3 keys to No. 25 BYU’s 84-74 loss to Kansas State

The BYU basketball team that lives and dies by the 3-point shot died by it Saturday afternoon as the Cougars shot 19% (6 of 31) from beyond the arc and fell 84-74 to Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas.

Kansas State, which had lost seven of its last eight games before BYU’s visit, was 7 of 15 from deep to snap a three-game losing streak.

The Wildcats avenged a 72-66 loss to BYU two weeks ago in Provo.

Arthur Kaluma scored a career-high 28 points for the Wildcats (6-8, 16-11), while Jaxson Robinson led BYU (7-7, 19-8) with 15 points on 7-of-17 shooting. Robinson was 1 of 9 from 3-point range.

Here are three keys to the Cougars’ loss:

• Coming off Tuesday’s emotional win over No. 11 Baylor, the Cougars never played with the lead the entire game. Kansas State jumped out to a quick 16-4 lead, got the crowd involved and rolled to the streak-snapping win.

• BYU’s defense was poor last week in the win over UCF and the loss to Oklahoma State, then seemingly figured things out in the 78-71 win over Baylor on Tuesday. But the sloppy defense returned Saturday, as Kansas State shot 47% from deep (7 of 15) and 56% from the field. That’s the second-best shooting night of the season for KSU, which shot 57% against South Dakota State.

• In three games, BYU has not had an answer for Kaluma, who scored 27 points against BYU last year while playing for Creighton. The 6-foot-7 forward had 18 in Provo two weeks ago, then notched his career-best Saturday on 8 of 11 shooting. He was also 10 of 12 from the free-throw line as the Wildcats got 31 free-throw attempts compared to just 16 for BYU.

In BYU’s 72-66 win in Provo two weeks ago, KSU was 10 of 12 from the line and BYU was 10 of 21.