Live from Puerto Rico: Ole Miss 86, K-State 74

The Mississippi basketball team got consistent scoring from two of its best players and Kansas State did not.

In the end, that was enough for Ole Miss to defeat K-State 86-74 on Friday and hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-off.

With the loss, K-State dropped to 3-1 and will next play Dayton on Sunday instead of Villanova in the tournament's championship game.

Here were the differing stat lines:

For Ole Miss: Chris Warren scored 27 and Terrico White added 25. Eniel Polynice and Murphy Holloway finished in double figures as well.

For K-State: Curtis Kelly scored 18, and Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente each chipped in 17. Of those 52 combined points, only 18 came in the first half. Even then, the Wildcats waited until Ole Miss took a 60-46 lead to start attacking the basket.

The Wildcats needed to bring that intensity from the start. Clemente, in particular, said he was late in getting his game together.

After the contest, he blamed himself for the loss and said he couldn't do that anymore.

Going 4 of 17 from behind the three-point line and 14 of 27 at the charity stripe seem like better areas to point the blame, but Clemente showed leadership in his words.

Allowing Ole Miss to shoot 63 percent from the field in the second half and 56 percent for the game wasn't a plus either.

Coach Frank Martin said that was where the Wildcats needed the most improvement. They weren't accustomed to playing teams with comparable talent and size, and suffered the consequences with a loss.

That will change as the season goes on, he said.

All K-State can worry about now is taking on a ranked Dayton team in its final game at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

Emptying the notebook:
-- Curtis Kelly not only recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards, but started to look like a vocal leader on the court. He is always the last one to sit down after team huddles, and is quite possibly the loudest K-State player on the roster.

-- Wally Judge played his best game of the season, lasting for 24 minutes and scoring 11 points.

-- Ole Miss made K-State look silly driving at the basket. The Rebels blocked seven shots.

-- Rodney McGruder scored just two points after his fabulous outing in the first game of this tournament.

Player of the game: Chris Warren. The Rebels guard hit the Wildcats hard with 27 points in 35 minutes of action.

Play of the game: Terrico White leaned in for a layup, drew a foul, and converted a three-point play just when it looked like K-State was going to get back in the game in the second half. He helped the Rebels go up by 15 after K-State had cut the lead to eight.

Do this again: If Clemente picks up where he left off in the second half, K-State will take its chances against Dayton. The senior guard got out in transition and made some nice plays late.

Try to avoid: K-State started the game 1 of 10 from behind the arc. Hard to win shooting like that.

Bottom line: Ole Miss is the best team K-State has played this season, but the Rebels are not a great team. Good, yes. But great, no. Nevertheless, if the Wildcats learn from this experience and play tough or beat Dayton in their last game in Puerto Rico this trip will be a success.