Before the Kansas State men’s basketball team traveled to Waco, Texas for a game against heavily favored Baylor at Ferrell Center on Wednesday, coach Bruce Weber insisted the Wildcats had nothing to lose.
No one expected the struggling Wildcats to keep pace with the No. 2 Bears, let alone beat them in a David and Goliath type matchup. Baylor beat K-State by 31 when they played last month. This game couldn’t go any worse than that, right?
“We lost by infinity last time,” Weber joked. “I’m not sure you get higher than infinity.”
About that. The Wildcats may not have lost to the Bears by an unquantifiable margin, but they flirted with the concept at times during a 107-59 defeat that was every bit as lopsided as the score might suggest.
It was the lopsided defeat in program history and the worst loss of the Weber era. The 107 points were also the most scored in regulation of a Big 12 game.
Baylor (15-0, 8-0 Big 12) dominated in every way possible while keeping its perfect record intact. But the Bears were at their best in the first half when they raced to a 41-7 lead. After trading baskets in the opening minutes, Baylor ripped off a 36-3 run and cruised to a victory that must have felt like an unfair pick-up game.
Things got so ugly for K-State (5-12, 1-8 Big 12) that ESPN2 analyst Chris Spatola wondered aloud if the Wildcats were even trying.
“I am going to run out of good things to say about Baylor,” he said during the broadcast. “And by the way, there isn’t much resistance here. Come on Kansas State, have some pride.”
K-State fought back to make the score 54-26 at halftime thanks to a three-pointer from beyond midcourt by Antonio Gordon at the buzzer, but the game was already decided by then.
The game announcers wondered if Baylor coach Scott Drew would even leave his starters in for the second half.
He did, opting to wait until midway through the half to start playing some reserves, but it didn’t make much difference. The Bears surged ahead by as many as 52.
Davion Mitchell led the way with 31 points. Jared Butler had 13 points. Seemingly everyone that stepped on the floor for the Bears delivered a few highlights.
Here’s a stat that shows how dominant the Bears have been against the Wildcats this season. Weber-coached teams have only allowed two opponents to eclipse 100 points during his long coaching career. Both came against Baylor this season.
Nijel Pack led K-State with 11 points in his first game back from COVID-19 protocol, but that was the only positive for the Wildcats in this one.
It will be hard for Weber to sell optimism moving forward. The Wildcats have lost seven straight games with six coming by double digits. There is plenty of season left for them to improve and start playing better, but they are clearly outmatched against Big 12 competition. And the schedule isn’t getting any easier.
