large for K-State to come back from. The Wildcats showed fight early in the second half and pulled within a single point when PJ Haggerty made a driving layup to make the score 57-56 with 11 minutes, 18 seconds remaining.
But that is where their rally ended. The Knights responded with back-to-back triples and maintained the lead the rest of the way.
Ryan Kugel led the way for UCF with 19 points. K-State countered with 23 points from Haggerty and 15 points from Khamari McGriff.
For the fourth straight game, K-State came up empty against a Big 12 opponent.
Up next for the Wildcats is a road game against Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Wednesday’s action in Manhattan:
The Wildcats may be in for a long season
When K-State concluded non-conference play with nine victories, the Wildcats had a slim shot at contending for the NCAA Tournament.
If they could have split their first four games in Big 12 action, they would probably be on the bubble right now. But that didn’t happen. They lost all four of their league games. Now, their chances of earning an at-large berth into March Madness have fallen near zero.
At this point, they will need to finish the season strong to avoid a losing record for the second consecutive year under head coach Jerome Tang.
Winnable games against Arizona State and UCF were supposed to boost K-State’s basketball profile. Instead, it hurt the team’s postseason outlook.
When will the Wildcats win their first Big 12 game? That is the sad question now facing this team.
UCF (not K-State) played like a team that was desperate for a win
Tang said he was unfazed by K-State’s winless Big 12 start after his team lost at Arizona State over the weekend. One of the reasons why: the Wildcats had faced a difficult schedule.
There were only two teams in the conference, Tang pointed out, that began Big 12 play against two ranked opponents and played an unranked foe on the road. The other was Baylor. Much like K-State, the Bears also lost their first three league games.
Tang took that as a positive sign. And his comparison provided even more optimism when Baylor ended its losing streak with a blowout win at Oklahoma State on Tuesday.
Maybe K-State could do the same thing.
Problem is, the Bears played with reckless abandon against the Cowboys. They were desperate for a win and played hard enough to get one. The Wildcats were unable to do the same. In fact, UCF played like the team that had something to prove Wednesday.
The Knights raced to a 36-20 lead in the early going and only trailed for a few seconds of game action.
They played hard on defense and pushed the ball on offense. UCF players refused to be denied. K-State failed to match that intensity, even though this game should have meant more to the home team.
Abdi Bashir missed the mark
The Wildcats rely on Monmouth transfer Abdi Bashir to make shots from the outside.
Not only is he the team’s best 3-point shooter, Jerome Tang described him as the best distance shooter in the country back at Big 12 Media Days. When Bashir gets hot, that statement doesn’t feel like hyperbole. But he isn’t automatic. He goes cold just like anybody else. And when that happens, it’s hard for the Wildcats to win.
Case in point: Bashir went 4 of 13 from beyond the arc against UCF. Some of his misses weren’t even close.
K-State’s offense is built around the 3-pointer. It either needs Bashir to shoot well in every game or it needs to find more help from other shooters on the perimeter. The Wildcats won’t win many games when he misses that many shots from downtown.
Khamari McGriff stayed out of foul trouble, and good things happened
If you’re looking for a positive from K-State after a game like this, Khamari McGriff is a good place to start.
The starting big man has struggled with foul trouble in recent games. So much so, that he was barely able to stay on the court in road games against Arizona and Arizona State. But that wasn’t an issue for him against the Knights.
He committed just two fouls Wednesday. That allowed him to play 33 minutes. He took advantage with 15 points and five rebounds.
The Wildcats could use more of that kind of production from him moving forward.
This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 9:25 PM.