Kansas State’s basketball losing skid continues at Wichita State. Here are takeaways

Things keep getting worse for the Kansas State men’s basketball team.

The Wildcats suffered their latest loss, 84-65, against Wichita State on Saturday at Koch Arena.

At this point, no negative result should come as a surprise for K-State. Jerome Tang said earlier this week that his team isn’t good enough to overlook any opponent. He was right.

The Wildcats enter Big 12 play with an ugly 6-5 record that features losses to LSU, Liberty, St. John’s, Drake and now Wichita State. To think, this was supposed to be an easy schedule.

Reality is starting to set in. This could be a long season for the Wildcats. They have virtually no shot at earning an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.

That much was driven home as a Wichita State team that was coming off a pair of its own ugly losses, including a defeat against UMKC, beat K-State by nearly 20 points.

This was going to be a get-right game for one of these teams. At least somebody had to win.

Only Wichita State took advantage of the opportunity. The Shockers played with more energy and won going away thanks to 24 points from Xavier Bell.

Macaleab Rich surprisingly led K-State with 20 points. He needed a lot more help to keep this game close.

Things are about to get even harder for the Wildcats as they will next take the court on Dec. 30 against Cincinnati in their first Big 12 game.

Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s action:

Welcome back, Macaleab Rich

If you saw Macaleab Rich making a huge impact in this game, take a bow.

The sophomore guard didn’t play a single minute for K-State in recent games against St. John’s or Drake. It looked like Jerome Tang had lost faith in him. But Rich got a shot at redemption against the Shockers, and he took advantage.

Rich surprisingly gave the Wildcats a much-needed spark in the first half when he came off the bench and scored 13 points. He is best known for his scoring prowess around the basket, but he also drained a pair of 3-pointers in the early going of this game.

Paul Mills and the Shockers clearly weren’t expecting to see much, if any, of Rich. Wichita State players completely ignored him on the perimeter before he drained his 3-pointers.

“It wasn’t very smart,” Mills said, “to not guard Macaleab Rich.”

Rich went on to finish with a team-high 20 points. His ability to play with energy and finish around the basket was valuable in this matchup.

He figures to be more involved in the K-State basketball rotation after a performance like this.

“This was a better matchup for him, and he had two really good practices,” Tang said. “I have a T-shirt that says ‘consistency,’ and that’s what we haven’t been able to get, whether at practice or in games. (Rich) goes for 20 tonight, but then we have other guys who don’t play up to what we expect from them. So as a coach, it’s hard to figure out what to do if you don’t know what you’re going to get from each guy every night.”

The Wildcats lost in the paint

Tang spent much of the past offseason beefing up the K-State front court with forwards out of the transfer portal.

Newcomers like Baye Fall (from Arkansas), Ugonna Onyenso (from Kentucky) and Achor Achor (from Samford) were expected to make K-State formidable on the inside, especially on defense. Putting some of the size on the floor at the same time and using a zone defense could have been difficult for any team to deal with.

But things have not gone according to plan.

That was once again obvious when Wichita State hammered K-State with 44 points in the paint and 42 rebounds. The Wildcats were no match against the Shockers on the inside, which is unusual considering K-State is the team from the power conference.

Onyenso only played a few minutes. Fall was glued to the bench. And Achor left the team earlier this month.

That left Tang relying on a smaller lineup that featured one big, usually Coleman Hawkins or David N’Guesan, surrounded by four guards.

Tang needed to make an adjustment to keep K-State in this game, but he was unable to do so. The Wildcats led by four at halftime, but barely competed from then on. This is the second time in three games that K-State has blown a halftime lead.

“The other coaches did a better job of making adjustments at halftime than our staff did,” Tang said.

K-State and Wichita State should extend this series

It is unclear what the future holds for this basketball series.

K-State and Wichita State used to play in the 1980s and 90s but their in-state hoops rivalry went dormant after 2002. The Wildcats and the Shockers decided to pick things up again in 2021, but only on a limited basis. They have played four straight seasons with K-State winning the first three. It has been an entertaining game for both teams, despite the one-sided results.

That much was evident on Saturday when a large crowd crammed into Koch Arena and these teams played in a fun atmosphere.

Basketball fans don’t have many games to look forward to before conference play gets underway. But this is a matchup that K-State and Wichita State can both enjoy.

Who says no to regular games at Koch Arena and Bramlage Coliseum?

Not Mills.

“I think this is just good for the state of Kansas, you know, to play in your home arenas,” Mills said. “I get that people want to play neutral site games, but I think it means a lot if you play in each other’s own home arenas.”

Tang doesn’t share his enthusiasm for the series.

“This game is kind of like the (Big 12/Big East Battle), it doesn’t do anything for us,” Tang said. “And especially with more conference games going on. So we’re playing 20 conference games. The fact that you can play some games for NIL to help your players and help you with recruiting, there’s just so much more that goes into it. I know it’s important. Our fans enjoy it and their fans enjoy it. But if it’s not going to help us improve as a program and put us in a better position, I don’t know that it’s something that I necessarily want to do.”