Iowa State Beats Kansas State in Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Iowa State used a huge second-half scoring run to pull away from Kansas State, 76-57, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Center on Thursday.
Iowa State (25-7), the No. 2 seed, reached the Big 12 Tournament semifinals for the second straight year, the first time the Cyclones have done that since 2015. They will play either Cincinnati or Baylor at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.
Kansas State (18-14) entered the game as one of the “First Four Out” at ESPN Bracketology. The Wildcats will wait until Sunday to find out if they go to the NCAA Tournament, the NIT or miss the postseason entirely.
The Cyclones and Wildcats were playing for the third time this season and the second time in five days. In the previous meeting, Kansas State beat Iowa State and the Cyclones had five days to think about it.
In this game Iowa State was the better team, as it closed the door on the Wildcats midway through the second half, thanks to 23 points off 20 Wildcat turnovers, including a spate in the second half that led to a massive Cyclone scoring run.
Kansas State started the second half behind by seven points. The Wildcats worked the lead down to a single point but couldn’t pass Iowa State. Instead, the Cyclones went on a 9-2 run, capped by Milan Momcilovic’s runner with 12:24 left to push the lead back to eight points, 49-41. During that run the Wildcats committed four turnovers.
Robert Jones made it a 10-point lead with a turnaround hook off a Kansas State turnover after the time out. Then, after another Kansas State turnover, Tamin Lipsey scored on a runner and drew a foul, pushing the Cyclones ahead 12 points and prompting a media time out with 11:11 left. Lipsey’s made free throw capped a 14-2 run for ISU.
Kansas State never cut the lead to single digits again and with 5:52 left the Cyclones were on a 21-4 run.
Jones led the Cyclones with 18 points, as the Wildcats’ interior players struggled with him in the first half. Tre King had 16 points, Keshon Gilbert had 12 points and Lipsey added 11 points.
Tylor Perry led Kansas State with 18 points, Arthur Kaluma scored 13 points and Will McNair Jr. added 12 points.
After a pair of blowouts in the first two quarterfinals on Friday — which Texas Tech and Houston won — the Cyclones and the Wildcats played a much closer game for the first 30 minutes.
Iowa State led 34-27 at halftime and of the 61 combined points 18 of them came at the free-throw line. The Cyclones and Wildcats combined for 26 attempts as Iowa State’s Hason Ward had three fouls and several players had two each.
Iowa State led most of the half and led by as much as nine as the Cyclones shot 42% from the floor, including making four of their last five shots of the first half. Kansas State shot 32% and missed eight of their last nine, reminiscent of its cold streak in its second-round win over Texas on Wednesday. It ended up getting worse in the second half.
Notably, the Cyclones used Top 10 recruit and freshman Omaha Biliew for the first time since they met Kansas State on Jan. 24. He played 10 minutes and finished with two points.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
