Kansas State basketball: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

When the Kansas State Wildcat basketball team wins, it wins big, but when it looses, it looses big.

After the 65-64 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, the Wildcats are now 4-4 on the season.

In the four wins, K-State averages more than 88 points, but, in the four losses, the Wildcats average 60.5

In the four wins, K-State averages under 13 turnovers, but, in the four losses, the Wildcats average nearly 16 per game.

You get the point, but those aren’t the only extremes.

Rebounds, shooting percentage, etc, etc, etc.

Wildcat coach Bruce Weber has talked about fighting through adversity since the season-opening victory against the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos.

It’s something that his team isn’t on a consistent basis, and that will lead to a long, long season.

Against Tennessee, K-State pressed on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

They turned the ball over, forced up bad shots, silly fouls – all a receipt for disaster.

Granted, K-State only has two seniors – both starters – who contribute, but youth shouldn’t be used as an excuse.

The crew of Wesley Iwundu, Jevon Thomas, Marcus Foster and Nigel Johnson all saw significant playing time last season and all chipped in to the success of last season’s 20-13 record.

What’s the difference this year?

Is it the loss of point guard Will Spradling and sharp-shooter Shane Southwell? Is it overconfidence? Tougher schedule? A combination of all of the above? Or, maybe something different?

Whatever it is, the Wildcats have a chance to fix whatever is causing the inconsistent play over the next two games with Bradley and Savannah State coming into town over the next eight days.

Then, I think, we’ll know whether or not they’ve managed to fix the problem(s) by the time Texas A&M rolls into the Sprint Center for a neutral site contest right before Christmas.