Road woes continue in No. 25 BYU's 84-74 loss to Kansas State

PROVO — Winning on the road has become a nightmare in the Big 12, and BYU men's basketball is no stranger to that same house of horrors.

Tylor Perry made sure to make Kansas State's home-court advantage at Bramlage Coliseum more of a house of pain Saturday afternoon for the Cougars.

The Kansas State senior dropped 16 points with five assists, and Arthur Kaluma poured in 28 points, 10 rebounds and four assists as the Wildcats toppled the 25th-ranked Cougars 84-74 Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, Kansas.

Cam Carter added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists for Kansas State (16-11, 6-8 Big 12).

Noah Waterman had 12 points and seven rebounds, and new dad Spencer Johnson supplied 12 points, five rebounds and two assists for BYU in a game the visitors never led en route to a third consecutive road loss.

Jaxson Robinson scored 15 points off the bench, and Fousseyni Traore had 10 points, five rebounds and two assists in reserve for the Cougars (19-8, 7-7 Big 12).

"There were just too much other things, like giving up 42 points in the half," BYU coach Mark Pope told BYU Radio after the game. "That's problematic for us, and this Arthur Kaluma was really special tonight. We didn't have an answer for him. Life on the road in the Big 12 is problematic; we have to play better, we know we can, and we didn't tonight."

Dallin Hall dished out a game-high eight assists with three turnovers and two steals, and BYU teammate Richie Saunders had 11 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Home teams were a combined 63-30 in Big 12 play entering Saturday, including unblemished hosting marks by Houston, Iowa State and Texas Tech. The Cougars have done an admirable job of finding different ways to win, but the conference newcomers were similar to the rest of the field with a 2-4 road record.

Kansas State had won just one of its previous eight games, but all but two of those seven losses came at home. The Big 12 ranks third among all conferences nationally in home-court advantage.

"We had our chances," Pope said. "If we're going to win on the road, we have to play better than we did tonight. We've got to shoot it better from the free-throw line, we've got to be more efficient form the field, and we have to have more answers against guys who are having big nights. We didn't do that well tonight."

The Wildcats reminded BYU how hard it can be to win on the road early, going up 12-2 five minutes into the game of the wire-to-wire win. Robinson and Waterman scored 9 and 7 points respectively, and the Cougars shot 45% to pull within 42-38 at halftime.

The visitors never led but tied the game at 28-all through Traore with 6:35 left in the half. Kansas State responded immediately with a 5-0 run, and Kaluma — who had 18 points and eight rebounds in Kansas State's loss to the Cougars in Provo — poured in 16 points and six rebounds at the break for K-State to maintain its lead.

"We didn't start great on the defensive end, they made a couple of tough shots, and I thought the guys did a great job of battling just to be tight at halftime," Pope said. "But we didn't guard it great from the three, and we didn't guard the free-throw line very well tonight. That was frustrating."

Traore supplied 8 points, four rebounds and two assists before the break for BYU, which scored 13 points off seven turnovers to stay within striking distance after being outrebounded 18-13 and outscored 18-12 from the 3-point line against the No. 179 team in the country in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency.

But the Wildcats never really cooled off, opening the second half making six of their first seven shots including a triple by Perry to stretch their lead to 58-47 with 13:46 on the clock.

At one point, BYU missed 14 of 16 attempts midway through the second half as Kansas State stretched its lead as high as 69-53.

Kansas State shot 65% from the field in the second half to 37.5% for BYU, including 6-of-30 from 3-point range.

BYU will return home before traveling to Kansas for another road game agains the No. 9 Jayhawks next Tuesday, Feb. 27 (6 p.m. MST, ESPN+).

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