Weary Kansas State basketball team fell hard in loss at No. 4 Baylor. What went wrong?

WACO, Texas — After a two-week Big 12 gauntlet, Kansas State's basketball team was susceptible to a fall.

No. 4-ranked Baylor made the Wildcats crash hard.

After spotting K-State an early Ismael Massoud 3-pointer, the Bears exerted their will and there was nothing the Wildcats could do to stop them.

"Not much you can say. We just got our butts kicked," K-State coach Bruce Weber said after Baylor mauled his Wildcats, 74-49, Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center. "The whole thing we've been through the last three weeks has taken a toll on us. Obviously, Saturday's game probably took our spirit away."

A late collapse at home against Kansas on Saturday that resulted in a 78-75 loss certainly was a tough pill to swallow. The Wildcats led by as many as 17 points in the second half, only to see KU score the game's last nine points and snatch it away.

That game stole any momentum from the previous week, when K-State got back on a brief roll with back-to-back victories over No. 19 Texas Tech and at No. 22 Texas.

"We challenged them on Sunday to come back," Weber said. "I kind of begged and pleaded (Monday) and (Tuesday), but I could feel it. I could feel it coming."

More: Kansas State starts slow, never recovers in 74-49 loss to No. 4 Baylor: Three takeaways

Baylor no doubt felt it as well. The Bears, who tumbled out of the No. 1 spot in the rankings with consecutive home losses two weeks ago, have since rebounded to win three straight, improving to 18-2 overall and 6-2 in the Big 12.

K-State, trying climb back to relevance in the league race after a 0-4 start, dropped to 10-9, 2-6 in the conference. The Wildcats' 49 points were a season low.

"It's a shame what happened Saturday," Weber said. "When you looked at the schedule a couple of weeks ago and you saw four top 20 teams in a row, if you could get two out of the four you'd probably be pretty happy.

"We had a chance to get three. We didn't."

Previously: With a late collapse, Kansas State basketball left to ponder lost opportunity against Kansas

Was there a hangover from the Kansas-Kansas State game?

Nijel Pack, who came back from a rough first half to score eight of his team-high 13 points in the second period against Baylor, admitted that the hangover from KU might have been a factor.

"Just physically, emotionally, everything. It hurt to let one get away from us like that," said Pack, who was the Big 12 co-player of the week after scoring a career-high 35 points against the Jayhawks. "It's tough playing games back-to-back kind of like this with only a few days of rest.

"But really there's really no excuses. They came out and played hard. We've just got to get focused, move past this one and get ready for Saturday.”

The Wildcats get a brief respite from the Big 12 schedule at 3 p.m. Saturday when they go on the road to face Mississippi in the Big 12/SEC Challenge series. With the Baylor game on a Tuesday, they now have four days to get their legs back.

"I just felt fatigue ended up getting us today," Pack said. "But there's not going to be excuses coming from us. Nobody wants to hear excuses.

"KU took a lot out of us, but we've got to be better. That's how the league's going to be. That's now the NCAA Tournament's going to be. That's how the Big 12 Tournament is going to be, where back-to-back games are going to be a thing. We've just got to be better."

Previously: Kansas State basketball goes small, stands tall in 66-65 upset of No. 22 Texas

K-State basketball fell in love with 3-pointers against Baylor

While fatigue may well have been a factor, there were other familiar issues for the Wildcats. Namely a 39-28 rebounding deficit that was even more pronounced before the final stretch, and then the fact that when they settle for 3-pointers instead of attacking the basket, it usually means trouble.

“We shot too many threes early," Weber said. "We've been pretty good at playing basketball the last few weeks — moving the ball, making the extra pass, getting in the paint.

"We didn't get in the paint. We shot quick threes."

Of the Wildcats' first 15 shots, nine were 3-pointers, and after Massoud connected to start the game — his only points in 21 minutes — they missed eight straight from beyond the arc.

Point guard Markquis Nowell, who missed his only shot in the first half, tried to lead the Wildcats back from a 39-21 deficit on his own, scoring K-State's first nine points of the period with a 3-pointer and three straight drives to the basket.

Nowell converted an up-and-under layup that cut the deficit to 42-28, and after K-State forced a turnover he got to the foul line with 15:15 left. But he missed both free throws and Baylor reeled off the next seven points to effectively snuff out the threat.

"Obviously we depend on Markquis and Nijel so much," Weber said. "Baylor did a good job getting into them and we were just a little off."

After Pack and Nowell, who finished with 11 points, no other K-State player scored more than six. Making matters worse, starting guard Selton Miguel went down with an apparent ankle sprain with less than 1 1/2 minutes gone in the second half.

"It was very swollen," said Weber, adding that he was uncertain about the severity of the injury. "He said he thought he came down on somebody's foot.

"All we've been through, obviously we don't want to lose anybody, so hope it's not as bad as the worst possibility, but we'll just have to wait and see."

More: 'He was everywhere': Kansas State basketball guard Markquis Nowell a force on defense

Baylor dominated Kansas State in the rebound department

The other issue for the Wildcats was rebounding, a repeat from Saturday when Kansas dominated that category, 45-23. Exacerbating the situation was an injury suffered by starting center Davion Bradford against the Jayhawks that forced Massoud into the starting lineup surrounded by four guards.

Bradford played only five minutes off the bench and combined with post players Kaosi Ezeagu (19 minutes) and Carlton Linguard (seven minutes) to score six points and grab six rebounds.

"I would not say it's one of our fortes of the year," Weber said. "What is it, when we outrebound people we're 10-1? Texas and Texas Tech were really good rebounding teams and we were able to stay in front of them and rebound the basketball.

"We've got to do a little better job. All we did (in practice) on Sunday was box out, and obviously it didn't help, because at the beginning of the game that was the big factor (in Baylor) getting some second-chance opportunities and slowly but surely build that lead."

Baylor had four double-figure scorers, led by LJ Cryer with 14 points and Adam Flagler and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua with 13 each and Kendall Brown with 10. Tchamwa Tchatchoua also had 12 rebounds and Brown 11.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Here's what went wrong in Kansas State basketball's loss to Baylor