The Kansas State men’s basketball team fell to the Texas Longhorns 47-67 Wednesday evening at Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State dropped to 10-3 (0-1) and Texas moved to 9-4 (1-0).
Without senior guard Kamau Stokes and senior forward Dean Wade, the Wildcats needed senior guard Barry Brown to step up and be a big factor in this game, but Brown was scoreless in the first half.
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The Wildcats had a tough time scoring in the first half, only making nine of 30 field goals in the first half and picking up 8 points in the paint.
Texas senior forward Dylan Osetkowski was a handful for the Wildcats down low in the first half. Junior forward Makol Mawien and other players couldn’t find a way to make a basket one-on-one against him.
To end the first half, redshirt sophomore guard Cartier Diarra got a steal on the Longhorns’ final possession and slammed the ball into the net to send Bramlage into a roar despite going into halftime down 25-22.
The Wildcats’ defense was terrific to start the second half. Brown scored with a three-pointer in the first minute to tie the game at 25-25.
But Brown wasn’t able to make a big impact in this game against the Longhorn defense as he finished the game with eight points.
The Wildcats’ defense was terrific to start the second half. They forced the Longhorns to turn the ball over three times in the early possessions.
The early portion of the second half was back-and-forth as there were eight lead changes. The Wildcats just couldn’t manage a productive offense as they shot just 36 percent in the second half.
Towards the end of the fourth quarter, Texas made five three-pointers to blow the game open to a 66-46 lead and would go on the win the game with ease.
Head coach Bruce Weber spoke on Texas’ stretch of consecutive three-pointers.
“We broke down a few times, especially in that stretch in the second half,” Weber said.
Texas shot an exceptional 60 percent in the second half, along with making nine of 11 three pointers.
In total, Texas made a total of 14 three-pointers.
The Wildcats will travel to Lubbock, Texas on Saturday to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The game will air on ESPNU at 1 p.m.
