Kansas State was able to make it three competitive games in a row, but still falling short to the Cowboys. The offense in the first half was awful for K-State. It was bad offense for Ok. State too, but they still managed a 16 point lead over the Wildcats at half. K-State scrapped and clawed to go on a 14-0 run in the second half to get the deficit within 4 points with under 15 minutes to play. The Cowboys refocused and regained a decent lead and made sure to keep K-State around a 10 point deficit the rest of the way.
Both teams were without a key piece. K-State misses DaJuan Gordon for the 4th straight game and Ok State guard Isaac Likekele was unavailable for the first time of the season.
Antonio Gordon was K-State's best player today. He recorded a double double with 15 points and a career high 14 rebounds in 36 minutes. His energy and production outmatched any of his teammates.
Pack scored 14 but only 5 of 16 from the field as Ok State did a good job not allowing him to get into a rhythm like we saw from him against Texas the last time out.
Davion Bradford did some nice things with 10 points and 6 rebounds.
K-State just missed one more player to step in and perform as Mike McGuirl had one of his quieter games of the season with 8 points on 2 of 7 shooting. Selton Miguel missed everything shooting 0 of 7 and finished with 3 turnovers in 18 minutes. Luke Kasubke only recorded one shot attempt in his 21 minutes. Was effective at getting to the free throw line however. Kaosi Ezeagu did some nice things in only 11 minutes scoring 8 points on 4 of 5 shooting. Only issue is foul trouble kept him off the floor and he also wasn't really needed this game, but his scoring production does make you think maybe a little more time for him and he could have made even more of a difference (hard to say).
Surprisingly the turnover battle was won by K-State 17-14. They also beat Ok State in the rebounding battle 37-36. It wasn't enough though and in the end Cunningham and many other Cowboys did enough to hold off K-State.
Although it is still a loss, that is a good sign to only lose by single digits on the road when the last time they went on the road they got smacked by over 20 to Kansas in Lawrence. Especially considering the last two practices prior to the trip to Stillwater were some of the worst of the year where guys were't engaged or showing emotion. Seems the stretch of two games of better basketball made them fall into a funk and resulted in a really ugly first half Saturday morning. They battled out of it though, and it gives hope that maybe they can carry it into some good practices before playing Kansas again on Wednesday (originally scheduled for Tuesday), this time at home. They are still trying to break this 12 game losing streak and add a second conference win to the one they won in Ames so long ago.
