MANHATTAN, Kansas – K-State, hosting its second annual School Day game, went cold from the field in the second and third quarters as San Diego State captured a 64-53 win over the Wildcats on Wednesday at Bramlage Coliseum to end the home portion of its 2025-26 non-conference schedule.
The loss snapped a 15-game winning streak for K-State in the month of December.
K-State (6-6) was led by junior guard Taryn Sides with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
San Diego State (6-3) was paced by the guard tandem of Nat Martinez and Naomi Panganiban. The duo tallied 22 and 20 points, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Aztecs used a 14-3 run to end the second quarter and hold a 29-26 lead at halftime. The Wildcats went scoreless for almost five minutes in the frame, as they were outscored in the second stanza, 18-8. K-State shot 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from the field in the second quarter.
- K-State’s offensive struggles continued in the third quarter, as the Wildcats shot 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from the field in the frame with their last field goal coming with 6:15 to play in the quarter. K-State was outscored by the Aztecs, 19-8, in the third and trailed by 14, 48-34 entering the fourth quarter.
- The Wildcats rallied to win the final quarter, 19-16, as K-State pared an 18-point lead by the Aztecs down to nine, 54-45, with 2:56 remaining in the quarter. Over the next minute and a half, San Diego State outscored K-State 6-2 to increase its lead to 13, 60-47, with 1:21 left.
- For the afternoon, K-State shot 33.3 percent (18-of-54) including 6-of-18 (.333) from beyond the arc. The Wildcats added to its offensive woes by shooting 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from the foul line and were forced into 20 turnovers.
QUICK FACTS
- K-State leads the series with San Diego State, 2-2. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 12-6 in his career against San Diego State. The Wildcats are 18-10 against current members of the Mountain West Conference.
- K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 678-384 (.638), including a mark of 224-149 (.601).
- The Wildcats are 252-104 (.708) in games played in the month of December. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 51-19 (.729) in games during the 12th month.
TEAM NOTES
- K-State's starting five consisted of guards Gina Garcia, Brandie Harrod, Taryn Sides and forwards Jenessa Cotton and Nastja Claessens. This was the fifth time this lineup has started together this season. This was the 12th career start for Harrod. This was the 11th career start for Sides. This was the 10th career start for Garcia. Cotton made her eighth career start. Claessens made her eighth career start.
- K-State has 18 quarters this season with an effort of 50.0 percent or better including 50.0 percent performance in the first quarter on Wednesday.
PLAYER NOTES
- Sides reached double figures for the 26th time in her career and the eighth time this season including her fifth straight game.
- Sides buried three 3-pointers on Wednesday. This was her ninth game this season and the 40th of her career with two or more connections from 3-point range.
- Sides dished out five assists on Wednesday. Sides improved her career total to 236 and ranks tied for 24th in program history. This was her 20th career game with five or more assists and her fifth this season.
- Sides hauled in seven rebounds on Wednesday. This was the eighth time this season and 24th time in her career with five or more rebounds in a game.
- Heal hauled in six rebounds on Wednesday. This was her 34th career game with five or more boards and her fifth this season.
- Brandie Harrod hauled in nine rebounds on Wednesday. This was her eighth career game with five or more rebounds. She has led K-State in rebounding a team-high four times this season.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On if there’s a specific cause for the inconsistency of play…
“I think very immature when things don't go well individually, would be the area I’d go most. I think we have a tendency to get internal and it kind of snowballs. And then, we've had some similar games like this with Green Bay, where the ball's not going in, and so it's crazy. It's 18 missed layups, right? Well, what is that? Is that focus? Is it toughness? Is it careless? I don’t know.”
On if San Diego State changed defensively…
“It felt okay early, not great. Still felt like we were missing some plays in there. Even when we had the 18 - 11 lead, it felt like it was okay, but then felt like defensively, we were probably fortunate in that stretch, because they were missing some shots. And we had some players out there that weren't engaged defensively, and so then that caught up to us a little bit, right? They continue to instead of missing those shots, when they get the opportunities, they make us pay for it. And then I think it snowballed on us offensively with just a lot of missed shots, a lot of missed layups. And then, like inconsistent teams do, they react poorly to the result. Boy, this one, I mean, I said it right after the Ole Miss win. I said, if you want to validate the Ole Miss win, you got to come Wednesday and validate it and play well. So I tried to set the tone right away that we want to validate it, and boy, we sure didn't.”
On Education Day crowd noise…
“Great crowd. Great job by the Fan Experience team. Great job by the administration. Disappointed that we didn't play better in front of those kids, they deserved a better effort. They deserved a better performance. They're probably still happy they got out of school. So good for them.”
On being able to overcome mental blocks…
“I have to look at everything that we're doing during preparation before I look at everything that we're doing [in-game] because clearly I'm not pushing the right buttons right now and I've got to take a look at that. It's disappointing that we didn't defend our home court. It didn't matter enough to us. I didn't think our effort was good enough. I didn't think our fight was good enough until the very end, when you're in chaos. I've got to take a look at everything.
On there only being one more nonconference game before Big 12 play…
“I think everything’s important. I think it’s important that we practice well. We’re certainly capable of playing well. We'd love to string more together, but Creighton would be another opportunity to start that again. So, we’ll take a look at this. I’m probably more concerned about their mindset coming into today than some of the things. I don't know, I'd love to give you some X's and O's answers, but this feels more like other things, of preparation, of getting ready, of mentally coming prepared, mentally respecting the game that you're going to come out and play to a standard. Right now, I don't know that we're playing to a standard. I know we're not. We're not playing to a good standard. We're playing to the circumstances of the game. If things aren't good for me, I play to that. If I'm frustrated, I play to that. I'm playing to a result, as opposed to playing to a standard right now. And you're going to yo-yo all year long if this continues.”
FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Senior Guard Tess Heal
On the team's inconsistency…
“I think our mindset going into games fluctuates a lot. We just talked about going into Ole Miss. We were really locked in, and we were ready to upset them. I think we potentially didn't have that same intensity and that same focus coming into a game like today. So I think going forward, we really need to improve that mindset and make sure every game no matter who it is, conference or nonconference, we're locked in and ready to go.”
On what the team needs to improve on heading into Big 12 play…
“I think it's just an improvement on that mindset. And like Taryn [Sides] said, that intentionality, Creighton's really good. They're a really good basketball team. They're in the Big East and they've had some success so far. Going forward, they're going to be really tough and we play at Creighton, so it's always hard to play on the road, and we need to go and play a lot better so we go into conference play feeling confident about ourselves and how the season might end.”
K-State Junior Guard Taryn Sides
On why Kansas State performed better at the beginning and end of the game…
“I think it was really just the intensity at the end of the game, when we are getting after it, that's the type of intensity we need to play from the get go and maintain that throughout the game. We can't get down by 15-20 points and then expect to be like, ‘Oh no, now we got to go.’ We need to have that focus and intentionality the whole game.”
On all of the missed layups…
“Just not being tough. I don't even think they were that physical with us compared to what we're about to face in the Big 12. I don't know, maybe a lack of focus and not being tough, I think is the main thing.”
UP NEXT
K-State ends its non-conference schedule on Sunday, as the Wildcats visit Creighton at 2:30 p.m.