Takeaways from Kansas State's loss against No. 1 Arizona

Kellis Robinett, The Wichita Eagle on Jan 8, 2026

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TUCSON, Ariz. — Kansas State and Arizona are technically conference rivals, but it doesn’t feel like they are in the same league this season.

K-State is an average basketball team that is hoping to play its way onto the NCAA Tournament bubble by the time March arrives. Arizona is the top-ranked squad in the country and a Final Four contender.

The gulf between them was evident as No. 1 Arizona demolished K-State, 101-76, in front of a packed house Wednesday at McKale Center.

Arizona asserted its dominance early, as it raced to a 51-36 lead at halftime without making a single shot from 3-point range. Tommy Lloyd’s team used its size and athleticism to control the game on defense and then score in the paint.

K-State (9-6) was able to pull within nine early in the second half, but its comeback push was short-lived. Arizona (15-0) pulled away for an impressive win behind 28 points from Brayden Burries and 25 points from Motiejus Krivas.

It won this game easily while shooting 3 of 16 from beyond the arc.

Arizona scored a whopping 56 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle 55-32.

K-State countered with 19 points from PJ Haggerty and 15 points from Nate Johnson. It wasn’t nearly enough.

Few teams are in the same league as Arizona this season. K-State is certainly not one of them.

Up next for K-State is another road game against Arizona State on Saturday.

Until then, here are takeaways from Wednesday’s action:

Haggerty and Johnson weren’t efficient scorers

Kansas State got 36 points from its top two guards, but that production didn’t come easily for them.

Haggerty needed 20 shots to lead the team with 19 points. Johnson needed 13 shots to score 15 points.

Haggerty went 8 of 20 from the field. Johnson went 3 of 13.

There were too many possessions in which K-State failed to move the ball and relied far too much on its guards to create on their own. It wasn’t a good strategy against a team as talented as Arizona.

Buca held his own against Arizona’s front line

At 7-foot-2, K-State center Dorin Buca is usually the largest player on the floor. But he went toe-to-toe against another 7-footer in Arizona big man Krivas and his backups, who were also large and athletic.

Despite the tough assignment, he turned in a good game. Maybe playing against other tall centers has a way of bringing out the best in him.

Buca scored 12 points and grabbed two rebounds before he fouled out with 5:09 remaining.

The highlight of the night for him came from beyond the arc, where he improbably made both of his attempts when the Arizona defense left him unguarded.

Tang tried many different lineups

It was apparent from the early going that coach Jerome Tang was willing to expand the K-State rotation against Arizona.

Starting forward Khamari McGriff showed little defensive effort in the first minute of the game, and he was subbed out immediately. European big man Buca took his place in the paint.

That opened up a revolving door on the K-State bench. Elias Rapieque picked up a pair of early fouls, and in came Taj Manning.

Twelve K-State players ended up seeing action, with even seldom-used players like Andrej Kostic and Marcus Johnson playing in the first half.

The big rotation was part strategy, as Tang was obviously searching for any way possible to help K-State keep pace with a superior opponent. But foul trouble also played a role. Three different players fouled out.

This was an all-hands-on-deck night for K-State. That led to several new and unusual lineup combinations. Few of them worked all that well.

K-State has struggled against the top of the Big 12

No one expected the Wildcats win their first two conference games with BYU and Arizona up first on the schedule. But they still lost both of those games in disappointing fashion.

They never threatened BYU at home and fell behind by 20 in the first half at Arizona.

Tang couldn’t even claim a moral victory after these two games.

Things will no doubt get easier for the Wildcats starting Saturday with a road game against Arizona State. Not everyone in the Big 12 is as strong as Arizona and BYU. But K-State still has to play Iowa State, Houston, Kansas and Texas Tech. It will need to learn to compete in games like this if it wants to pull off some upsets in conference play.