Bane scores 17, TCU beats K-State 68-57 to stop 6-game slide

Desmond Bane scored 17 points and TCU stopped a six-game losing streak with a 68-57 win over Kansas State on Saturday. Bane scored all 12 of his second-half points from 3-point range and finished 5 of 10 from long range, including the go-ahead shot with 6:30 remaining to start a 17-5 run to end the game. TCU (14-11, 5-7 Big 12) shot 45 percent (15-of-33) from 3 just five days after shooting a season-worst 15 percent from distance in an 88-42 loss at Texas Tech — the worst defeat in head coach Jamie Dixon’s 17-year career.

Xavier Sneed had 15 points and David Sloan had 11 more for Kansas State (9-16, 2-10 Big 12), but the Wildcats lost a fifth consecutive game and clinched a fourth losing Big 12 record in the last six years under eighth-year head coach Bruce Weber. Jaire Grayer tied a season high with 15 points and while RJ Nembhard had 15 points and five assists in TCU’s first win since Jan. 21. P.J. Fuller had just five points, but also had a three-point play to make it 57-52 with under six minutes to play after the initial call of an offensive foul was reversed by the officials. Francisco Farabello had eight points, while Kevin Samuel had five points and six rebounds. TCU led by as many as 10 in the first half before Kansas State ended with a 13-2 run to take a 27-26 halftime lead. 

Kansas State: Frustration continues away from home for the Wildcats, who are now just 1-7 in true road games. Kansas State is winless on the road in the Big 12 and the only true road win came at UNLV back on Nov. 9.

TCU: The Horned Frogs rallied in a back-and-forth second half to avoid a seventh consecutive loss, which would have been tied for the longest losing streak in four years under Dixon. Instead, TCU swept the season series against Kansas State for the first time since joining the Big 12 in 2012-13 after a last-second win in Manhattan, Kan. back in January.