Postgame Live: Kansas State blows out Baylor without Jerome Tang

February 18, 2026·1 hr 6 min·5 clips

K-State starts the Matt Driscoll era with a 90-74 blowout of Baylor, marking their biggest win in months.

1. KSO Postgame Live's Mason Voth and Drew Galloway react to K-State's 90-74 blowout win over Baylor in interim coach Matthew Driscoll's debut. 2. Mason Voth hosts alongside Drew Galloway and a third voice in the chat for postgame analysis; all three are KSO contributors covering K-State athletics. 3. The episode's core question is whether Driscoll's first-game blowout reflects a genuine tactical change or a one-time emotional reaction to Tang's firing. 4. K-State ran 81 possessions per Ken Palm, the second-fastest pace in Big 12 play all season behind only Arizona, and scored 24 fast break points — a number they had not hit in conference play all year. 5. Nate Johnson scored 33 points on 16 shots and added 9 assists, 6 steals, and 5 rebounds — what Mason calls his best game as a Wildcat and a stat line K-State hasn't seen from a single player 'in quite a long time.' 6. PJ Haggerty also scored 30 points, making Johnson and Haggerty the first K-State backcourt duo to each score 30 since Beasley and Walker. 7. Drew argues the entire season could have gone differently if Tang had not abandoned the pace-and-space offense after losing to Nebraska and Indiana in early December. 8. Mason recalls Tang and Driscoll appearing misaligned at various points in the season, suggesting Driscoll's sideline involvement was high in November, lower in December and January. 9. Matthew Driscoll used a timeout early in the first half to stop a Baylor run, which Mason highlights as a specific contrast to Tang's in-game decision-making. 10. K-State's rotation was visibly shrunk under Driscoll, with CJ Jones playing only 10 minutes and Andre Kostich (returning from a rolled ankle) playing just 11 minutes. 11. The ESPN broadcast announcers mistakenly said all K-State players were already in the portal; Mason clarifies that none are currently in the portal and explains the 15-day window tied to coaching changes. 12. Mason says the maximum realistic roster retention under a new coach is three players, and the most likely outcome is zero or one staying voluntarily. 13. Taj Manning is identified as the most likely voluntary returnee after four years at K-State's Power Five level, while David Castillo's ties to Clint Stewart — who played under three coaches at K-State — are cited as a secondary reason he might stay. 14. Abdi Bashir gets a positive mention from Drew as a high-level three-point shooter who could return if the new coach values spacing, though his defensive liability is acknowledged. 15. Mason makes the case that Scott Drew's Baylor is struggling for similar reasons to Tang's K-State — poor portal roster construction while chasing a top-10 freshman (Baylor's Cameron Carr) instead of building team depth. 16. Drew floats the hot take that Utah might be better than the version of Baylor K-State beat tonight, and Mason does not fully disagree given Baylor's zero returners from last season's roster. 17. The hosts debate the threshold at which Matthew Driscoll could realistically become a legitimate head coaching candidate for K-State, with Drew placing it at 10-15 rejections of other candidates and Mason calling it effectively impossible unless K-State wins in 'borderline Steve Fisher' fashion. 18. The conversation is analytical and conversational, mixing statistical details with humor — notably riffing on Matt Driscoll visiting Jerome Tang's house the night before the game and the irony of Driscoll, a former Scott Drew assistant, dominating Drew's Baylor team. 19. K-State basketball fans processing the Tang firing and wondering what comes next will find this episode directly useful. 20. Listeners without interest in K-State basketball or Big 12 coaching searches will find little to engage with here.

As heard by us

A steady postgame look at a fresh start that values fit more than the box score.

K-State's 90-74 win over Baylor frames the Matt Driscoll era as a clean reset, and Mason Voth and Drew Galloway keep the focus on why the Wildcats looked more connected rather than on the score alone.

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Why you'd press play

You want the cleanest read on K-State's reset after a 90-74 Baylor blowout.

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