The Cowboys had a rough night in the Little Apple on Wednesday as Kansas State put a beat down on the Pokes 85-57. The Cowboys beat KState less than a month ago 79-66 at home as one of its two Conference wins so the teams traded places in getting a home win. And opportunities for wins have been at a premium for both of these clubs.
KState scored the first bucket on a layup a little over a minute into the game, which was just the beginning of the Wildcats getting high-percentage shots. The Cats scored 36 points in the paint, had 18 fast break points, and shot 53% from the field.
KState had four players hit double-digits, led by Brendan Hausen who scored 18, Coleman Hawkins 15, Max Jones 14 and Dug McDaniel rounded out that list with 10.
Meanwhile, Bryce Thompson was the only Cowboy to post a double-digit game. Thompson scored 11 to post his 7th double-digit scoring game in a row. But, that was pretty much the lone bright spot of the night.
OSU had 21 turnovers, and 21 made buckets, which is a pitiful statistic, and K-State scored 28 points off turnovers. The Cats outscored OSU by 8 in the paint, shot above 50%, made almost half of their 3-pointers, and had 5 more assists than OSU. The Cowboys had just 12 assists all night, which is another sign that this team is not playing together as a unit.
Sorry if this article seems to be written with a frustrated tone, or seems overly negative, that’s where my fandom is at the moment.
Expectations
OSU fans, at least the ones I’ve been in contact with, were all realistic with what they expected from the first year of Coach Lutz. It’s widely accepted that judging wins and losses is not the best way to judge the direction of the program. Judging the process would provide a more accurate assessment of the direction the program is headed.
At this point, as rough as the results are becoming, the process has become just as bad. OSU is playing bad basketball, and there are no two ways around that. That’s the part of this year that has been the most disappointing.
And, also, the fact that Coach Lutz didn’t put a roster together that had rebuild in mind.
Coach Lutz got in very late, so he was severely handicapped in terms of putting a roster together and he chose to get as many veterans with College basketball experience as possible. That feels like a “band-aid”.
That type of roster gave OSU the best chance at the most amount of instant success, but it also put a ceiling on that success and then placed zero emphasis on building for the future. So, as it stands, as bad as this year is turning out to be, next year will be another year where the roster will have to be to be completely rebuilt, again.
So, this team is not winning, and then, nothing is being built, which makes this year feel like a total loss. It feels like we are all just clicking off days on the calendar until this season mercifully comes to an end, and that is sad.
Anything To Play For?
OSU has a bunch of older guys on its team, many, if not most, in their last year of College Basketball. This team is 10-10 overall and 2-7 and just played its worst game of the year. Last night was bad, and that’s putting it nicely, so, the season is trending in the wrong direction. It would be very easy for guys to “check out,” especially those who have no real attachment to OSU and haven’t had the time to build a brotherhood with their teammates.
This team can play for the brand, for each other, for themselves, or solely to get the season over. That’s the choice each one of these guys has to make. And, they will be making those choices in the face of a fan base that, rightfully so, especially after last night, isn’t fired up.
Football went down this road, and that was not fun so hopefully, this group will come together and play in a way that makes OSU proud.
Next up is a home game Saturday afternoon against Utah, a team that demolished OSU just last week. But, in the same way, KState turned the tide on OSU, hopefully, the Pokes can do the same to the Utes.
Game time is 2:00, see you then!
Become a subscriber to our O-State Daily YouTube page and follow us on Twitter @OState_Daily, on Instagram @ostatedaily, or on TikTok @ostatedaily
Also, please consider donating to our GoFundMe to help O-State Daily keep growing. To do so, click this link https://gofund.me/db54a295. This site will always be free to its viewers, but it does take time and money to run, so any donation would be greatly appreciated.
