Kansas State Basketball: Gut Check Time at Baylor

The Kansas State Wildcats lost a pair of difficult road games last week and a home game in overtime on Wednesday. The Big 12 schedule did them no favors.

The Wildcats travel to Baylor on Saturday to begin a stretch of two games in a 3-game span against the nation’s Top 3 teams.

Bruce Weber’s Wildcats have to rally the troops and do something significant to get back in the win column.

Wednesday loss to TCU was a gut punch and dropped them under .500 (4-5 on the conference season) It’s a game they could have and should have won, especially at home.

Do you remember when the Octagon of Doom meant something? How did that other purple team in the Big 12 steal a victory in Manhattan?

Kansas State’s poor free throw shooting down the stretch killed them. The ‘Cats started 19 of 21 from the free throw line. They finished 21 of 28 at the charity stripe.

When the game is on the line, you have to make shots.

D.J. Johnson played his heart out on Wednesday. He scored 14 points but only grabbed 4 rebounds. That won’t work at home or against a tough Baylor zone.

Dean Wade, who was fighting a foot injury, was held to just a pair of free throws and 3 rebounds. Weber must get more from the sophomore or the season is lost.

Freshman Xavier Sneed had a career high 19-points against TCU. He also was 4-4 from the field and shot a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. Sneed and Barry Brown will need to be at their best hitting 3s on Saturday against the Baylor zone.

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Sneed also grabbed 5 rebounds. He and Kamau Stokes led the team in rebounding. It’s not a good sign when your guards are leading in rebounding.

At this critical point in the season, senior Wesley Iwundu needs to step up and challenge his teammates.

A win at Baylor would turn the season around. If the Wildcats start as slow as they have the past three games, it won’t be pretty.

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