Kansas State entered Tuesday night's game with Oklahoma State desperately searching for a win at home against the Big 12's last place team.

Not only did the Wildcats not find that victory, the visiting Cowboys were relatively comfortable down the stretch in earning a win inside of Bramlage Coliseum.

Oklahoma State led 27-21 at halftime, using a 12-4 run to close the half after trailing 17-15 roughly half-way through the opening session. Cartier Diarra had six points and five rebounds at halftime to lead K-State in both categories, but he also committed four of the Cats' six first half turnovers.

The Wildcats' first-half shooting splits of 28.6% from two, 27.3% from three and 25% from the foul line were certainly troubling against an OSU team entering the game with the Big 12's worst defense, statistically speaking. K-State also got beat on the boards (25-18) and outscored by six points at the charity stripe over the first 20 minutes.

K-State would fall down by eight points in the second half before four straight made field goals helped cut the deficit to just 47-45. Xavier Sneed appeared to potentially be fouled on a drive to the hoop with K-State down four and 5:20 left to play in the game but there was no call, allowing a run-out and ally-oop jam for OSU on the other end and a 53-47 edge.

Instead of a potential two-point deficit the Wildcats found themselves back down six points.

A later Mike McGuirl triple and two Makol Mawien free throws got K-State within four with 90 seconds left, but Bruce Weber's team would not again find itself within a single possession again, eventually falling 64-59 to the visiting Cowboys.

Let's recap K-State's frustrating loss further in The Final at K-StateOnline.

1. No excuses

I gave K-State credit for playing better against the likes of West Virginia, Baylor, Oklahoma and Alabama, but I also noted that better play needed to evolve into wins against the non-heavy hitters in the Big 12 Conference.

That has not happened.

The Wildcats, of course, lost last Saturday night at Iowa State before falling at home to Oklahoma State, who was the last place team in the Big 12. Yes, the Cowboys were playing better - and it's not all together a stunning result (I picked Oklahoma State to win this morning in our Preview & Prediction) - but it's still the least acceptable loss K-State has shouldered in what has been a disappointing season.

2. Carti's Quick Start

Cartier Diarra scored K-State’s first points on an aggressive drive to the hoop then found Xavier Sneed for a quick triple and an early 5-2 K-State lead. He also assisted on a DaJuan Gordon basket before the first media timeout, helping to spark the K-State offense early. The junior added a triple of his own before taking his first breather with just less than 14 minutes to play with a hand in 10 of K-State’s 12 points.

Diarra did have four turnovers in the first half, as well, but he took care of the ball much better in the second half. He finished with 15 points (on 13 shots), seven rebounds and three assists without turning the ball over a single time after halftime, until there were 1.3 seconds left to play.

3. Yor kidding...

Oklahoma State 6-foot-10 sophomore center Yor Anei had not attempted a 3-pointer this season until an awkward heave to beat the shot clock buzzer in the first half against K-State.

That bomb, however, swished through the net, and then Anei knocked in a long two on the following possession against the Wildcats' zone to give OSU a 20-18 first half advantage.

Anei's shot making sparked a run that turned a 17-15 K-State lead into a 25-18 OSU advantage with roughly four minutes left in the first half. Anei would finish a perfect 6-of-6 from the field for Oklahoma State, with his incredibly efficient game likely the difference in this contest.

4. Mak hacks fast... then stops.

Makol Mawien was called for his first foul just 25 seconds into the game, and the senior post was whistled for his second personal less than two minutes later to grab a spot on the bench with 17:46 still left in the first half. Levi Stockard, to his credit, did get a quick hoop inside shortly after replacing Mawien to put the Wildcats up 7-3 early on. Bruce Weber would break foul tendency for the second straight game with Mawien, however, re-inserting him back into the lineup with two fouls and 5:25 still left in the first half.

To his credit, Mawien mostly avoided foul trouble after grabbing those two in rapid succession, but the damage was certainly done early. Mawien would eventually play 23 minutes and finish with 11 points (3-of-6 shooting) and six boards.

5. Fouls flipped

Oklahoma State was in the double bonus with 2:02 left to play in the first half; K-State never got into the one-and-one in the first half. The Pokes went 8-of-12 at the line in the first half against K-State's 2-of-6, with the six-point gap representing the visitor's 27-21 halftime edge.

The second half was a different story.

K-State got into the one-and-one with 11:19 left in the second half, as at that point Oklahoma State had been whistled for seven fouls against just two for K-State. The Cats held a four-point second-half edge at the line with 1:01 left to play, before any late-game fouling impacted the numbers.

This season continues to find new ways to reach rock bottom. The Cats have officially gone from first to worst in the Big 12, and it doesn't look like it will be getting better any time soon.

The Cats were destroyed on twos by a OSU defense that was allowing 52% from two coming into this game. The Cats managed only 38.2%. K-State also finished only 12-of-22 from the free throw line (54.5%), including a dreadful 2-of-8 in the first half.

K-State did end up winning turnovers and finished even on the boards, but there is nothing pretty in losing a home game like this.

K-State got another great efficiency game from Mike McGuirl, but it wasn't enough. Still, 16 points an a 1.52 efficiency was impressive. Diarra finished with 15 points but on 13 shots with five turnovers for an offensive rating of only 0.81. Mawien was solid with 11 points, an efficiency of 1.14 and a nice rebounding night. Sneed had another rough shooting night, especially on twos, and also finished under 0.90 in efficiency. The freshman trio all struggled, along with Levi Stockard. Finally, David Sloan had a decent game, featuring three assists with no turnovers.

THREE TAKEAWAYS

1. K-State is now the worst team in the Big 12 with losses to the two teams closest to them in the standing in back to back games. Dreadful offense continues, with another game below 0.90 points per possession and eFG% at only 42%.

2. The Cats again got destroyed on twos, 57% to 38,% as OSU scored 14 more points on twos tonight.

3, Poor offense is leading to problems on defense now. The defensive efficiency ended up under 1.00 because of OSU turnovers, but the Cowboys had an eFG% of 84% in the second half and made 86% of their twos, taking away the chance for a K-State comeback.

Traditional Statistics provided by Kansas State University

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