Kansas State and TCU both entered Saturday’s matchup in Fort Worth, Texas desperate for a win, with K-State dropping their last four games and TCU their last six.
It came down to three-point shooting for both teams. TCU hit 15 threes and K-State managed to hit two.
Slow starts have been one of the biggest issues for the Wildcats this season, and that trend continued on Saturday evening. Thanks to three early Wildcat turnovers and three early three-point shots from the Horned Frogs, the Wildcats found themselves in a 10-point hole with five minutes remaining in the first half.
Junior guard David Sloan and senior forward Xavier Sneed gave K-State a competitive edge.
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PREVIEW: Men's basketball heads to Fort Worth on Saturday for showdown with TCU
K-State finished out the half on a 13-2 run. Sloan and Sneed both combined for nine out of the 13 points during that stretch.
The Wildcats went into half-time leading 27-26. Sloan led the Wildcat scorers with seven points.
Nine turnovers for TCU paved the way for 15 K-State points in the first half.
Redshirt junior guard Cartier Diarra got energy going for the Wildcats in the second half, scoring four points including a big windmill dunk to put K-State up 32-31.
Diarra left the game mid-second half with an apparent chin injury but he returned later in the game.
The second half mainly consisted of a three-point barrage from both teams. Unfortunately, K-State was on the losing side of that battle.
This surge of three-point shooting led to a 46-40 TCU lead at the under-12 media timeout.
K-State made adjustments and took the lead after the Wildcats went on a short 10-5 run, making the scoring 50-48.
TCU dominated K-State throughout the rest of the half, finishing the game on a huge 17-7 run to break their six-game losing streak, defeating the Wildcats 68-57.
In the loss, K-State shot 42.6 percent from the field and just 16.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Sneed led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points.
The Wildcats have now lost five straight games and are (9-16) overall on the season with a (2-10) record in conference play.
K-State is off to Lubbock, Texas, to take on Texas Tech (16-9, 7-5) Wednesday night which will wrap-up the two game road trip for the Wildcats. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
