Kansas State pulls away from Colorado State for 89-70 victory

It takes a special kind of player to leap into the air for a rebound and slam a one-handed dunk in the same, fluid motion. It also takes a special kind of player to dominate in the paint with a steady barrage of points, rebounds, blocks and jaw-dropping highlights.

D.J. Johnson did all the above for Kansas State during an 89-70 victory over Colorado State on Saturday at Pepsi Center.

The senior forward was the best player on the court, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while also delivering the team’s most impressive dunk of the season.

“D.J. was huge,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “He did all that in 23 minutes. He is just so active ... He is such a physical specimen. He runs, he jumps, he moves and he is playing with so much confidence. That’s the biggest thing.”

His play helped K-State play arguably its best game. The Wildcats (10-1) had mostly beaten up on sub-par competition, but they showed they could also defeat a team of substance — by a big margin. The Rams (8-3) won at Colorado and stayed competitive in losses to Stanford and Wichita State, yet trailed by as many as 23 against the Wildcats. This was their most lopsided loss.

For K-State, it was a signature victory of sorts.

“Everybody needs to be aware of us. We are a good team,” guard Barry Brown said after scoring 14 points. “Coming in here, it’s not an away game, but we came in here and played good and got the victory. I feel like we haven’t peaked, but we are a in a good place.”

K-State pulled away behind Johnson and its top six players.

Six Wildcats finished in double figures, with Xavier Sneed scoring 12, Wesley Iwundu 11 and Dean Wade and Kamau Stokes 10.

Colorado State took an eight-point lead midway through the first half, but K-State dominated from there thanks to a mixture of defense, transition offense and three-pointers. That led to a season high for offense. Even seldom-used reserves Brian Patrick and Austin Budke contributed three-pointers.

“I thought we would win,” Weber said. “I told our team I thought we were the better team. But I didn’t anticipate scoring 89, to be honest. We scored a little easier and didn’t even really shoot the three ball as we have all year.”

Prentiss Nixon led Colorado State with 30 points, but K-State held the rest of the Rams’ roster in check.

Colorado State’s Emmanuel Omogbo summed up the game in five words: “We got our (butts) kicked.”

That made for a positive ending to a day that began with negative news.

K-State announced before the game that Dante Williams, a 7-foot redshirt freshman, will transfer and that Isaiah Maurice, a 6-foot-10 redshirt freshman, is suspended indefinitely.

Williams missed K-State’s last game against Washington State and had not practiced with the team since. He informed Weber of his intentions to leave the team after he completed final exams. He was averaging 1.5 points and one rebound.

Maurice traveled with the team to Denver, but did not dress for the game. Weber said he was suspended for violations of departmental policy. He had seen action in all 10 of K-State’s games, averaging 2.6 points and 2.5 rebonds.

Their absences forced K-State to play small and put extra pressure on Johnson to deliver inside. He didn’t flinch, scoring the game’s first six points.

“I didn’t really think about it,” Johnson said. “I just went out there and played. When I was open, they passed me the ball. I think we scouted them pretty well and we just stuck to our game plan.”

That led to plenty of big-play opportunities for Johnson, who took advantage.

His teammates are eager to see what he does next, especially if it involves another tomahawk dunk.

“That was about an eight (on a scale of 1 to 10),” Brown said. “I have seen him do something better than that, especially in practice. But it was pretty good. It was definitely an energy booster.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Kansas State pulls away from Colorado State for 89-70 victory."