I think one ray of sunshine is UK's low 3-point shooting percentage. K-State always relies heavily on help defense, and this is especially so against teams with talented individual players. When you mix that with opponents who can really shoot it well from long range (ISU, Baylor, even OU to some extent) it becomes really tough for our Cats. K-State helps and helps, but eventually someone is left open from long range and it burns us.
This is less likely to be the case vs a team like Kentucky. Sure, it will be an uphill battle keeping UK off the offensive glass and off of the free throw line, but not having to deal with that additional element at least keeps this game in the winnable category imo.
I really want to win too. Playing WSU in a "nothing to lose" scenario would be a treat imo.