Kansas State point guard Dug McDaniel is a self-proclaimed “pass-first” point guard.

That doesn’t mean he can’t score the ball. He scored a team-high 15 points in Saturday’s victory against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Afterward, he said it helps teammates Max Jones and Brendan Hausen when the point guard is aggressive.

“It definitely helps the offense when the head of the snake of being aggressive,” McDaniel said. “Putting pressure on the defense, it opens it up for guys like Max and Brendan to get easier shots because they have to respect what I’m doing.”

The victory helped the Wildcats snap a six-game losing streak. Coach Jerome Tang has made an effort to make McDaniel become a better scorer.

“Me and coach been talking the last few days,” McDaniel said. “He’s been preaching to me to be aggressive, think score first. The pass is always going to be there. I’m a pass-first point guard. That’s like second nature to me. He just wants me to be aggressive, put pressure on the defense early so I can get my guys open.”

TANG APPRECIATES THE FANS

Tang had been under fire during the losing streak, taking criticism from fans the past few weeks. The win should calm the fan base at the time being. The Wildcats (8-11 overall and 2-6) need a lot of work to improve their resume if they want an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Tang was thankful for the strong fan turnout.

“So thankful to the students, man,” Tang said. “I walked out and I saw them, my joy tank was full seeing them. They really provided great energy for us and allowed us to get off to a great start.”

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

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It was an unforgettable night for Bill Self and the University of Kansas men’s basketball team against Houston on Saturday night and for all of the wrong reasons.

Leading by six points with 1:31 left in regulation, No. 12 Kansas lost to No. 7 Houston, 92-86 in double overtime. It was the second home loss for Self’s squad this season.

Still, Kansas had a chance to close out Houston late in the first overtime session and looked poised to do just that with 18 seconds left on the clock.

Leading by six points, Kansas guard Dajuan Harris stepped to the free-throw hoping to increase KU’s lead to eight points.

Instead, Harris missed both free throws and the Cougars took full advantage. After the second miss by Harris, Emanuel Sharp pulled Houston to within three points when his three-point attempt splashed through the net.

After a brief 30-second timeout, Kansas, up by three points, turned the ball over, which resulted in a game-tying three by Mylik Wilson.

Houston, in outscoring Kansas, 13-7 in the second overtime, never trailed during that final overtime session.

With 58 seconds left in double overtime, Kansas pulled to within two points but would get no closer in the final 58 seconds of the second overtime.

A number of factors played a role in Saturday night’s home loss to Houston. Missed free throws certainly hurt, but so did KU’s inability to inbound the basketball late in regulation and overtime.

“We didn’t execute, put it on me,” said Bill Self on Saturday night. “We got a way to get it in that we practice every day and, obviously, maybe not having KJ (Adams), who’s our best athlete that can get open, but we didn’t make a great effort to get open and didn’t call the timeout when we had one.

“When the count got to four, I should have done that,” he added. “And then the second one, we didn’t make a great effort, and then when they threw it in, I didn’t tell them to foul immediately. If something went bad, I thought that was sending the wrong message. So, obviously, something did go bad, and then they make the shot. So yeah, we had numerous opportunities. We played really well. Kids fought their asses off and obviously just didn’t make plays when it counted the most, and they made everyone.”

Kansas, leading 66-64 with 16.7 seconds left in the second half, turned the ball over (called for a five-second violation), right under the Houston basket.

With 14 seconds left, Shakeel Moore fouled J’Wan Roberts, who converted both free throws to tie the game.

Self, after the game, was asked if bouncing back from a loss like the one suffered against Houston is easier said than done.

We’re not going to move on from this,” said Self. “Hopefully, we won’t tomorrow. Hopefully, we will Monday, and put it behind us, but it’s a tough one. It’s a tough one. I think the only one that I can remember that would be comparable, and it wasn’t as bad, but was when Acie Law made the shot against us with Texas A&M and we had that game in hand and they went to the Hack-a-Shaq on us and we ended up missing free throws.

“So that’s the only one that I can remember, a home game, in which it probably, we left out of here probably hurting as much as we did today. But with that being said, guys, two pretty good teams playing, and there wasn’t a nickel’s worth of difference between us, and we didn’t have KJ (Adams), so there was some good to it, too.”

In moving to 14-5 overall and 5-3 in conference play, Kansas, in losing to Houston, was led by Flory Bidunga (19), Hunter Dickinson (17), Rylan Griffen (17), and Zeke Mayo (16).

Dajuan Harris added eight points, five rebounds, 12 assists to just one turnover and two steals, while Shakeel Moore added seven points, and David Coit chipped in two points.

Aside from scoring a career-high 19 points, Bidunga also pulled down seven rebounds, dished out two assists, and was credited with one steal.

Self, late on Saturday night, was asked about the performance of Flory Bidunga.

“I thought Flory did well,” he said. “He just gets tired, but I thought he did well, and he made his free throws at a pretty good clip for Flo. But our five guys that started, I thought, and when Rylan (Griffen) came in, even though Rylan didn’t do a lot of things, but if he’s open, he just shot it and made it today, which was great, which was the equivalent of what Wilson did for them. But when Flo or Hunt came out of the game, we had no offense.

“The ball just stops,” he added. “I mean, it just stops, and that’s when you got to rely on others, and you got to move it and everything. And so that was very disappointing that we didn’t help or cover for Flory and Hunt when they weren’t in the game because we became very stale and stagnant. But Flow was good. He was good. He got some touches around the rim, but you got to understand something. The reason why he got a lot of those points is because Hunter drew a lot of attention.”

