Kansas State Wildcats Need to Find Identity
By Eddie Grier
Coming off a good win last weekend against Texas A&M at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, one would think that the Kansas State Wildcats basketball team would carry some of that momentum back home to Manhattan.
That was definitely not the case on Sunday afternoon.
Tthe Wildcats suffered probably their worst loss of the season to this point to a 2-9 (now 3-9 thanks to this loss) Texas Southern team at the buzzer. The final score was 58-56.
K-State for some reason so far this season has just been not all that great at home even though they have been winning.
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Losing at home �in December in front of a sellout crowd to an opponent that you should have taken care of is flat out embarrassing. With only 15 seconds left, Kansas State had a 4 point advantage, but that was all erased when poor play and not converting on free throws cost them.
With just 4 seconds left when the missed free throw attempt by Texas Southern did not go in, Jason Carter got the ball from one of his teammates and connected to put Southern up by 2 with 0.9 seconds left. Javon Thomas made another turnover to seal the loss for K-State.
The Wildcats nearly lost to the Texas A&M last weekend for not hitting their free throws, but managed to escape. Poor executing toward the the end of theses games came back to bite the Wildcats.
Approaching Big 12 play, the Cats need to find some identity within the team. Right now it seems like Kansas State wants to turn on the motor when they want to play and turn it off when they don’t want to.
The Kansas State Wildcats are sitting at 7-5 right now and that’s not very good for a team with one of the best guards (Marcus Foster) and a good center (Thomas Gipson) and who was predicted to finish third in the Big 12 this season.
The word spread around the locker room late Sunday was energy. Kansas State did not have the energy it needed or the lack of focus to play against a 2-9 squad. With inconsistent play hurting the Cats, Bruce Weber needs to find some other the way to get his team motivated or it’s going to be a long season which could end up in not going to the NCAA tournament.
A team should not lose with a 4 point lead with 15 seconds to go especially when playing at home in front of your own fans and against a team that is not good. Not finishing strong cost K-State.
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The last few games have resulted in a big win against Purdue, a loss in Knoxville, close win at home against Bradley, then a huge win against Texas A&M, and now this costly loss against Texas Southern.
Up and down play will not cut it for Kansas State in conference. Not when pretty much every team has a winning record including much improved TCU, who is unbeaten. The Kansas State Wildcats better get their minds right or they will be in one big mess.