K-State basketball slides win past Husker men, 77-72

Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said his team needed to score more than 50 points a game if it expected to win games.


They did just that Saturday night in Manhattan, Kan., but it wasn't good enough.

The Cornhuskers lost to Kansas State, 77-72, effectively ending their at-large bid hopes for the NCAA Tournament.


It was yet another close game with an unhappy ending for NU, losing its third game in a row.

"These guys have given me everything they have, and they're not being rewarded for it with wins," Sadler said. "That's the frustrating thing."


With the loss, Nebraska drops to 16-11 overall and 6-8 in Big 12 Conference play. The best NU can do in the conference is finish .500 with wins over Iowa State and Baylor to close out the season.


Kansas State, who is still considered a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, improved to 20-9 overall and 8-6 in the league.


It was a highly competitive game that saw nine lead changes throughout. But in a span of two minutes, KSU's full-court pressure defense turned a one-point Husker lead into an eight-point deficit, forcing the Huskers to come from behind during the last eight minutes.


"We had a streak there in the second half where we turned it over four straight times," Sadler said. "(K-State) ended up taking the lead, and we never could get it going again. That was a big, big stretch."


Nebraska would twice get within two points, but the Huskers never regained the lead.


The difference in the game was NU's inability to keep Kansas State off of the offensive glass. The Wildcats out-rebounded Nebraska 36-25, but 21 of KSU's rebounds were on the offensive end.


Kansas State had 18 second-chance points in the game.


"In the last three ballgames, we have taken a beating on the boards," Sadler said. "I think it's other teams saying, 'We're going to crash it with five guys.' We have to try something, but I don't know what it is."


Two other contributors to the loss were 17 NU turnovers and senior leading scorer Ade Dagunduro being in foul trouble throughout the contest.


Dagunduro picked up his fourth foul with 15:05 remaining in the game and wasn't in during KSU's 9-0 run midway through the second half. He came back in with about nine minutes remaining to help stop the Wildcat surge, but he ended up fouling out at the 1:06 mark with the Huskers down 71-67.


With Dagunduro in foul trouble, Ryan Anderson picked up the slack by pouring in 19 points and going 7-for-9 from the field. Despite the foul trouble, Dagunduro still managed 16 points while Cookie Miller added 14, including a 6-for-6 performance from the free throw line.


KSU's Jacob Pullen had 18 points in the game while Denis Clemente added 14.


The encouraging thing for Sadler was NU's ability to mount some offense, which has been the team's weakness throughout the season. In the first half, Nebraska used K-State's pressure defense against them by using back-door cuts.


NU also found creative ways to score in the second half, like sharpshooter Paul Velander stepping out of his comfort zone and taking it to the hoop twice for layups. He got fouled during one of those layups and completed the three-point play at the free throw line.


"We are starting to do some good things that we haven't been doing, and it's a good sign," Sadler said. "We could start playing some better offense. Some good things could still happen for us. We have to figure out a way to get this thing on the winning side."