SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Turns out the crowd of experts that picked UC Irvine to upset Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament were right.
K-State's season came to an end with a 70-64 loss to the No. 13 seed Anteaters on Friday at SAP Center.
It was a disappointing ending to an otherwise exciting season for the fourth-seeded Wildcats. They won 25 games and claimed a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship, but they couldn't follow up on that with any NCAA Tournament wins.
This game in some ways mirrored K-State's 2013 loss to La Salle in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, when the Wildcats coincidentally last won a conference title.
Barry Brown had a particularly off game for the Wildcats. The senior guard has been the driving force of the team all season, but he only scored five points on nine shots in this one. He picked up two early fouls and spent the majority of the first half on the bench. You can't help but wonder how much that threw off his game.
Kamau Stokes led the Wildcats with 18 points and Makol Mawien had 14 points and 12 rebounds. It just wasn't enough to hold off the upset-minded Anteaters.
Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard both scored 19 points for UC Irvine. They were at their best in the second half, hitting several big 3-pointers to guide the Anteaters past the Wildcats.
K-State players walked off the court in a somber mood, with coach Bruce Weber shaking their hands on their way into the locker room. In seven seasons under Weber, K-State has lost in the first round four times and reached the Elite Eight once in five NCAA Tournament appearances since 2013.
They seemed like they were in danger of losing this one from the start without star forward Dean Wade.
The first half was a back-and-forth series of runs that ended in a 30-30 tie.
K-State twice threatened to pull away from UC Irvine and take command of the game, taking a 17-9 lead midway through the first half and then moving ahead 26-16 at the 7:12 mark. But the Anteaters wouldn't go away.
They used their size and a zone defense to stay in the game. It was obvious they were a well-coached and experienced team by the way they handled both of those early deficits. UC Irvine rattled off seven straight points to pull within 17-16 and then ended the half on a 12-2 run that featured Hazzard hitting a 3 at the buzzer.
It would have been interesting to see how much differently things would have played out in the first half if not for Barry Brown getting into early foul trouble and Weber deciding to sit him for 14 minutes.
Brown picked up a pair of fouls (one on defense and the other away from the ball on offense) in the opening six minutes and Weber benched him for the remainder of the half.
That is not a new strategy for Weber. He rarely ever plays anyone with two fouls in the first half. But this seemed like an appropriate time to make an exception to his usual rules. The Wildcats took the court without senior forward Dean Wade (injured right foot) and then essentially let the officials take Brown out of the game for the final 14 minutes of the first half.
The Wildcats tried to steal minutes without him, but that caught up to them when Cartier Diarra and Shaun Neal-Williams also picked up two fouls.
At times, K-State was using a lineup that featured starting point guard Kamau Stokes and four reserves.
There simply wasn't enough fire power on the court to make shots once UC Irvine switched to a zone, and it showed.
K-State failed to sustain a large enough lead and UC Irvine won in the end.
