Kansas State cruises to lopsided victory over winless Florida A&M
The Kansas State basketball team put together its first complete game of the season and defeated Florida A&M 76-58 on Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.
It took seven attempts, two losses and lots of uneven play to get here, but the Wildcats finally got a drama-free victory.
They passed the ball better than they have in other games, piling up 21 assists, and also looked more aggressive than usual in transition. Whenever K-State (5-2) had an opportunity to get out and run, it took advantage. Xavier Sneed, who scored a game high 18 points, capitalized with some crowd-pleasing dunks and his teammates benefited from open looks.
The Wildcats made 53.7% of their shots and three different players reached double figures. Mike McGuirl had a season-high 16 points and Cartier Diarra finished with 11.
That was to be expected considering the quality of opponent. The Rattlers (0-6), of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, were picked to finish near the bottom of their league and entered this game ranked 341st (out of 353) by college basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy.
But this was still an encouraging night for the Wildcats. They had trouble at times two weeks ago against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a similar opponent, and didn’t start slow the way they have in several other games.
Sneed got the rout started by hitting a corner three and then throwing down a reverse dunk. K-State led by as many as 15 in the first half.
Aside from an 11-2 run late in the second half, Florida A&M never got much of anything going in this one. Evins Desir led the Rattlers with 18 points, but they struggled mightily from the outside and only made one of eight three-pointers.
No one knew what to expect from the Wildcats coming off a pair of discouraging losses at the Fort Myers Tip-Off last week. It’s not always easy to return home a few days later and play with energy against an inferior opponent, especially with an anticipated game coming up Saturday against Marquette.
But they displayed impressive energy and took care of business. They will hope to build on that later this week.
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 9:00 PM.