The Cincinnati Bearcats built a 28-point lead in the first half, made 16 3-point buckets, and destroyed the K-State Wildcats 91-62 Wednesday evening in Bramlage Coliseum.
This one does not merit much description. The score is enough.
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Nevertheless, a few unembellished facts:
K-State lost by 29. At home. To a team that came in 12-12. That team had not previously won a Big 12 road game this season. Also, it was playing without starter and 11 points-per-game scorer Moustapha Thiam. (He’s a center, by the way. Decent centers have feasted against K-State all season.)
Now, a little commentary:
This K-State roster has good players. P.J. Haggerty, who scored 24 points on 11-18 shooting, is offensively gifted. David Castillo is versatile and quick. Khamari McGriff has good footwork and can score in a variety of ways in the paint. Nate Johnson has shown himself to be a threat from outside and off the dribble. This should be a decent team.
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For awhile this season, we thought “decent” was the floor. The Wildcats beat California, Tulsa, and Mississippi State. Though all of those games were closer than they needed to be—largely because the Cats steadfastly refused to defend and rebound—there was hope that the areas of weakness would improve, and the offense would continue to be excellent. But neither has happened. The weaknesses have been better only in spurts, and the offense has fallen way off its 90-point excellence of the first few weeks.
Yeah, Abdi Bashir Jr. is out. But guess what? K-State was losing long before he got hurt.
The Wildcats are now 10-14, 1-10 in Big 12 play. When they play well—as they did for most of the game Saturday against TCU in Fort Worth—they commit turnovers or make other mistakes late and still find a way to lose. When they play poorly—as they did tonight—they get blown off their home floor by a mediocre team that (hyperbolic TV commentary notwithstanding) should not and likely will not get a sniff from the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Finally, something to ponder, and bear with me:
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Do you recall K-State’s first loss of the season? It came in Kansas City, against Nebraska, an 86-85 disappointment in which the Wildcats battled back from a 15-point deficit to lead for much of the second half, only to let it slip away by failing to clear a weakside rebound that would have sent the game to overtime, fouling Sam Hoiberg, and letting the Huskers win at the free throw line.
Mistakes like that plagued this season. Fundamental lapses. Mental errors. Effort breakdowns.
Nebraska went on to win its first 20 games before losing at No. 3 Michigan (75-72), against No. 9 Illinois (78-69), and against No. 13 Purdue (80-77) in the past few weeks. The Huskers were competitive in all those games.
Which leads to the point: If K-State could play Nebraska down to the wire (and should actually have forced overtime, at least), and Nebraska can currently sit 21-3 with competitive losses to three ranked teams, how can the same K-State team that pushed the Huskers to the brink on a semi-neutral court be so thoroughly uncompetitive in getting thrashed by a .500 team at home?
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As noted the roster, though imperfectly assembled, has talent. We saw it in November and into December. But the regression has been stark. Shocking, really. Why?
The explanation is so obvious it need not even be stated.
