MANHATTAN — After Kansas State basketball’s loss to Nebraska in the Hall of Fame Classic championship, the Wildcats said they were excited to see how they’d respond to their first defeat of the season.
It hasn’t been good so far.
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Kansas State dropped its third consecutive game, losing 82-66 to Bowling Green on Monday, Dec. 1, at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
The Wildcats’ first two losses were forgivable, considering the hard-fought loss to Nebraska on a neutral court, followed by a loss to Indiana, which is looking much improved during its first season under Darian DeVries. But a home loss to Bowling Green could lead to some frustration, especially with difficult matchups against Seton Hall and Creighton on the horizon.
Here are our takeaways from the latest Kansas State (5-3) loss.
Kansas State couldn’t pull off comeback to beat Bowling Green
Down by 10 with 8:53 to go, Jerome Tang had to put in a lineup that was better on the offensive end, sitting one that helped the Wildcats climb back into the game because of its defensive effort. PJ Haggerty’s 3 with 7:21 left brought K-State within single digits for the first time since there was 2:01 left in the first half.
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The Wildcats couldn’t make a dent in Bowling Green’s lead, throwing up prayers and not getting anything to fall. Even this lineup was offensively challenged, not scoring a point over a three-minute span after cutting the Falcons’ lead to nine with 4:23 remaining. The Falcons scored eight straight points over the scoring drought.
Haggerty finished the night with 17 points while an inefficient 6 of 19 from the floor. David Castillo, making his first start of the year, led the Wildcats with 22 points. K-State shot 39.3% from the field.
Kansas State defense was really bad in the first half
The Wildcats gave up 49 points to the Falcons in the first half, when Bowling Green made nine 3-pointers, after averaging seven per game entering the contest. They followed with one of their best defensive halves of the season, but the offense couldn’t match.
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Kansas State was able to slow the Falcons down, but had to play an offense-challenged lineup to do so. The lineup featured Taj Manning, CJ Jones and Mobi Ikegwuruka on the floor together, with Castillo doing the only scoring for the group. Haggerty and Abdi Bashir Jr. sat for a stretch that helped the Wildcats climb out of a 16-point hole into trailing by 10 with 8:53 left, but it didn’t matter.
Kansas State trotted out a new starting lineup featuring David Castillo
Castillo made his first start of the season, replacing Elias Rapieque, giving the Wildcats an extra-small lineup with Khamari McGriff as their lone “big.” On the first rotation, Tang brought Rapieque off the bench to replace McGriff, keeping a similar small lineup.
The Wildcats were beaten on the boards early, but Castillo produced most of the Wildcats’ first-half offense. He scored 13 points and made three 3-pointers, while PJ Haggerty struggled from the field, only making four points through the game’s first 20 minutes. Bowling Green outrebounded the Wildcats 20-13 in the first half and created 15 second-chance points to the Wildcats’ seven.
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Seton Hall should be Kansas State’s toughest nonconference home game
Seton Hall (7-1) will visit Manhattan on Saturday, Dec. 6, for a 3 p.m. nonconference game in Bramlage Coliseum. The Pirates entered Monday night ranked No. 66 in KenPom. They have an impressive early-season win over NC State, winning 85-74 on a neutral court on Nov. 24. They host Central Connecticut on Wednesday, Dec. 3, before playing the Wildcats.
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball embarrassed by Bowling Green — Takeaways
