Kansas State, UCF Lose Their Postseason NIT Openers
Both Kansas State and UCF fell in their first-round men’s postseason NIT games on Tuesday, eliminating them from the tournament.
The Cincinnati Bearcats are the only remaining Big 12 team in the event. The Bearcats open their part of the tournament on Wednesday against San Francisco.
Kansas State went to Iowa and fell to the Hawkeyes, 91-82.
The Wildcats (19-15) were behind from the start as Iowa (19-14) led by 11 points at the break. The Wildcats made a couple of runs to get back in the game in the final 20 minutes.
Dai Dai Ames capped the last run, which helped Kansas State cut the lead, 74-70, with 7:09 left. But it was the closest the Wildcats would be down the stretch.
Payton Sandfort and Ben Kirkke were the two Iowa players that Kansas State could not slow down. Sandford had 30 points and 12 rebounds while Krikke added 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Ames led the Wildcats with 16 points while Will McNair Jr. came off the bench to score 15 points. Cam Carter scored 13 and David N’Guessan added 12 points.
UCF (17-16), like Kansas State, fell behind big early against USF (24-7), as the Bulls had a 49-35 lead at the break. And, like Kansas State, the Knights worked their way back into the game.
The Knights cut the lead to two points on several occasions, and had the lead to four points, 74-70, with 2:38 left after a Marchelus Avery 3-pointer. But the Knights never got closer.
Jaylin Sellers had a big game for the Knights, finishing with 24 points, including three 3-pointers. Avery had 19 points, including three 3-pointers, and 14 points from Darius Johnson.
USF was led by Selton Miguel, a former Kansas State player, with 19 points, all of which came off the bench.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
