Kansas State men's basketball's NCAA Tournament chances were placed on life support on Monday as the Wildcats fell to Utah, 74-69.

Dug McDaniel had a chance to tie the game with 31 seconds remaining, but his layup was missed, effectively ending the Wildcats's chances at a come-from-behind victory in the final minute of action.

Brendan Hausen led the Wildcats with 17 points on five made three-pointers. Max Jones and Dug McDaniel were the only other two Wildcats in double-digits, scoring 13 points each.

After winning six straight games, the Wildcats dropped both of their games during the Utah road trip. The two losses put K-State's NCAA Tournament chances in the balance, as the Wildcats may need to win their final five games to earn an at-large bid.

The Wildcats will be back in action over the weekend when they host Arizona State at home on Sunday afternoon.

In the meantime, here are three takeaways from K-State's loss to Utah on Monday night.

At home, K-State seems to have no problems beating teams. They come out hot, sustain leads, and find ways to pull out wins, even if they sometimes seem unlikely. However, on the road, it's an entirely different story.

Including last season, the Wildcats are 4-17 on the road, most of which have come in non-conference games. The Wildcats' only road conference wins this season came during their six-game winning streak, where they beat Arizona State and Iowa State.

Road struggles of this magnitude are unacceptable. It's one thing to struggle on the road; it's another to look like a high school basketball team for stretches away from Bramlage Coliseum.

For the most part, identifying the issues on the road is difficult because it appears to be a different problem every game. The Wildcats started off hot tonight, jumping out to a 7-2 lead before the offense went ice cold. Their offense was borderline non-existent for stretches, allowing Utah to pull ahead to start the second half.

The late-game push to almost tie the game was impressive, but playing catch-up is impossible in the Big 12. The conference has too much talent to let other teams go on long runs before deciding to fight back.

After an impressive stretch during the winning streak, Coleman Hawkins has been a different player over the last few games.

And that's not a good thing.

Hawkins followed up his disappointing performance against BYU with an even worse game against Utah. Hawkins finished with seven points and seven assists but was largely ineffective and borderline invisible for most of the second half.

Some of that was due to early foul trouble -- Hawkins flirted with fouling out for most of the half -- but the Illinois transfer wasn't assertive enough on either side of the ball.

The reported NIL figure given to him in the transfer portal amplifies Hawkins's struggles, but the truth is that this level of performance isn't good enough for a K-State team relying on him to make plays.

If his shot isn't falling, Hawkins has to find other ways to get involved. Whether it's through being a defensive ace or creating plays for his opponents, the Wildcats need him to make plays because the Wildcats have built this to play through him, good and bad.

K-State will need the best version of Hawkins in the final five games if they want to stand a chance of entering Kansas City with an at-large bid possible. It's time for him to step up and find ways to win the Wildcats games.

Anytime a basketball team is outrebounded 51-to-28 and 21-to-6 on the offensive glass, they will lose the game.

Tonight, K-State did that. And, unsurprisingly, they lost.

While Utah is one of the tallest teams in college basketball, K-State's lack of effort in rebounding was inexcusable. There were too many stretches during the game, especially in the second half, where K-State failed to get a body on players in the paint, allowing for easy offensive rebounds and second-chance points.

The Utes finished with 14 second-chance points. While that's a reasonably minuscule amount, given the amount of offensive rebounds grabbed, those easy points made the difference in a five-point game.

Utah center Lawson Lovering dominated the Wildcats in that facet, grabbing ten rebounds -- including six offensive rebounds -- en route to a 15-point double-double. At 7-foot-1, Lovering was the tallest player on the floor, but K-State couldn't find an answer for him. Whether it was Ugonna Onyenso or David N'Guessan, the Wildcats weren't physical enough against Lovering and didn't make it hard on him.

The rebounding has been a problem all season, and it's particularly concerning given the Wildcats' approach in the transfer portal.

Jerome Tang and his staff prioritized length this off-season, adding Hawkins, Onyenso, Baye Fall, and Mobi Ikegwuruka, among others. Max Jones is also a solid rebounder as a guard, which should've helped the rebounding woes.

Instead, the Wildcats have not found ways to rebound this season. Luck might play a factor, but rebounding is largely an effort thing. Height helps, but good rebounding teams know how to find work against their opponents.

This season, the Wildcats have been outrebounded by 2.2 per game. Last season, K-State won the rebounding battle by 2.7 per game. Truth be told, This trend shouldn't be surprising.

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