K-State looks to shake off rough patch with trip to Baylor

Published Feb. 3, 2017 7:50 p.m. ET

WACO, Texas -- The double-edged sword of Big 12 play is that the league will beat a team down pretty quickly.

But then the conference constantly offers chances for redemption. Kansas State is familiar with that. Two weeks ago, the Wildcats claimed a hard-fought 79-75 victory over West Virginia. Since then, Kansas State was edged by Iowa State, pummeled by Tennessee in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and lost to visiting TCU earlier this week.

However, the Wildcats (15-7, 4-5 Big 12) have a chance to shake off the rough patch of the last 10 days when they travel to No. 2 Baylor for Saturday afternoon's game at the Ferrell Center.

Meanwhile, Baylor (20-2, 7-2) will be striving for a bounce-back win of its own.

Third-ranked Kansas held serve on its home court in a prime-time matchup on Wednesday when the Jayhawks edged Baylor 73-68.

Bears point guard Manu Lecomte said he and his teammates weren't feeling too much of a sting after their showdown at Kansas lived up to the hype. Baylor led part of the way and stayed within a basket until the final 18 seconds.

Nor are the Bears feeling the grind of trying to keep pace with the Jayhawks.

"Everybody's got something to prove, so we just play every game like it's our last game," Lecomte said. "But we have a lot of fun playing, so I don't think it's hard to keep motivation."

Although Baylor is vying for a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and Kansas State is trying to play its way into the tourney, there might not be much separating the Wildcats and Bears on the court on Saturday.

Kansas State pushed Baylor to double-overtime in two of the Wildcats' last three trips to Waco.

Earlier this season, Kansas State led Baylor midway through the second half in Manhattan, Kan., before the Bears claimed a 77-68 victory.

"K-State, in particular, we've had a lot of one-possession games," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "They've played really well down here in the past. Last year was a double-overtime game, so we know the importance of making sure we're ready to go. They're going to be hungry, we're going to be hungry, both of us coming off losses."

Kansas State features balanced scoring as four starters average between 12 and 12.6 points. Forward D.J. Johnson, the Wildcats' leading rebounder, figures to play an important role in battling Baylor's tall and long frontcourt.

Lecomte was the difference-maker for Baylor at Kansas State in January. He scored 26 points as he hit 4 of 6 from three-point range.

"They doubled the big every time (forwards Jo Lual-Acuil and Johnathan Motley) touched it," Lecomte said. "I was just free to shoot, just spotted up. The bigs did a great job of kicking the ball out."

The theme of Big 12 basketball this season has been close games that test fans' nerves. But going into the second half of conference play, the coaches and players seem to be used to the script.

"Should be another Big 12 game, which means tune in the last two minutes," Drew said.