Turnovers doom Texas in loss to No. 18 K-State

During one haphazard stretch, Texas turned the ball over five times in six possessions, and the one time it got a shot off, McClellan tossed up an air ball.

"You just don't give yourself a chance," Barnes said.

The Wildcats took advantage by putting together an 8-0 run. By the time Barnes called for a timeout, the Wildcats had pulled ahead 21-9 with 8½ minutes left in the half.

Texas finally ended its drought when McClellan scored in transition, and in the process ran over Spradling. Trainers rushed out and pushed a towel against his bloody face, and after a few seconds on the bench, Spradling was accompanied to the Kansas State locker room.

Now without three key contributors, Kansas State continued to build on its lead.

Lawrence, who averaged just 2.4 points, matched his career high with 10 in the first half. Shane Southwell had his five first-half points during a stretch that included an intentional foul on Felix that helped Kansas State take a 31-13 lead.

"I don't think you could ever predict Rod out with 2 minutes into the game, Will breaks his nose, and we're up 19 at the half," Weber said.

Texas had twice as many turnovers (12) as made field goals in the first half, going 6 of 23 from the field and missing both of its 3-point attempts. And its 19 points barely eclipsed the season-low for a half, 17 in the first half of a loss to Georgetown in December.

Felix finally got things going for Texas early in the second half, going straight to the rim for easy layups on three straight possessions. But McGruder, back on the court, made a three-point play with 17½ left to put a stopper in the Longhorns' momentum.

Gipson scored three straight baskets to answer another Texas salvo, and a pull-up 3-pointer by Spradling in transition pushed the Wildcats' lead to 53-33 with less than 13 minutes to go.

Kansas State used a 14-2 run a few minutes later to put the game away.

"We knew they were going to try to play aggressive because they were just coming off two losses, so we wanted to come out and play aggressive and play hard, but that wasn't the case today," McClellan said. "We haven't played a team like that yet."