Cold 3-point Shooting Hampers K-State in Loss to 10/10 BYU

Saturday, January 3

Manhattan, Kan.

12:30 p.m. CT

Kansas State University

9-5,0-1Big 12

BYU

13-1,1-0Big 12

BYU

Kansas St.

Cold 3-point Shooting Hampers K-State in Loss to 10/10 BYU

Jan 03, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (.pdf)Postgame Quotes (.pdf)Highlights Jerome Tang Press Conference Player Press Conference Photo Gallery

Junior P.J. Haggerty has his best all-around game to lead the Wildcats.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Despite a valiant effort before a sold-out crowd, Kansas State could not overcome a poor shooting afternoon from 3-point range in an 83-73 loss to No. 10/10 BYU on Saturday afternoon in the Big 12 opener for both schools at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State, which entered the day 10th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (39.9), was held to a season-low 14.3 percent (3-of-21) shooting from beyond the arc, including just 15.4 percent (2-of-13) in a first half in which the Wildcats fell down by 10 points at the half.

BYU (13-1, 1-0 Big 12) climbed out of an early 14-9 deficit with a 9-0 run midway through the first half then outscored K-State, 16-8, to enter halftime with a 45-35 lead. The Wildcats closed the deficit to single digits several times in the second half, including 47-41 at the first media timeout and 78-71 with 2:21 remaining, but each time the Cougars had an answer to maintain their lead.

The loss snapped a 3-game winning streak in Big 12 openers under head coach Jerome Tang and was the first such loss since 2021.

Even though the Wildcats (9-5, 0-1 Big 12) struggled from beyond the arc, they gave themselves a chance against the nationally-ranked Cougars, winners of 10 straight games, with 48 points in the paint, 17 points off turnovers and a special performance junior P.J. Haggerty, who finished with his best all-around effort of the season in his first Big 12 game.

The junior recorded his 10th game of the season with 20 or more points, tying freshman AJ Dybantsa with a game-high 24 points, to go with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a season-high 4 steals in 36 minutes. He is now the first Wildcat since Jacob Pullen in 2009-10 to score in double figures in the first 14 games while leading the team in scoring 11 times. His 322 points are the second-most by a Wildcat in the first 14 games since Michael Beasley opened the year with 340 points.

Haggerty was joined in double figures by junior Abdi Bashir Jr., who was responsible for all 3 of the Wildcats' 3-pointers to finish with 16 points, along with sophomore David Castillo and senior Khamari McGriff, who finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

BYU was led by a game-tying 24 points from Dybantsa, a National Player of the Year candidate and the USBWA National Player of the Month for December, who finished 8-of-15 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line to go with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Backcourt mates Robert Wright III (18 points) and Richie Saunders (13 points) combined for 31 points, while big man Keba Keita recorded a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

Although the Wildcats held the advantage in points off turnovers (17-7) and points in the paint (48-32), Keita's 16 boards helped the Cougars to a 47-35 advantage on the glass, including 16 offensive rebounds that led to a 20-7 edge in second-chance points.

K-State is now 56-57 all-time in conference openers, including 38-22 at home and 12-7 at Bramlage Coliseum, with a 13-17 mark in the Big 12 era.

Saturday's sellout was the first of the season and the first for a non-Kansas game since March 1, 2023 vs. Oklahoma.

HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
Opening statement…
"Yeah, got to start with two things. First of all, I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the blessing of doing what I do. Secondly, I want to wish my wife a happy birthday. So, today's her birthday, and she actually gets to celebrate the whole month, so all of January we'll be celebrating with my wife. So that's a blessing. A really good game day. Obviously, BYU is a terrific team, and Kevin [Young, BYU head coach] does a great job, and was very proud of our guys' effort. We have to continue to get better. To win or lose this game, we have to get better. We have some glaring things that are standing out, but they're correctable. And I know our guys' heart and so I know that we will improve in the areas that we need to."

