Kansas State Defeats Texas In Big 12 Tournament
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State outlasted Texas in a dramatic showdown, 78-74, in the second round of the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Center on Wednesday.
Kansas State (18-13) will play No. 2 seed Iowa State at 6 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals. The Wildcats beat the Cyclones in their regular-season finale on Saturday.
Texas (20-11) played its final game against a Big 12 team as a Big 12 member, as the Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners join the SEC in July. The Longhorns are expected to make the NCAA Tournament.
The game was defined by huge runs and huge dry spells. Texas had the big run and Kansas State had the dry spell in the first half. But in the second half the roles were reversed and the game came down to the wire.
Kansas State got the lead for the first time since the first half on Tylor Perry’s 3-pointer with 12-32 left and had a 50-49 edge at the under-12 time out. At the time, Texas — which had been shooting better than 50% — was shooting 18.2% in the second half.
By the 6:54 mark, Kansas State was up, 60-53, after going on, at one point, a 13-2 run while Texas made just 1-of-9 from the floor. Kansas State outscored 31-14 in the second half at this point and Texas had only slightly improved its shooting percentage for the half to 18.8%.
Also by that point both teams were in the bonus and Texas forward Dylan Disu had four fouls, as did his teammate Brock Cunningham and K-State’s Colbert.
Texas struggled to mount a rally as Kansas State grew its lead to as much as 10 points.
Texas cut the lead to five points on a Max Abmas 3-pointer with about two minutes left. Then Abmas cut it to three with a layup with 1:20 left.
After a Kansas State time out, Perry missed a 3-pointer but David N’Guessan grabbed the rebound and drew a foul with 54 seconds left. He made one to extend the lead to four points.
Texas came to the other end and Disu’s put-back with 30 seconds cut the lead to two points, leading to a Kansas State time out.
On the ensuing inbounds pass Perry caught the ball but was fouled by Texas’ Chendall Weaver, who was called for an intentional foul for what appeared to be a tackle. That sent Perry to the line for two shots and gave Kansas State the ball. He made both to push the Wildcat lead to four points.
Then a lay-up by Cam Carter pushed the lead to six, followed by an Abmas 3-pointer with 14.1 seconds left to cut the lead to three points.
Texas then fouled Perry with 12.9 seconds left and he made both to make a two-possession game. Abmas made another 3-pointer, but two free throw by Carter were the final margin.
Perry finished with 21 points to lead the Wildcats, including a 10-for-10 night at the free-throw line. He had plenty of help. Kaluma had 14, N’Guessan 13 while Dai Dai Ames and Carter each had 10 points.
Abmas had 26 points, but he did make a 3-pointer until late in the game. Dillon Mitchell scored 13 points and Ithiel Horton added 14. Disu finished with just nine points. Texas finished the second half shooting 29%.
The game started close, but a 14-0 run by Texas gave them a 10-point lead with 7:16 left in the first half. During that span Kansas State failed to score for more than six minutes before a Will McNair floater finally ended the run.
Kansas State cut it to as little as six points before the break, but a Abmas jumper in the final seconds ensured that Texas would take a 10-point lead into the half, 39-29. Texas shot better than 50% in the first half.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
