 "Photo: Nathaniel LaRue")
 "Photo: Nathaniel LaRue")
 "Photo: Nathaniel LaRue")
K-State finished its schedule with an 85-82 overtime loss to Iowa State on Senior Night. The Wildcats have now lost two in a row for the first time this season. The team still has the Big 12 Conference and NCAA tournaments to go, but K-State will not be back to Bramlage.
"The season's over," said coach Frank Martin. "The six months of screaming and running and challenging and teaching — that's over.
"Now we have one or two scenarios: we play nine more games or you get two losses, whichever comes first."
The Big 12 and NCAA both have single elimination tournaments, so the length of K-State's stay in the postseason depends upon the outcome of each game. Junior Curtis Kelly said he thinks the team will have less positive national attention after back-to-back losses.
"The differential we lost by in Lawrence and us losing here at home to the second-worst team in the conference, I think that people are going to start to wonder about us a little bit more," Kelly said. "A lot of people thought that we were that team to beat, one of the come-up teams in the NCAA Tournament and the Big 12 Tournament. Now I think that people are probably going to doubt us a little bit."
Statistically, a lack of effective shooting was the most obvious reason for K-State's home loss. The team shot 34.3 percent from the field and hit only 3-of-23 shots from behind the arc. While it was one of the team's better efforts as far as free-throw shooting, the Wildcats collectively missed nine. Guards Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen, who scored 17 and 27 points respectively, provided the bulk of the scoring, along with Kelly, who had 19 points. However, they were the only K-State players with double figures.
"I think our spacing has been real bad," Kelly said. "I think we get lost while we're in the motion of a play."
He said K-State also has offensive lapses when the team does not make shots it should. Those are costly, he said, especially playing against Big 12 teams.
Iowa State, on the other hand, had five players in double figures — two of whom had double-doubles — and another player with eight points and eight rebounds. The Cyclones made 6-of-12 from 3-point range, so they were twice as effective as the Wildcats in that area with only half the attempts. They also outscored the Wildcats in the paint 40-26.
"It was just mental lapses, open shots, open layups," Pullen said. "When you give teams layups and open threes, I don't know how to beat a team like that."
Iowa State began the game with a 7-2 run. The Wildcats went on an 11-0 run that would give them the lead for a little while, but Iowa State continued making baskets. The Cyclones shot 48.3 percent in the first half and kept the game just out of reach. K-State got minutes from freshmen Martavious Irving and Wally Judge.
When the game was tied at 23-all, Judge made a spin move to the basket to give K-State the lead, and on the other end of the court, stuffed an Iowa State shooter with a block that referees called a jump ball.
From that point, the Cyclones went on a 16-6 run to regain the lead and increase it to 10 points. The 3-point shooting effort from sophomore guard Scott Christopherson, who finished with 18 points, and consistent forays to the rim by junior forward Craig Brackins, who had 12 points and eight rebounds at halftime, played a big part in the Cyclones' offense.
The Wildcats struggled from 3-point range in the first half, going 1-for-11. However, they converted 76.9 percent of their free throws and, in contrast to their Wednesday game at KU, had a nearly even distribution of scoring between the backcourt and the frontcourt. Despite this, Iowa State led 42-33 at the half.
To open the second half, K-State went on a 10-4 run courtesy of Pullen and Kelly. Points in the paint continued to accumulate for the Cyclones, who stretched the lead to 10 points at 63-53. The efforts of the Wildcats, and Kelly in particular, who had back-to-back baskets with a free throw sandwiched in between, allowed them to come within five points at 63-58 and again minutes later at 65-60. With a minute-and-a-half remaining, Clemente hit the Wildcat's third 3-pointer to tie the game at 74.
The Wildcats could not stop the inside penetration of the Cyclones in overtime, and they could not make shots. The players understand Martin when he says the season is over and they have to forget about it and play in the Big 12 Tournament.
"We know that no matter what happens we're all going to be with each other, and we're not going to point fingers at each other, and we're not going to blame each other," Kelly said. "And that's what's critical at tournament time: stay together."
