Kansas State improves postseason resume with 61-48 victory over Texas Tech

Winning finally came easy for Kansas State during a 61-48 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.

That was cause for celebration for these Wildcats and their five seniors. Routine victories have been hard to come by this basketball season. Every game has seemed to come down to the final possession, regardless of opponent and location. Things got so rugged earlier this week that Bruce Weber call the Big 12’s double round-robin schedule a “grind-out fight.”

This must have felt like a stroll through the park, by comparison.

“That is the Big 12 for you,” senior wing Wesley Iwundu said after scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. “Every night, every game is a tough game. It’s a challenge. One week you can be high. One week you can be low. But the thing is, it’s all about how you respond in this league. I think these last two wins we did a great job responding to our last two losses. That’s what you have to do. In this league, you can be forgotten easy.”

K-State (19-12, 8-10 Big 12) and its NCAA Tournament chances were all but forgotten a week ago when it got blasted by 30 points at last-place Oklahoma. The Wildcats had lost eight of 10 and Weber’s job security was in doubt.

But they bounced back with a 75-74 victory at TCU and followed it up with a convincing effort against Texas Tech (18-13, 6-12). Suddenly, they look like a NCAA Tournament again, even if it may take another win at the Big 12 Tournament to lock up a bid or avoid an assignment in the First Four.

“Absolutely,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said when asked if K-State deserved a spot on the bracket. “You win eight games in this league, with a couple games you should have won because of some questionable calls. You got the team in the top 25 in the nonconference. (Weber) does it the right way. He is one of the most respected coaches in the country.”

Weber boosted his rep in front of 12,290 fans. K-State dominated and notched its first double-digit victory since Jan. 7 when it beat Oklahoma 75-64. It was an important victory. The Wildcats ended a four-game losing streak at home that stretched back to Jan. 21. The Red Raiders didn’t put up much of a fight, losing their ninth consecutive road game.

With the regular season over, K-State heads to the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 6 seed and receive a bye into the quarterfinals. It will play the No. 3 seed on Thursday at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. against Baylor or Iowa State.

K-State finished all alone in sixth place in the Big 12 standings, an improvement over last season’s eighth-place finish and its preseason billing of ninth.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys after last week,” Weber said. “We had an emotional loss to Oklahoma State, had a chance to sweep them and didn’t. Then we come back and lay an egg against Oklahoma. They could have given up. They didn’t. They responded.”

It was a satisfying final home game for seniors D.J. Johnson and Iwundu. Johnson led the way with 19 points and four rebounds, looking more energetic and productive than he has in weeks while battling a sprained ankle.

He refused to be denied when he got the ball down low, often overpowering three defenders to score.

“It helps us a lot when he plays like that,” senior guard Carlbe Ervin said. “Every time he plays good I feel like we are going to win.”

He got plenty of help in this one. Iwundu had a double-double, Dean Wade had 11 points and five rebounds and K-State got 12 points off the bench. Weber doesn’t start all his seniors in their final home game the way some coaches do, but the Wildcats played well enough for him to get Austin Budke and Zach Winter on the floor for the final moments.

The effort was good enough for K-State to win consecutive conference games for the second time in the past two seasons, which puts the Wildcats within reach of an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.

“You want to be playing your best basketball in March,” Johnson said, “and I think we have been doing that these past few days.”

KANSAS STATE 61, TEXAS TECH 48

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .356, FT .714. Three-Point Goals: 6-19, .316 (Livingston 3-6, Evans 2-6, Smith 1-2, Gray 0-1, Ross 0-2, Stevenson 0-2). Team Rebounds: 1. Team Turnovers: 16 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Smith 2, Evans, Gray). Turnovers: 16 (Evans 3, Stevenson 3, Thomas 3, Ross 2, Smith 2, Brandsma, Gray, Temple). Steals: 8 (Gray 3, Evans 2, Millinghaus, Ross, Stevenson). Technical Fouls: None.

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .440, FT .706. Three-Point Goals: 5-16, .313 (Wade 2-2, Patrick 1-2, B.Brown 1-3, Iwundu 1-3, Budke 0-1, Stokes 0-2, Sneed 0-3). Team Rebounds: 0. Team Turnovers: 12 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 6 (Iwundu 2, Wade 2, Johnson, Maurice). Turnovers: 12 (Stokes 4, Ervin 2, Iwundu 2, B.Brown, Johnson, Maurice, Wade). Steals: 6 (B.Brown 3, Johnson, Sneed, Stokes). Technical Fouls: None.

Half: Kansas State 34-22. Attendance: 12,290.

AP-WF-03-04-17 2216GMT

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Kansas State improves postseason resume with 61-48 victory over Texas Tech."