Two teams in desperate need of a win face off Saturday afternoon as Kansas State visits Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla.
The Wildcats (14-7, 4-4 Big 12) lost consecutive road games to Iowa State and Houston before falling to Oklahoma at home. All three opponents currently reside in the Associated Press Top 25.
The 73-53 loss to the Sooners on Tuesday left Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang in a sour mood.
“This is on me,” he said. “This might’ve been just the second game at home where we just didn’t deliver offensively. Give OU credit for that. They had a greater sense of urgency on the defensive end. I didn’t have our guys prepared for what they faced. Part of that is they have to make shots, but part of that is I have to do a better job.”
The Cowboys (9-12, 1-7 Big 12) are coming off an 83-54 loss on the road at Kansas on Tuesday. Oklahoma State never led the game, trailed by 18 at halftime and did not get closer than 18 in the second half.
Cowboys head coach Mike Boynton had a similar message after that game.
“We obviously didn’t play well enough to give ourselves much of a chance,” he said. “(Kansas) can hurt you a lot of ways. Today, we tried to make them beat us from 3-point range, and they showed us that they were capable of beating us from 3 early. But that makes it harder, because you have to put more attention on Hunter (Dickinson).
“They’re one of the teams that can beat you both ways.”
The Cowboys and Wildcats played two weeks ago in Manhattan, Kan. Kansas State surged from behind in the second half to defeat Oklahoma State 70-66 in that game.
Arthur Kaluma finished with 23 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats.
Kaluma scored the team’s final 11 points of the first half to draw the Wildcats within 35-31 at the break.
–Field Level Media
