Kansas State University Athletics
Learning During the Course of the Game
Nov 22, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
PJ Haggerty had 27 points and seven assists, and Abdi Bashir Jr. made seven 3-pointers on his way to 26 points, but high-flying Kansas State fell excruciatingly short in a last-second 86-85 loss to Nebraska in the Hall of Fame Classic championship game, where the purple and red between intense old rivals rocked the flashy T-Mobile Center like an old Big Eight Conference tournament game in March.
A sweaty game that featured 11 ties and 13 lead changes needed one more basket from K-State, 5-1, which battled back from a 15-point first-half deficit to lead by five midway through the second half. Instead, Nebraska, 6-0, with a final free throw from feisty guard Sam Hoiberg, clinched its nation-leading 10th consecutive win dating to last season and a nation-leading 17th straight victory against non-conference opponents.
"Obviously, the outcome wasn't what we wanted but I'm so proud of my guys' fight and resilience," K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. "We dug ourselves a hole, but we didn't hang our heads. It was a great college basketball game. Something like that that comes down to one play, one thing, and not necessarily what happened at the end, but one play — we will learn from this and get better.
"Man, I'm as fired up as I've ever been about coaching a team."
Why?
"Sometimes you coach a team that it takes them the next day to learn from what happened, and this is a group that figures out how to fix it in the course of a game," Tang explained. "We didn't handle their defense early, but at halftime they made adjustments. The joy with which they play the game, it's a lot of fun to be around."
When things began clicking for K-State after its slow start, Haggerty, Bashir and the Wildcats put on a show that they'll remember going forward.
K-State hurt itself with poor shooting and turnovers from the start and shot just 39.4% (13-of-33) from the floor, including 21.1% (4-of-19) from 3-point range, while committing nine turnovers en route to facing a 45-35 deficit at halftime.
K-State committed seven turnovers in the first seven minutes as Nebraska built its lead.
"We had a game plan for what we wanted to do on offense," Bashir said. "Once we started doing what they told us to do, everything was working out in our favor. It was about sticking to the game plan."
When Bashir, who shot 7-of-15 from behind the arc, had the ball in his hands, the plan was simple.
And Bashir delivered.
"He's probably the best shooter I've ever played with," Haggerty said. "He's always ready and finding spots to get great 3s. He was hot and we kept finding him. I'm proud of how he played today."
Bashir caught fire and hit a 3-pointer up top to cut the deficit to single digits, and a pair of Khamari McGriff free throws narrowed it to five at 45-40 with 18:55 left in regulation — the closest K-State had been in 17 minutes. Bashir hit another 3-pointer from the corner to make it 45-43 with 17:41 left.
Then K-State took its first lead since 7-4 on another 3-pointer by Bashir with 17:06 to go that made it 46-45.
In all, Bashir made three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half. He made his sixth 3-pointer of the game for a 62-59 lead with 10:31 left. He hit his seventh to give K-State a 67-65 lead with 8:54 to go.
"This dude is never afraid of the moment," Tang said. "No moment is too big for him. He has short-term memory, and I love that about him. Just the energy that he gives to his team. I love his leadership."
Haggerty, who shot 11-of-21 from the floor and added six rebounds, flipped a ball into the hoop from underneath the basket for a 72-67 lead — the Wildcats' largest lead of the game.
From there, things really started to tighten.
Haggerty came through in the clutch when he kept his composure baseline and hit a soft runner off the glass while drawing the foul on Hoiberg and then made the free throw to make it 83-81 with 2:09 to go. Haggerty waved his arms in the air as the crowd noise reached some its highest decibels of the night.
"Every night he's going to have the best defender and all the defenses in the world to make life miserable for him," Tang said. "Watching him navigate and figure things out, that was really good to see. His competitive fire, you love that. He's not a big rah-rah guy, but, man, you can see it in his eyes."
Hoiberg tied it at 83-83 with a runner in the lane of his own with 1:36 remaining.
Back and forth the teams went. In the end, David Castillo was called for a foul on Hoiberg with 0.6 seconds left and Hoiberg made the front end of two free throws for the game's final points.
"I haven't seen (the foul)," Tang said. "It didn't come down to the call at the end. I'm sure we'll look through the course of the game and see multiple things we could've done differently, so we don't put ourselves in that situation. Terrific college basketball game."
Now K-State travels to play Indiana on Tuesday.
"I feel like we needed a loss just to see — everybody's good when you win, but we'll see how we are when we lose," Bashir said. "Hopefully, it puts that fire into people to perform better and be better for each other. We needed to be humbled, and God humbled us today. We'll see moving forward because we have a big one, and we have to stay humble and be there for each other."
Asked what he learned most about his team during the two games of the Hall of Fame Classic, Tang replied, "We're pretty good."
"We're pretty good," he repeated. "You wonder sometimes how we compare and what I was feeling displayed itself today. Yesterday we said we have another level we can go to, and I firmly believe that.