On the team's shooting performance…
"Well, they didn't go in, you know, the ones that we took, they weren't bad shots. I thought we turned down some, probably, like four or five that we should have been ready to shoot, that we weren't ready to shoot. And some of that's a credit to their length, right, those closeouts, but some of it, you know, I don't know why we didn't take certain shots that we'd have normally taken. And, you know, I said at one point, man, we can't make 3s if we don't shoot them. And that's one of the strengths of our team. And so, a lot of credit goes to BYU, because of the percentage of 3s that we took, as opposed to 2s, it's too great. We got to look at the film and figure that out."

On the team's defense…
"Yeah, the execution, the aggressiveness. You know, we wanted to be the more aggressive team. It was great, but when you force 19 turnovers, you can't have 17 points off. You need to have 27 points off of it, because there are a lot of them were live ball turnovers, and so we've got to capitalize. I don't think that we capitalized on that. And I thought that they controlled the pace of the game in the second half, like we didn't play fast enough, we didn't. We got to get out and play in the open court and too many times we walked the ball up the court."

On the upcoming road trip…
"Yeah, win or lose this game, it's a 1-0 season, right? Like you win, you have to wash it. It's 1-0 season, one game season, you know, you lose, you got to wash it. There's a lot of these dudes, first time playing in the Big 12, probably only the second time the crowd's been like that this year, on CBS. And I'm hoping they walk away with confidence that if that's a top 10 team [in] the country and the team of people say, can win a national championship, and we didn't play close to what we're capable of playing so we should be really confident, excited about getting back into practice and improving them. Excited about this road trip [Arizona, Arizona State], both because of the weather, and because we get to spend a lot of time together, and then the opportunity that's in front of us to go play the number one team [Arizona] on their home court. And so, I'm excited about this."

On BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa…
"You know, I've been watching AJ since he was in the seventh grade, and love him and his family, you know, had a great time recruiting him. And so, yeah, I've watched his games this season, and he's been one of the most efficient players. And today, he was very efficient again, you know, scoring 24 points on 15 shots. I thought P.J. [Haggerty] was really efficient also, you know. I mean, there's two really good players out there, and they probably match their stat lines and it was just one of those things, man. But it doesn't slow down, right? Like, I mean, you think about it like, we go to Arizona and Koa Peat, right, and then you go, turn around, go to Kansas and Darryn Peterson, then you got Kingston Flemmings, down at Houston, right? And, I mean, they're just a ton of really good freshmen out there across the country, so it's a real special class."

FIRST HALF
K-State had the early momentum, as a 3-pointer from junior Abdi Bashir Jr. and a jumper from junior P.J. Haggerty gave the Wildcats a 9-5 lead at the first media timeout. The lead grew to 14-9 after pair of free throws from Haggerty, however, BYU tied it at 14-all on a quick 5-0 run.

After back-to-back baskets from Bashir and sophomore David Castillo staked the Wildcats to an 18-14 edge, however, the Cougars responded with 11 of the next 13 points to go ahead 25-20 at the second media timeout with 11 to play before halftime. Three free throws from Bashir pulled the Wildcats to within 29-27 at 6:27 mark, however, the Cougars got hot from 3-point range to go ahead 38-30 at the final media timeout with 3:02 to play.

K-State could get no closer as BYU went ahead 45-35 at the halftime break. The Wildcats were held to 35.3 percent (12-of-34) shooting, including 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from 3-point range, while the Cougars shot 44.4 percent (16-of-36), including 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from long range.

Freshman AJ Dybantsa and Haggerty led each team with 14 points.

SECOND HALF
Haggerty and Bashir combined for 6 points in the opening minutes of the second half to pull K-State to within 47-41 at the first media timeout. However, a 3-pointer and 2 free throws by BYU pushed the lead back up to 52-43. The lead remained the same at the second media timeout as the teams traded baskets with the Cougars ahead 58-49 with 11:23 to play.

The lead grew to 12 just after the third media timeout before a pair of Haggerty free throws got K-State to within 74-66 with 4:03 remaining. However, back-to-back baskets from BYU pushed the game back into double figures at the final media timeout with 3:18 to play.

A third 3-pointer from Bashir and a layup from senior Khamari McGriff pulled the Wildcats to within 78-71 with 2:21 remaining, but that would be closest it would get as the Cougars made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to earn the 83-73 victory.

