The rest of the team was on the bus, but junior guard Lasan Kromah stood in a hallway of the Bramlage Coliseum, his George Washington ball cap pulled low over his eyes, talking to head coach Mike Lonergan.

The coach had a white statistics sheet from the Colonials’ 69-56 loss to Kansas State, and he pointed to it as he and Kromah talked.

They stayed there, going over the game GW had walked away from just a half an hour before. Lonergan’s intent was clear.

Just as the coach has been saying since before the season began, it’s time to learn from the game.

“Hopefully we learn from this loss,” Lonergan said. “We couldn’t match their toughness and physicality tonight. Even our guys that usually bring it every game did not have great games.”

GW arrived in Manhattan on the heels of a three-game win streak, and it looked to carry some form of that momentum into Thursday night’s match. But neither team was able to pull away offensively in the first half, stymied at both ends of the court by a combination of effective pressure in the paint and shooting struggles.

Like the Nov. 13 game against California, the Colonials couldn’t capitalize on looks in the first, ending the half just 30.3 percent from the floor. But the Wildcats weren’t much better, exiting the first with just a 34.3 shooting percentage.

It was play from beyond the arc that kept GW in the game. The Colonials entered Thursday’s match boasting the top three-point shooting percentage in the country, and lived up to the reputation in the first, shooting 50.0 percent from three-point range. Three of the team’s four treys came from sophomore forward Nemanja Mikic, who stroked a shot over the first 20 minutes. Adding to GW’s three-point advantage was Kansas State’s struggles from the perimeter, shooting just 10.0 percent from three in the first.

As GW entered the break, they were down just 32-29, after a half where the lead changed hands eight times and the score tied four. The game was open, but Lonergan saw a clear missed opportunity as his team exited the court- a 41.7 shooting average from the line.

“It was a disappointing performance from us overall. I thought we came out ready to play in the first half, and unfortunately our horrendous free throw shooting kept us from having a lead at the half,” Lonergan said.

When the teams returned to the court for the second half, play at first seemed stalled and slow, following the rhythm set before the break. But then GW hit a slump midway through the second, and the Wildcats pulled ahead with a 15-1 scoring run. The Colonials would never again regain the lead, wounded by a surge of energy from the Kansas State offense.

The Wildcats pushed their shooting to 41.4 percent on the half. They weren’t dominant offensively throughout play after the break, but took advantage of the Colonials’ mid-half slump to extend the lead far enough that GW was unable to fight back.

Particularly potent for the Wildcats was freshman forward Thomas Gipson, who lead all players with 17 points, grabbing 13 boards. His physical might at both ends of the court was too much for the Colonials’ man defense, outplaying GW to rally his team to victory.

“Gipson was a man amongst boys tonight and dominated out there in the second half,” Lonergan said. “He’s tough.”

Lonergan called timeouts down the stretch, attempting to jumpstart his team. He watched his players grow increasingly frustrated with refereeing that saw the Wildcats head to the line after a number of foul calls on the Colonials. Trying to add energy back into GW, Lonergan let his displeasure be known- and was whistled for a technical foul midway through the second.

“It was my first technical foul in about three or four years, so that was very disappointing,” Lonergan said. “I didn’t think it was just at all, but sometimes you get a technical, you think it can actually help you, and it really hurt us in that situation.”

With GW unable to find a rhythm, senior guard Tony Taylor again lead the Colonials offensively, posting 14 points, three rebounds and four assists. Kromah, Mikic and junior guard Bryan Bynes followed, each adding nine points, with Kromah grabbing six boards. But Taylor was the only Colonial to hit double-digit points, and even he struggled to find a consistent shooting rhythm throughout the night, rushed and pressured by the Wildcats.

It was another night where GW couldn’t get good looks – and where balls wouldn’t fall when they did, Taylor said. The team looked frustrated by their shooting struggles, losing control in their frantic drives to the net. Their three point percentage dropped to 9.1 , and GW went just 32.3 from the floor.

“It’s very frustrating. We got a lot of good, good looks, and the ball just wasn’t going in the basket. We’re going to have days like that and today was one of them,” Taylor said. “They forced us into a couple bad shots, uncharacteristic shots.”

The clincher for the loss, Taylor said, was in the hands of GW’s defense. Despite graduate student forward Jabari Edwards adding a solid presence in the paint, grabbing eight boards and slamming back five blocks, the Colonials couldn’t remain imposing enough to limit Kansas State’s scoring.

GW couldn’t take care of the ball, Taylor and Lonergan agreed, and that was the major downfall in the second half. After a first half that saw GW edged only slightly in the rebounding battle, Kansas State pulled away in the second to own a 50-42 advantage off the glass on the game. That translated into a margin of 25-8 second-chance points for the Wildcats, a crushing blow to the Colonials.

“I think rebounding and defense was the key to the second half. We didn’t play as good defense as we did in the first half,” Taylor said. “We gave them a couple of second chance points, and that really hurt us.”

As Kromah finally shouldered his bag in the Coliseum, he headed onto the bus to join his teammates, preparing for a trip back to the District. Sunday, GW will look to shake off the loss when they head to the Verizon Center to face VCU in the BB&T Classic.

“We’re going to go back to the drawing board tomorrow. We’re going to work hard in practice, watch some film, a couple times, and coach Lonergan is definitely going to have a plan for us,” Taylor said.