Kansas State Wildcats suffer heartbreaking loss at TCU. Here are the takeaways

Jerome Tang didn’t need many words to sum up Kansas State’s 63-62 loss against TCU on Saturday at Schollmaier Arena.

“They made one more play than we did,” he said.

Indeed, the Wildcats played well enough to beat the Horned Frogs, and stay on top of the Big 12 standings in the process, but the they couldn’t close out the game. That was a frustrating turn of events for everyone wearing a lavender uniform because K-State led by six points with 3 minutes, 14 seconds remaining.

The Horned Frogs scored the final seven points of the game and survived a late push from the Wildcats. Both Dug McDaniel and Coleman Hawkins had opportunities to win the game in the final seconds for K-State, but they were unable to convert.

Perhaps that was to be expected after K-State failed to score in every way possible down the stretch of this game.

McDaniel led K-State with 12 points. Noah Reynolds led TCU with 18 points.

K-State (7-6, 1-1 Big 12) dropped its first game in Big 12 play while TCU (7-6, 1-1) won its first game of the conference season.

The Wildcats are set to next be in action at Oklahoma State on Tuesday.

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

K-State missed an opportunity to start hot in Big 12 play

This loss will feel more painful than most for Tang and his team because of everything that was at stake for the Wildcats.

A win would have allowed them to stay on top of the Big 12 standings with a game up next against struggling Oklahoma State. The Wildcats had a golden opportunity to start 3-0 in the league and erase much of their early struggles.

Things are no longer looking quite so rosy for K-State after this loss.

It suddenly needs a road win against Oklahoma State to move back above .500 in conference play. That won’t be easy when you consider that K-State has lost 11 straight road games.

Kansas State attempted too many 3-pointers

Well, that isn’t entirely accurate.

K-State basketball players not named Brendan Hausen attempted too many 3-pointers in this game, especially during the first half.

Hausen made 3 of 7 shots from beyond the arc and he helped the Wildcats with an important 10 points. But his hot shooting didn’t rub off onto his teammates.

Everyone else on the K-State basketball roster combined to make 3 of 23 shots from distance.

The contrast was most notable in the first half when Hausen went 3 of 5 from 3-point range and his teammates combined to miss all 17 of their outside looks.

K-State wisely altered its strategy in the second half and spent more time trying to score around the basket.

David N’Guessan was busy on the glass

This was a career game for David N’Guessan when it came to rebounding.

The K-State senior forward was all over the glass and finished with a personal-best 17 rebounds. That number was the most of any K-State player in a game since Michael Beasley in 2008 and the third most in program history in a conference game.

He grabbed 14 of those rebounds in the first half.

N’Guessan also added 10 points. This was an excellent performance by him.

He was unable to enjoy it, though, because he missed two important free throws that prevented him from lifting K-State to victory.

Macaleab Rich provided a spark for K-State off the bench

It was impossible to miss Macaleab Rich when he entered the game for a brief stretch of the second half.

He was the one scoring all of K-State’s points.

The sophomore wing came off the bench to score eight points in 11 minutes of action for the Wildcats. As always, he was at his best around the basket.

Rich made all four of his attempts. It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of defender is in his way, Rich always seems to finish when he gets the ball in the paint.

It’s unclear when K-State will travel home

K-State coach Jerome Tang said flying back to Manhattan on Saturday evening was not possible, so the Wildcats planned to stay the night in the DFW metroplex.

There was a chance the Wildcats could fly home Sunday evening, but team officials were still assessing options.