A tough outing ended in a disappointing 46-47 loss for the No. 16 Kansas State Wildcats, as the Wildcats fell to the Tulsa Hurricanes Saturday evening.
Neither team shot the ball well in the first half. K-State shot 9-29, 31 percent in field goals; 2-9, 22.2 percent from three-point range. Tulsa shot 8-24, 33.3 percent in field goals; 3-12, 25 percent from three-point range.
Along with the poor shooting, a low-scoring first half, it was the Wildcats who went into halftime with a 25-24 lead.
For the first time this season, redshirt sophomore guard Cartier Diarra led the Wildcats in scoring in the first half with seven points.
The second half was more of the same for the Wildcats in terms of shooting the ball, as they had trouble all game putting the ball down the net. K-State shot 9-30, 30 percent in field goals; 3-10, 30 percent from three-point range in the second half.
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For the Wildcats in the second half, it was junior guard Xavier Sneed who was big, as he made three big threes to keep the Wildcats in the game in key moments. Sneed led the Wildcats in scoring in the second half with nine points.
From the seven-minute mark to the four-minute mark, Sneed scored the only points for the Wildcats with back-to-back three-pointers. With 6:14 remaining in the game, Sneed knocked down the first three to tie the game at 40-40. Then, after Tulsa scored five unanswered, Sneed knocked down the second three with 3:54 remaining to make it a 43-45 game.
The Wildcats, down 43-45 with three minutes remaining, were faced with the task of finding a way to win this game.
Sneed then came through again for the Wildcats, as with 2:24 in the game, he made his third three-pointer of the half, as he scored nine straight points for the Wildcats on back-to-back threes to put K-State up 46-45.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, those were the final points they were able to score, as Tulsa responded by taking the lead on the following possession with a jumper to take the lead 47-45.
The next two possessions were a turnover by Sneed and a turnover by senior guard Barry Brown.
The Wildcats had a couple of chances on the final possession of the game. With 5.1 seconds, senior guard Kamau Stokes inbounded the ball to Barry Brown, who drove toward the basket and fired up a shot.
His shot went short, bounced off the front of the rim. Then Diarra got one more shot off before the buzzer sounded off. Diarra’s shot banked off the backboard then bounced off the rim, and the Wildcats were unable to convert a game-winning shot.
Going forward K-State will need more production from its three seniors: Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes, and Dean Wade. Wade had two points, only making one of six shots. Brown scored six points, making three of 12 shots and Stokes scored four points, went one of 12.
The Wildcats, now 6-2, will next be back on the court on the 15th as they host Georgia State at home tipping off at 7 pm. The game can be watched on FSKC, ESPN3, and the Fox Sports App. It can be listened to live on the K-State Sports Network.
