Three takeaways from Kansas State’s road basketball loss against West Virginia
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State built a defensive edge early and held West Virginia scoreless stretches.
- Wildcats collapsed in late 4:30 window as WVU mounted a decisive 14-5 run.
- Offense lacked depth beyond Haggerty, Castillo and Johnson; bench offered little.
The Kansas State men’s basketball team continues to find new ways to lose.
On Tuesday, the Wildcats wasted a tremendous defensive effort (and a late lead) on their way to a 59-54 defeat against West Virginia at Hope Coliseum in Morgantown.
K-State usually tries to win high-scoring shootouts, but it put itself in position to win a low-scoring pitchers’ duel against West Virginia by holding the Mountaineers to lengthy scoring droughts in both halves. And that allowed the Wildcats to pull ahead 49-45 with 4 minutes, 30 seconds remaining on a layup from PJ Haggerty.
Seeing as how West Virginia hadn’t scored since the 10:19 mark of the second half, it looked like K-State might get its first road conference victory of the season. But it wasn’t to be. There is a reason the Wildcats (10-11, 1-7 Big 12) are having a disappointing campaign. They aren’t finding ways to win. They are doing the opposite.
“We have to look ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘Man, what can I do better in that situation?’” Tang said on his postgame radio show. “They (West Virginia) made all the big plays down the stretch.”
Indeed, the Mountaineers seized control with a game-clinching 14-5 run that featured big 3-pointers from both Honor Huff and Treysen Eaglestaff.
K-State responded by failing to get many stops, rebounds or buckets in the clutch.
“I’m going to look at it and see if there’s something I can do better,” Tang said. “Obviously, there are always things I can do better. So start with me. What I can do better? But we have got to improve the final 3 minutes and 38 seconds to get a win.”
Haggerty led K-State with 16 points, all of them coming in the second half. But he missed several shots down the stretch when his team needed him most. David Castillo had 15 points and Nate Johnson pitched in 13 for the Wildcats.
Huff led West Virginia (14-7, 5-3 Big 12) with 17 points in the low-scoring game.
K-State is now 0-7 on the season when it fails to score at least 81 points. It was in position to change that on Tuesday, but it didn’t happen.
The Wildcats are next in action on Sunday against Iowa State at Bramlage Coliseum.
Until then, here are takeaways from Tuesday’s action:
K-State wasted a tremendous game on defense
These Wildcats have rarely flexed their defensive muscles this season, but they got a ton of stops at the start of this game.
West Virginia missed its first six shots and didn’t score until the 14:11 mark of the first half when Chance Moore threw down a dunk that got the Mountaineers on the scoreboard.
K-State led 7-2 at that point and pushed its lead to 10-2 and 13-5 before the home team found its footing on offense.
It was a good start for the Wildcats, because they played with energy and pressured West Virginia with their man defense. They forced the Mountaineers into bad passes and tough shots. Not surprisingly, points were hard to come by.
That gave the Wildcats early confidence and hope of a road upset. Not to be outdone, K-State held West Virginia without a point for nearly seven minutes in the second half. When that happened, it felt like the Wildcats were really going to pull this one out.
But none of those stretches of strong defense ended up mattering in the grand scheme of things, because K-State had too many issues on offense.
West Virginia surged ahead by as many as 10 points before halftime, despite its slow start. It also pulled ahead in the final minutes after struggling for a long stretch.
K-State players delivered empty possessions by missing layups, putting up low-percentage shots and losing track of the shot clock.
Yes, Haggerty, Castillo and Johnson all reached double figures, but no other Wildcat scored more than four points.
It was not a balanced effort for K-State on offense. Not even a surprising effort on defense could make up for that.
The Wildcats need more help from CJ Jones and Andrej Kostic
When K-State is down multiple starters, as it once again was against West Virginia, it needs to get some type of production from its reserve guards.
That didn’t happen in this game.
CJ Jones came off the bench to score three points in 15 minutes. Andrej Kostic also scored three points, but in 19 minutes of action. Each player made one 3-pointer while attempting five shots.
At full strength, K-State doesn’t usually rely on Jones or Kostic for all that much. Anything they can provide is a bonus.
But the Wildcats need more when they are short-handed.
Another basket or two could have made a huge difference on Tuesday.
Nate Johnson and David Castillo responded to Tang’s challenge
Coach Jerome Tang had some choice words for two of his starting guards after the Wildcats suffered a humbling home loss against Kansas over the weekend.
He said both Johnson and Castillo had to “play better” after they put up lackluster stat lines versus the Jayhawks.
Tang was most critical of Johnson, saying “his team needs more from him” and “we expect more from him.” But he made sure to also challenge Castillo.
How would those players respond? Pretty well, it turns out.
Castillo scored 15 points and didn’t commit a single turnover. Johnson had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists in 39 minutes of action against the Mountaineers.
“They responded,” Tang said. “They were better. Now we all have to get a little bit better.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 10:24 PM.