K-State shot 48.5 percent (16-of-33) from the field in the second half, including a 28-18 edge in the paint. However, the Wildcats made just 1 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc.

Haggerty and McGriff led the way with 10 points each.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

K-State saw its 4-game winning streak end in an 83-73 loss to No. 10/10 BYU.
The loss snapped a 3-game winning streak in Big 12 openers under Jerome Tang.
K-State is now 56-57 all-time in conference openers (13-17 in the Big 12 era) dating back to Missouri Valley Conference play in 1914, including 38-22 at home and 12-7 at Bramlage Coliseum…Head coach Jerome Tang is now 3-1 in Big 12 openers, all coming at home.
BYU now leads the all-time series, 6-5, including its first win in 3 tries… The Cougars have now won 4 of the last 6 meetings, including 3 of 4 since joining the Big 12.
K-State is now 46-12 at Bramlage Coliseum under head coach Jerome Tang, including 21-8 in Big 12 play and 13-5 vs. ranked opponents.
Today's game was a sellout of 11,010 fans, the first of the 2025-26 season… It is the first non-Kansas sellout since Oklahoma on March 1, 2023.
K-State used a starting lineup of junior P.J. Haggerty, senior Nate Johnson, junior Abdi Bashir Jr., junior Taj Manning and senior Khamari McGriff… This is the first time using this lineup and the fourth different lineup of the season.
Haggerty now has 80 career starts (Tulsa/Memphis/K-State), N. Johnson now has 74 career starts (Akron/K-State), McGriff now has 56 career starts (UNC Wilmington/K-State) and Bashir now has 46 career starts (Monmouth/K-State)… This is the second career start for Manning and the first of the season.

TEAM NOTES

K-State scored its 73 points on 41.8 percent (28-of-67) shooting, including 14.3 percent (3-of-21) from 3-point range, while hitting on 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the free throw line.
The 3-point field goal totals (3) and 3-point field goal percentage (14.3) were season-lows.
K-State outscored BYU, 48-32, in the paint, which marked the sixth time with 40 or more points in the paint this season, including the third straight game.
K-State forced an opponent-high 19 turnovers, including 12 steals, resulting in a 17-7 edge in points off turnovers.
BYU outrebounded K-State, 47-35, including 16 offensive rebounds, and posted a 20-7 advantage in second-chance points.
K-State trailed 45-35 at halftime and is now 1-5 this season and 18-36 under head coach Jerome Tang when trailing at the break.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Four Wildcats scored in double figures, including 24 points from junior P.J. Haggerty. He was joined by junior Abdi Bashir Jr. (16 points), sophomore David Castillo (13 points) and senior Khamari McGriff (12 points).
Haggerty scored his 24 points on 8-of-16 field goals, including 0-of-2 from 3-point range, and 8-of-10 free throws to go with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes… It was his 10th game of 20 or more points this season and 53rd such game in his career… He has now scored in double figures in all 14 games this season… He has now scored in double figures in 78 of 86 career games in college.
Bashir scored his 16 points on 5-of-13 field goals, including 3-of-8 from 3-point range, and 3-of-3 free throws with 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 30 minutes… He now has 47 career double-digit scoring games, including 11 this season… He has 3 or more 3-pointers in 10 games this season.
Castillo scored his 13 points on 6-of-14 field goals and 1-of-2 free throws to go with 2 rebounds in 27 minutes… He now has double figures in 9 of 14 games this season, including 6 coming in the last 7 games.
McGriff scored his 12 points on 5-of-7 field goals and 2-of-2 free throws to go with a team-high 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in 25 minutes… He now has double figures in 7 games this season and 30 in his career.

WHAT'S NEXT
K-State begins a two-game road swing through the state of Arizona with a visit to the McKale Center to face top-ranked Arizona (14-0, 1-0 Big 12) in Tucson on Wednesday, Jan. 7. Tip is set for 8 p.m., CT and will be broadcast nationally on FS1. It will be first visit to the McKale Center since the 2011 NCAA Tournament and the first since Arizona joined the Big 12.

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X, Instagram and Facebook.