There’s a saying that goes around in sports about how it can’t get worse.
Sure, you might feel like you hit rock bottom. But can it really get worse?
Well, it can.
It always can.
Kansas State is experiencing firsthand how it can always get worse.
After losing two games on the road to Iowa State and Houston, Kansas State returned home to Manhattan, where they quickly lost again. This time to the hands of their third straight-ranked opponent, No. 23 Oklahoma.
Sure, losing to three ranked opponents can be fine. It sucks (losing always does), but it hardly means a sinking ship, and there’s plenty of time to recover from such a low point.
But Kansas State entered conference play needing to win, and a three-game rough patch with potential “statement wins” is letting an opportunity to help, or even clinch, your NCAA Tournament resume is as close to DEFCON1 as humanly possible.
The Wildcats have to win six of their remaining ten games to reach the nine-game threshold that head coach Jerome Tang has set for his team to make the tournament.
That’s a tall task, especially when the Wildcats will have to play Kansas and Texas twice and Iowa State again in that span.
Frankly, there’s little room for error. This is the hole the Wildcats have dug themselves into, and they have no choice but to figure out a way out of it.
And they’ll have to figure it out now.
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What exactly do they have to figure out, though?
To be blunt, it’s time to find a way to get guard Tylor Perry going.
Perry has had his moments, but over the last five games, the North Texas transfer is shooting just 30 percent from the floor. He’s also scored under ten points in three of those games.
While Perry has been forced into a different role as a point guard and primary playmaker, it’s time for him to adjust to this role or for Kansas State to adjust to it.
Moving Dai Dai Ames to the starting rotation could move Perry off the ball, but his inconsistency doesn’t sound entirely encouraging for a team struggling to stay consistent.
Regardless of how they fix it, it’s time to fix it. That’s it.
Outside of Perry, the problems with rebounding and turnovers feel like something they’ll have to adjust to as opposed to fix.
Which is fine. There are no perfect teams in college basketball, and finding ways to hide your problems is what good coaching does.
And trusting Tang and his coaching staff to do that is a solid strategy, especially with their ability to get the most out of players. But time is running out for it to happen.
And if it doesn’t happen quickly, Kansas State might be taking the long road away from a chance to make the NCAA Tournament. And not reaching that apex would mean the Wildcats falling short of their expectations.
Maybe the question shouldn’t be “Where do they from here,” but rather “When do they get there”?
Tang has rightfully tempered expectations at points this season, but Kansas State fans rightfully want a lot from the basketball team after they came minutes away from clinching a spot in the Final Four last season.
And those expectations are hard to remove from the equation of this team, especially when the possibility of them missing the postseason entirely exists as a potential solution.
But this is where Kansas State is, and they need to figure out where to go from here.
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