Three takeaways from Kansas State's 100-72 loss against No. 13 Texas Tech

Kellis Robinett, The Wichita Eagle on Feb 21, 2026

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When Kansas State found itself staring at a big deficit against No. 13 Texas Tech, interim basketball coach Matthew Driscoll assured his players that they weren’t out of the game.

“Early leads don’t mean anything,” Driscoll said during a timeout huddle in the first half.

His words contained wisdom, but the Wildcats were unable to fight back against the Red Raiders and lost, 100-72, on Saturday inside United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.

K-State (11-16, 2-12 Big 12) played inspired basketball during its first game without Jerome Tang when it thumped Baylor, 90-74, earlier this week at Bramlage Coliseum. But it was unable to build off that momentum when it hit the road for a challenging contest against Texas Tech (20-7, 10-4).

The Wildcats fell behind by 22 in the early going. The Red Raiders were firing on all cylinders even without star forward JT Toppin, who is out with a season-ending injury.

Donovan Atwell led all scorers with 26 points and Christian Anderson added 21 as Texas Tech averaged 1.49 points per possession.

K-State was simply outmatched. It deserves some credit for playing hard for most of the game, though. The Wildcats fought back from an early deficit and made the score 70-60 at the 9:10 mark of the second half. If they could’ve ended the afternoon on a heater, things may have gotten interesting. But Texas Tech had other ideas, as it ran K-State off the floor with a 30-10 run over the next 8 minutes of game action.

PJ Haggerty led K-State with 17 points and Nate Johnson added 10 in the losing effort.

Next up for K-State is another road game against Colorado on Wednesday.

Until then, here are takeaways from Saturday’s action:

Buca suffered an ill-timed injury

Dorin Buca, a 7-foot center who came to K-State from Italy, suffered an ankle injury at an inconvenient time for the Wildcats.

Buca crumbled to the floor and then limped off midway through the first half when he landed awkwardly in traffic.

He played just four minutes before he was escorted to the locker room. He didn’t return.

His absence made things difficult for K-State’s frontcourt. The Wildcats were already missing Elias Rapieque. Losing Buca from the rotation meant that Khamari McGriff and Taj Manning had to patrol the paint all by themselves.

Driscoll leaned on four-guard lineups whenever one of them needed a rest. Reserve forward Marcus Johnson has been used in some previous games for frontcourt help, but he didn’t see action until garbage time.

If Buca remains out for any future games, Driscoll may be forced to get creative with his substitution patterns. But some reinforcements could be on the way for K-State.

Abdi Bashir has returned to practice, and he was considered a game-time decision on Saturday. He was ultimately ruled out and watched the game in street clothes, but he could be ready to play at some point next week. His ability to shoot from beyond the 3-point line would significantly help the offense.

Johnson played another strong game under Driscoll

Nate Johnson is playing his best basketball of the season with an interim coach.

The senior guard scored a season-high 33 points in his last game against Baylor. He followed that effort with another fine performance against Texas Tech, which featured 15 points, four rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes.

Driscoll has helped Johnson play with new levels of freedom, as he is handling the ball more than he ever did under Tang.

Texas Tech remains dangerous, even without Toppin

Some may no longer view the Red Raiders as Final Four contenders without Toppin.

It is reasonable to assume that their ceiling is no longer as high as it once was. Toppin was Big 12 Player of the Year in 2025 for a reason. He is one of the best forwards in college basketball. Texas Tech has no way to replace him this season.

Still, the Red Raiders have more than enough talent to win games in March.

Texas Tech flexed its muscles on Saturday with 13 makes from 3-point range and five different players in double figures. Tech is the first Big 12 team to reach triple digits against K-State this season.

Grant McCasland is a gifted coach, and he will find ways for Texas Tech to win games even without its best player. This team is still among the Big 12’s best.