FORT MYERS, Fla. _ Kansas State basketball coach Bruce Weber has intentionally used the word "new" instead of "young" to describe the Wildcats' roster this season.
Few others will make the same distinction following a 73-60 loss to Bradley in the third-place game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Wednesday at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
K-State has a lot of growing up to do if it wants to bounce back from a pair of disappointing losses and make another run at the NCAA Tournament. It wasn't tough enough to beat Pittsburgh on Monday, and it wasn't resourceful enough to beat a motivated Braves opponent that lost, 78-51, to Northwestern two days ago.
Defense is usually K-State's calling card, but not even that looked good in this game. Bradley found open shots against the Wildcats and made 13 3-pointers during a comfortable win. They made so many shots that Weber, who prefers man defense in most situations, switched to a zone in the second half.
None of it was all that effective.
Bradley guard Nate Kennell did whatever he wanted and hit 6 of 8 shots from behind the arc on his way to a game-high 22 points. But he got plenty of help. Darrell Brown, Elijah Childs and Ja'Shon Henry also reached double figures.
Xavier Sneed led K-State with 15 points, but he didn't have an efficient game and needed 12 shots to score them.
Looking for a spark, Weber experimented with a number of different lineups in the second half that featured Shaun Williams and David Sloan. Some of them worked, and Williams had his best game of the season with 10 points. But it wasn't enough.
K-State and Bradley looked like an even matchup in the first half, with the Braves taking a 38-37 lead. As long as the Wildcats could find a way to cool them down from the three-point line, they probably would take their chances in the second half.
But that didn't happen. Bradley won its first game against a Big 12 opponent since 2007.
The game ended with Weber and Cartier Diarra both picking up technical fouls because of frustration.
The Wildcats left Florida with a pair of losses that will put pressure on them to pick up wins elsewhere before the start of Big 12 play.