"And we're going to get there."
PJ Haggerty had 27 points and seven assists, and Abdi Bashir Jr. made seven 3-pointers on his way to 26 points, but high-flying Kansas State fell excruciatingly short in a last-second 86-85 loss to Nebraska in the Hall of Fame Classic championship game, where the purple and red between intense old rivals rocked the flashy T-Mobile Center like an old Big Eight Conference tournament game in March.
A sweaty game that featured 11 ties and 13 lead changes needed one more basket from K-State, 5-1, which battled back from a 15-point first-half deficit to lead by five midway through the second half. Instead, Nebraska, 6-0, with a final free throw from feisty guard Sam Hoiberg, clinched its nation-leading 10th consecutive win dating to last season and a nation-leading 17th straight victory against non-conference opponents.
"Obviously, the outcome wasn't what we wanted but I'm so proud of my guys' fight and resilience," K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. "We dug ourselves a hole, but we didn't hang our heads. It was a great college basketball game. Something like that that comes down to one play, one thing, and not necessarily what happened at the end, but one play — we will learn from this and get better.
"Man, I'm as fired up as I've ever been about coaching a team."
Why?
"Sometimes you coach a team that it takes them the next day to learn from what happened, and this is a group that figures out how to fix it in the course of a game," Tang explained. "We didn't handle their defense early, but at halftime they made adjustments. The joy with which they play the game, it's a lot of fun to be around."
When things began clicking for K-State after its slow start, Haggerty, Bashir and the Wildcats put on a show that they'll remember going forward.
K-State hurt itself with poor shooting and turnovers from the start and shot just 39.4% (13-of-33) from the floor, including 21.1% (4-of-19) from 3-point range, while committing nine turnovers en route to facing a 45-35 deficit at halftime.
K-State committed seven turnovers in the first seven minutes as Nebraska built its lead.
"We had a game plan for what we wanted to do on offense," Bashir said. "Once we started doing what they told us to do, everything was working out in our favor. It was about sticking to the game plan."
When Bashir, who shot 7-of-15 from behind the arc, had the ball in his hands, the plan was simple.
And Bashir delivered.
"He's probably the best shooter I've ever played with," Haggerty said. "He's always ready and finding spots to get great 3s. He was hot and we kept finding him. I'm proud of how he played today."
Bashir caught fire and hit a 3-pointer up top to cut the deficit to single digits, and a pair of Khamari McGriff free throws narrowed it to five at 45-40 with 18:55 left in regulation — the closest K-State had been in 17 minutes. Bashir hit another 3-pointer from the corner to make it 45-43 with 17:41 left.
Then K-State took its first lead since 7-4 on another 3-pointer by Bashir with 17:06 to go that made it 46-45.
In all, Bashir made three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half. He made his sixth 3-pointer of the game for a 62-59 lead with 10:31 left. He hit his seventh to give K-State a 67-65 lead with 8:54 to go.
"This dude is never afraid of the moment," Tang said. "No moment is too big for him. He has short-term memory, and I love that about him. Just the energy that he gives to his team. I love his leadership."
Haggerty, who shot 11-of-21 from the floor and added six rebounds, flipped a ball into the hoop from underneath the basket for a 72-67 lead — the Wildcats' largest lead of the game.
From there, things really started to tighten.
Haggerty came through in the clutch when he kept his composure baseline and hit a soft runner off the glass while drawing the foul on Hoiberg and then made the free throw to make it 83-81 with 2:09 to go. Haggerty waved his arms in the air as the crowd noise reached some its highest decibels of the night.
"Every night he's going to have the best defender and all the defenses in the world to make life miserable for him," Tang said. "Watching him navigate and figure things out, that was really good to see. His competitive fire, you love that. He's not a big rah-rah guy, but, man, you can see it in his eyes."
Hoiberg tied it at 83-83 with a runner in the lane of his own with 1:36 remaining.
Back and forth the teams went. In the end, David Castillo was called for a foul on Hoiberg with 0.6 seconds left and Hoiberg made the front end of two free throws for the game's final points.
"I haven't seen (the foul)," Tang said. "It didn't come down to the call at the end. I'm sure we'll look through the course of the game and see multiple things we could've done differently, so we don't put ourselves in that situation. Terrific college basketball game."
Now K-State travels to play Indiana on Tuesday.
"I feel like we needed a loss just to see — everybody's good when you win, but we'll see how we are when we lose," Bashir said. "Hopefully, it puts that fire into people to perform better and be better for each other. We needed to be humbled, and God humbled us today. We'll see moving forward because we have a big one, and we have to stay humble and be there for each other."
Asked what he learned most about his team during the two games of the Hall of Fame Classic, Tang replied, "We're pretty good."
"We're pretty good," he repeated. "You wonder sometimes how we compare and what I was feeling displayed itself today. Yesterday we said we have another level we can go to, and I firmly believe that.
"And we're going to get there."
Players Mentioned
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