 led by 15 during the first half, but the Wildcats rallied and led 46-45 with 13 minutes remaining. Kevin McCuller scored nine of his 10 points in the final 11:30 to help steady the Red Raiders. Jahmi'us Ramsey also had 10 points.''These Big 12 games are so hard to win especially on the road,'' Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. ''I have so much respect for coach Bruce Weber and what he's done here,''Cartier Diarra scored 19 points, Xavier Sneed had 14 and Montavious Murphy added 11 for Kansas State (7-9, 0-4).This is only the second time Texas Tech has won at Kansas State since 2007.The Wildcats shot 47.2% but only had 36 attempts due to 20 turnovers. Texas Tech also shot 47.2% from the field.''Our guys care and obviously are frustrated,'' Weber said. ''But we fought back in this game and. Told our guys to play with passion and I think they did.'' The Red Raiders scored 30 points off those turnovers and made seven 3-pointers.Kansas State shot almost as many free throws as field goals, making 25 of 34 attempts from the line.It took Kansas State over four minutes to score in the game. In their last game against Texas, the Wildcats didn't score a point in the second half until the 12-minute mark.''I think we need come out and stay focused,'' Murphy said. ''We play good defense, but sometimes they hit the shot because we break down.'' Texas Tech outrebounded Kansas State 31-23 as the Wildcats posted their lowest number of rebounds in a game this season.STARTERS INJUREDKansas State guard Mike McGuirl did not play due to a concussion and Texas Tech guard Terrance Shannon Jr. missed the game due to a back injury.BIG PICTUREKansas State: The Wildcats got down early but fought back in the second half. The big hole proved costly.Texas Tech: Despite having 16 turnovers and battling foul trouble, the Red Raiders were able to hold off a pesky Wildcat team.UP NEXTKansas State hosts West Virginia on Saturday.Texas Tech goes home to take on Iowa State on Saturday.---For more college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Jan 13, 2020Two teams in desperate need of a victory square off Tuesday night as No. 23 Texas Tech faces Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan.Texas Tech and Kansas State combined in 2018-19 to end Kansas' streak of 14 straight years with at least a share of the Big 12 Conference title. This year, however, has not been easy for either team.Texas Tech (10-5, 1-2 Big 12) is coming off two consecutive losses, at home against now-No. 2 Baylor and at No. 12 West Virginia. The struggling Wildcats (7-8, 0-3) have lost five of their past six games.Texas Tech started well with five consecutive wins before losing three straight games. It appeared Chris Beard's club turned a corner when the Red Raiders knocked off then-No. 1 Louisville 70-57 in the Jimmy V Classic in New York. That started another five-game winning streak prior to the back-to-back losses in conference play.Texas Tech has four players averaging in double figures, led by Jahmi'us Ramsey at 16.8. He is joined by Davide Moretti (13.0), Terrence Shannon Jr. (11.6) and Kyler Edwards (10.5).The 66-54 loss to West Virginia was particularly troubling for Beard. The Red Raiders were held to just 28.4 percent (21 of 74) from the field, and they were outrebounded 46-33."One of many parts of West Virginia's identity is their size," Beard said. "They're kind of a unique team. They're a team you don't see much in college basketball anymore with their two bigs. We had some game plan stuff we wanted to get to, but game plans kind of go out the door when you can't score."I hate the coach that gets up here and talks about how we couldn't make a shot. The reason we couldn't make a shot was the other team was well-coached, has good players, was dialed in and played great defense. There certainly were possessions where we couldn't get into our offense, no doubt about it, but I think it is safe to say we had good looks that we have to knock down." The Wildcats' eight losses have been by an average of less than seven points per game.Kansas State led in the second half of every game this season prior to Saturday's 64-50 loss at Texas. The Longhorns used a 20-2 run over 9:14 of game time sandwiched around halftime before pulling away to a comfortable margin."I thought our guys responded fairly well in the first half, but they made four 3-pointers with under 2-3 seconds on the shot clock, including the one at the end of the half," Wildcats head coach Bruce Weber said following that loss. "Those really hurt. I thought we continued to battle, but they really started the second half with a good run and we really couldn't get anything going offensively."I thought the biggest thing was how physical Texas was defensively. It really rattled our guys and we didn't keep our poise. In the first half, we were able to get some transition points, but in the second half, they were really efficient on offense and didn't turn it over as much." The Wildcats are led by senior Xavier Sneed with 14.6 points per game, with Cartier Diarra (12.1) the only other player in double figures. Makol Mawien averages just 7.6 points per game."We have a tough week coming up," Weber said. "It will be a test of our team's resolve and our senior leadership." --Field Level Media
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