The Kansas State Wildcats dropped their third consecutive game in a blowout loss to the Houston Cougars Saturday night.

Here are a few takeaways from their fourth Big 12 matchup:

1. Kansas State was dominated on the offensive boards.

Kansas State’s rebounding issues were temporarily improving despite their losses. That issue returned Saturday, as the Wildcats were outdone 44 to 20 on the boards. Cougars forwards Joseph Tuglar and Ja’Vier Francis combined for 11 offensive rebounds, leading to Houston’s 20 second-chance points and halting Kansas State from getting in transition.

2. The slow starts are killing Kansas State.

To state the obvious, getting in early holes is not the key to victory. The one-half performances illustrate the Wildcats’ slow start to the season, which continued against Houston. Kansas State went into the half down 22, with Brendan Hausen being the only Wildcat who produced early. The only difference is this game felt like an avalanche all night; the Wildcats didn’t even have a comeback to reciprocate their sloppy first half.

3. Brendan Hausen woke up the 3-point shooting.

If Kansas State can walk away with one positive on the night, it’s the improvement in the 3-point shooting. The Wildcats went cold from the arc for nearly the last month, with the exception of the Cincinnati victory. Hausen scored 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting from 3-point range, as the team shot 40 percent on the night. Had they defended the paint better, they could’ve reduced the deficit and kept the game close.

Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.

The Washington Commanders face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fifth matchup of the opening round. A star season for Pro Football Focus (PFF) Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels put the Commanders back in the postseason for the first time since 2021.

Former Kansas State tight end Ben Sinnott is among those traveling to Tampa Bay, hoping for an opportunity to shine bright on the NFL’s brightest stage.

Sinnott played three seasons in Manhattan, KS, compiling 82 receptions for 1,138 yards and 10 touchdowns. Washington selected him in the second round with the 53rd overall pick.

Sinnott didn’t see much action this season, recording just five receptions for 28 yards and one touchdown.

But the uncertainty of the NFL could lead to an unpredictable result. Four years ago, quarterback Taylor Heinicke took the Buccaneers down to the wire in just his second game in Washington. It was a remarkable performance that gave the eventual Super Bowl champions the most trouble that postseason.

Tampa Bay hosts the Commanders Sunday night, opening up as 3-point favorites. Commanders coach Dan Quinn spoke about the week of preparation leading up to Wild Card weekend.

“It was a good week of prep for us. Tampa provides a hell of a challenge in all three phases, a lot of winning time moments for us to prepare for,” Quinn said Friday. “We’ll play our best complimentary football this weekend, this opponent and this game calls for that. So our guys are ready for that, a lot of matchups. We’re ready to get rocking.”

Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang has noticed a trend this season.

It’s pretty simple: when the Wildcats are able to string long scoring runs, they win. When they are on the opposite end, they usually lose.

The Wildcats hope the ratio improves, beginning with Saturday’s game against Houston in Manhattan.

“We’ve talked about this,” Tang said. “We’ve had five, what they call kill shots, where you go on a 10-0 run. We’ve had five of those and we’ve won all five of those games. We’ve had five against us and we’ve lost four of five of those. There’s one game we’ve had a kill shot and they had kill shot.”

The Wildcats fell victim to a “kill” shot in a loss to Oklahoma State earlier this week. The Cowboys went on 20-2 run just before halftime that turned a one-point game into a 43-24 lead.

“For this team, it’s not just a kill shot,” Tang said. “It’s probably like 8-0 runs. We’ve charted those. We’ve been on the wrong end of 8-0 runs. We’ve had less 8-0 runs than our opponents than our opponents have, especially in the losses. You look at the personnel that was in [the game], you look at what you were running. For us, if it’s a 4 or 5-0 run, we need a time out. I might need to call a timeout earlier than I would on the normal just because of the makeup of this team where we’re at right now.”

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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