No home cooking for Kansas State basketball in blowout loss to Oklahoma
MANHATTAN — This was not the homecoming Kansas State basketball had hoped for.
The Wildcats spotted No. 24 Oklahoma an eight-point lead before getting on the board more than nine minutes in and never could recover Tuesday night, dropping their third straight game, 73-53, to the Sooners at Bramlage Coliseum.
It was the first home conference loss for K-State, which fell to 14-7 overall and 4-4 in the Big 12. Oklahoma broke a two-game losing streak and improved to 16-5, 4-4.
K-State trailed by double digits most of the game, but cut Oklahoma's lead to seven points late in the second half on a Tylor Perry free throw, only to see the Sooners answer with a 12-2 run to close it down.
With leading scorers Cam Carter and Arthur Kaluma both having off nights, only Tylor Perry reached double figures for the Wildcats, finishing with 23 points.
Oklahoma was led by Jalon Moore with 23 points, followed by Javian McCollum with 21.
K-State must now go back on the road Saturday for a 1 p.m. game at Oklahoma State.
Here are three takeaways from an ugly K-State loss:
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Rebounding and fouls again a problem for the Wildcats
K-State coach Jerome Tang said heading into the game that he was less concerned about the Wildcats' turnover numbers than their abundance of fouls and lack of rebounding.
Sure enough, K-State lost the rebound battle, 39-35, but it was the fouling that hurt the most. After committing 11 in the first half, including three by Kaluma, they were whistled seven times in the first 4-plus minutes of the second period to put Oklahoma in the bonus with 15:51 left.
Oklahoma was in the double bonus with more than 10 minutes left and outscored K-State from the free-throw line, 24-17, despite only making 61.5% of its attempts
Kansas State offense missing in action early
If you thought K-State's start on offense at Houston was bad, the Wildcats were just getting warmed up.
After going nearly six minutes without scoring and trailing 11-0 against the Cougars last Saturday, the Wildcats took it a step further with Oklahoma, needing the second of two free throws by David N'Guessan to break the ice with 11:49 left in the first half. By then, the Sooners had an 8-0 lead.
The Wildcats' first basket, also by N'Guessan, came at the 10:30 mark after 11 straight misses.
Tylor Perry came to play for K-State
Kansas State point guard Perry, who has seen his scoring numbers drop precipitously in recent weeks, tried to put the Wildcats on his back in the second half, and for a while it worked.
Perry, who had five points at halftime, began attacking the basket with reckless abandon after the break, which resulted in two three-point play opportunities and got him the free-throw line eight times.
With 9:13 left, he got the Wildcats within single digits for the first time since midway through the first half on a three-point play. He added a free throw at the 8:28 mark to cut it to 51-44, but that was as close as K-State got.
Related: Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang eager to put a pair of road incidents behind him
Related: Houston's defense never let Kansas State basketball off the mat in 74-52 blowout loss
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Oklahoma hands Kansas State basketball first Big 12 home loss, 73-53
