K-State basketball takeaways from a road loss to KU in the Sunflower Showdown
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KU had many alley-oop dunks that helped put the game out of reach.
- K‑State was whistled for seven fouls in the first 5:24, hampering rotation.
- PJ Haggerty returned with padding, scored 21 on 18 shots but didn’t lift teammates.
The Kansas State men’s basketball team ended its regular season with a 104-85 loss against Sunflower Showdown rival Kansas on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
That result came as no surprise to anyone in attendance.
Not only has it been a disastrous campaign for the Wildcats — featuring the midseason ouster of head coach Jerome Tang — but they traditionally struggle in this building. They haven’t won here since 2006, under former coach Jim Wooldridge.
They never threatened Saturday with interim head coach Matthew Driscoll. K-State (12-19, 3-15 Big 12) struggled on both ends of the floor against KU (22-9, 12-6), trailing by as many as 30 points.
The Wildcats will next be in action at the Big 12 Tournament. They will be the No. 15 seed at the event in Kansas City. K-State’s first-round game will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at T-Mobile Center. The Wildcats’ likely opponent is No. 10 seed BYU.
K-State’s season will come to an end after its next loss. At that point, fans can turn the page to a coaching search and begin hoping for better days in the future.
Until then, here are takeaways from Saturday’s action:
K-State’s alley-oop defense could use some work
At times, this felt like an NBA All-Star Game for Kansas.
The Jayhawks pulled off an abundance of alley-oop dunks that brought the home crowd to its feet. Big plays like that can be expected from a team with Flory Bidunga on the inside.
But KU provided enough emphatic slams in this game to fill up a highlight segment on “SportsCenter.”
Tre White threw down the first alley-oop dunk of the game on a pass from Darryn Peterson to give KU a 16-11 lead. Driscoll immediately called timeout, hoping to quiet the crowd.
Later, Bidunga hammered home a pass from Melvin Council. Driscoll once again called timeout. Bidunga added three more alley-oop dunks to energize the home crowd and deflate the visiting bench.
K-State did a poor job of defending that play, and it was a big reason why this game was never close.
The Wildcats had to navigate foul trouble
For a team that hasn’t won inside Allen Fieldhouse in 20 years, it came as no surprise that the Wildcats encountered early foul trouble against the Jayhawks.
K-State was whistled for seven fouls in the first 5 minutes, 24 seconds of game action. Three players had two fouls by halftime. Several had three fouls early in the second half.
PJ Haggerty played much of the second half with four fouls. CJ Jones, amazingly, fouled out with 11:03 remaining in the second half.
Avoiding fouls has been a challenge for the Wildcats all season. Fans have rarely been able to blame officials for that weakness. This team simply fouls too much.
Driscoll was forced to navigate foul trouble from the very beginning in Lawrence. That made K-State’s upset bid even more difficult than it already was.
PJ Haggerty scored 21 in his return
K-State’s leading scorer missed his first game of the season earlier this week, when he aggravated an injury to his left arm before a home contest against West Virginia.
After taking a few days off, Haggerty was able to return to action with padding on his left forearm Saturday.
His play would best be described as a mixed bag.
He scored 21 points, which is undoubtedly good. But he needed 18 shots to score them. He wasn’t efficient.
Haggerty’s scoring also failed to lift his teammates. It is interesting that K-State was able to beat West Virginia while only scoring 65 points without Haggerty, and then lose big to KU as he scored 21.
This story was originally published March 7, 2026 at 3:23 PM.