With a quarter of Big 12 Conference play completed, the K-State men’s basketball team is still searching for its first conference win. The Wildcats travel to play the Colorado Buffalos on Saturday with tip-off set for 5 p.m.
K-State (11-7, 0-4 Big 12 Confernce) is coming off its most recent loss Wednesday night to No. 23 Baylor.
The Wildcats were buried by Baylor’s 3-point shooting, especially LaceDarius Dunn’s performance. Dunn had a game-high 33 points on 9-12 shooting from behind the 3-point line.
“That’s a team defense problem, we just kind of wore down mentally,” K-State forward Dominique Sutton said. “We would trap the ball and we didn’t have very good defensive rotation and [Dunn] would knock down open shots.”
K-State has now completed its toughest part of the schedule by already having played Oklahoma, KU and Baylor – three of the top teams in the Big 12 Conference.
“I don’t think Saturday’s game is a must win,” head coach Frank Martin said. “I think for the health of the team, it would be good to win a game.”
The Colorado Buffalos (8-9, 0-3 Big 12) come into Saturday’s contest on the same kind of losing streak the Wildcats are experiencing. The Buffs have lost three straight games by an average of 22 points per game, but they are 7-3 in the Coors Events Center.
Colorado’s most recent game was Tuesday night against Texas Tech. As the game came to a close, Colorado was leading, but a late run by the Red Raiders gave them the 63-55 victory.
The Buffalos are led in scoring and rebounding by sophomore guard Cory Higgins. Higgins averages 17.8 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. Junior guard Dwight Thorne II averages 11.9 points per game and is the only other Colorado player averaging double-digits.
“We have to go in there and build on the enthusiasm we tried to play with against Baylor and become more consistent at that,” Martin said. “When we’re good, we have unbelievable energy and passion. And for whatever reason, we had lost that.”
The game can be seen in Manhattan on Channel 7.