Kansas withstood a strong opening to the second half from Houston and looked to be on its way to a big win after a strong second half stretch from Flory Bidunga.The Jayhawks collapsed in the final minute of the second half, allowing six straight points and sending the game to overtime.

The Jayhawks collapsed again, leading by six points with under 30 seconds to play in overtime. Emanuel Sharp and Mylik Wilson hit consecutive threes as Kansas blew it again, sending the game to double-overtime.

Bidunga fouled out at the start of triple overtime, and the Jayhawks couldn’t rebound from a pair of meltdowns that extended the game. Houston held on and eventually knocked off Kansas 92-86 in double overtime at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Rylan Griffen had a strong stretch in overtime, finishing with 17 points on 5/6 from three. Bidunga powered Kansas through a majority of the game, scoring a career-high 19. Hunter Dickinson added 17 points, but it wasn’t enough.

J’Wan Roberts willed Houston to victory in overtime, scoring nine points in the extra period and finishing with a game high 24.

First half

Baskets were hard to come by in the early going, with both teams attempting to establish a defensive mindset. Emanuel Sharp went to the bench early after tweaking his ankle, and the Jayhawks took a 7-5 lead heading into the under-16 timeout after two buckets from Hunter Dickinson.

Kansas built a lead after a pair of momentum-shifting plays by Zeke Mayo. He drew his defender in the air with a nice shot fake for a bucket then hit a corner three as part of a quick 7-0 run to give the Jayhawks a 14-7 lead.

However, Houston responded immediately as its bigs started to get going. JoJo Tugler threw down a pair of dunks and J’Wan Roberts hit two floaters to put the Cougars on top. Kansas had a stretch of rushed shots, resulting in an 0/4 stretch from the floor.

Shakeel Moore hit a fastbreak three to break the drought, followed by a layup from Dickinson. Kansas led 19-15 after the 5-0 spurt, and Kelvin Sampson was forced to call a timeout.

Dajuan Harris extended the Jayhawks’ lead to 22-15 while both teams struggled to score at times. Houston went on an extended drought, missing nine straight shots and being held scoreless for over four minutes.

Kansas had a possession where it emulated Houston’s identity perfectly. The Jayhawks pulled down two offensive rebounds which resulted in a Rylan Griffen three. Harris added another three, and Kansas led 28-20.

However, the Cougars started to heat up on the offensive end to inch back into the game. Mylik Wilson knocked down a pair of shots, and Milos Uzan hit a tough three as part of a 12-5 run to cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 30-27 at the under-four timeout.

Wilson continued to propel Houston’s offense, knocking down a pair of tough twos to cut it to a one-point game. Harris responded with an intuitive steal and layup to put the Jayhawks up five with a minute left. Flory Bidunga had a putback layup at the buzzer to give Kansas a 38-31 lead going into halftime.

Second half

Bidunga opened the second half by being in the right place to dunk a loose ball, but the Jayhawks couldn’t get any offense going after that. Houston went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 40-40 after a four-minute Kansas scoring drought where it missed seven straight shots.

Mayo snapped a 13-0 run with a tough two, but Houston continued to dominate the early stretches of the second half. The Jayhawks looked like they were unraveling as the Cougars led 48-42 with 11:44 to play.

The Jayhawks showed their resilience through a big stretch from freshman Flory Bidunga. He scored six points on an 8-0 run to put Kansas back on top. The Jayhawks hounded the defensive end, and Houston missed opportunities from the free throw line as part of a three minute scoreless stretch.

Bidunga lit the crowd on fire again, throwing down a lob from Dickinson on a nice set play. Houston went on a stretch of eight straight missed free throws as the Jayhawks led 52-48 at the under-8 timeout.

Shots from Tugler and Roberts cut Kansas’ lead to just two, but the Jayhawks had an instant response. Bidunga found Dickinson in a two-man game down low, resulting in an and-one opportunity and putting Kansas ahead 60-56 at the under-four timeout.

Roberts delivered another clutch basket, converting a tough and-one over Dickinson to make it a one-point game. Griffen instantly responded with a three from the corner to give Kansas a 64-60 lead with just over two minutes to play. Kansas got a stop, and Bidunga gave the Jayhawks cushion with a rim rattling dunk.

Houston responded with four straight points from Milos Uzan, cutting the score to 66-64 with 16.6 to play. Kansas utterly collapsed, committing a five second violation then fouling Roberts. The Cougars had struggled from the line, but Roberts made both to even the score at 66-66. Kansas turned it over and the two teams would play five more minutes.

Overtime

Houston took an early advantage in overtime after a Roberts hook shot. Kansas took the lead back after another clutch shot from Griffen. Roberts immediately evened the game at 71-71 halfway through overtime with another post bucket.

The Cougars went to Roberts again, who got the better of Dickinson down low for yet another clutch shot inside to put Houston ahead 73-72 with 1:45 to play.

Griffen made another big play, this time as a distributor. He drove and dished to Bidunga for a dunk to put the Jayhawks ahead. Griffen came up huge again, nailing a three to give Kansas a 77-73 lead with 51.5 seconds to play.

However, the Jayhawks collapsed again after late turnovers. Emanuel Sharp and Mylik Wilson hit consecutive threes with seven seconds to play to send the game to double overtime.

Double overtime

Bidunga fouled out early in double overtime, which spelled trouble for Kansas. Sharp hit another clutch three to give Houston a 83-79 lead with 3:47 to play. Uzan followed with a three of his own to make it 86-81.

When the game looked lost, Mayo converted an and-one to make it a two-point game with 1:17 to play. Roberts answered, giving the Cougars an 88-84 lead with under a minute left.

Kansas couldn’t catch up to a litany of end-of-game meltdowns as Houston iced a victory in Allen Fieldhouse.