The men’s basketball team will return home from the Ft. Myers Tip-off in Florida with two bad losses after losing to Bradley in the third place game, 73-60.
The Wildcats lost their first game of the tournament to the Panthers 63-59 Monday night as well.
The tale of the tape was three-point shooting — Kansas State was just 4-21 from behind the arc, while Bradley drained 13 of 23 attempts.
The Wildcats had another slow start to the game after seemingly beating that bug with a quick one against Pittsburgh. They found themselves already down eight with 15 minutes left in the first half.
K-State used two three point shots from junior guard Mike McGuirl to pull back into the game and then battled with the Braves all the way down to the end of the first half.
They took their final lead of the game with 2:10 to play in the first half when freshman forward Antonio Gordon scored on a fast break.
Bradley’s senior guard Nate Kennell nailed a three to take the lead for the final time. The Braves went into halftime leading the Wildcats 38-37. Kennell led all scorers with 22 points.
After halftime, it was off to the races for the Braves. It took a traditional three-point play from McGuirl to cut the lead to six at the halfway point of the second half.
The final 10 minutes of the game belonged to Bradley as they stretched the lead to 10 points quickly and maxed it out at 15 in the game’s waning seconds.
K-State tried to foul their way back into the game late, but Bradley was nails from the free throw line. They finished the game shooting 70 percent from the line.
K-State’s leading scorer was senior forward Xavier Sneed, who had 15 points and nine rebounds in a team-high 38 minutes. Sneed was joined in double figures by McGuirl and sophomore guard Suan Williams with 10 a piece.
K-State will have a short break before hosting 0-5 Florida A&M at 7 p.m. on Dec. 2 on ESPN+.
