Kansas State’s victory over Iowa State a sign of progress for Wildcats in one key area
For one day, there was nothing but good vibes inside Bramlage Coliseum.
The Kansas State men’s basketball team shrugged off many of the stresses that have come during a mostly disappointing season and flexed its muscles during a 61-56 victory over Iowa State that it led most of the way on Saturday.
Turns out there is a Big 12 team that is not only worse than K-State, but much worse.
The victory means the Wildcats (8-19, 4-14 Big 12) continued their late-season improvement by winning three of their final four games. Believe it or not, they will enter the Big 12 Tournament with lots of momentum as the event’s No. 9 seed.
“I think we can win the whole thing as long as we come and play our game,” K-State guard DaJuan Gordon said. “If we play basketball the way we play and play tough, how we’ve been playing, I think we can beat everybody.”
Over confidence? Perhaps, but if you’re looking for a tangible sign of progress from the Wildcats they provided one on Saturday by surpassing the three conference victories they totaled last season. Even in a season filled with historic losses, they found at least one small way to improve.
The Cyclones (2-21, 0-18 Big 12) ended the regular season on the lowest note possible. They became the fourth team in league history to go winless in conference play. They will head to Kansas City as the No. 10 seed on a 17-game losing streak.
“I’m just happy for our guys,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “They’ve endured, persevered. They’ve been resilient. We shot the ball pretty well in the first half. I was hoping that would continue in the second half. Obviously it didn’t. The thing they’ve done is that they haven’t quit. They’ve gotten way better on defense. This is the fourth in the last five teams that we’ve held in the 50s.”
K-State took control early in this one as a rare home favorite. Iowa State was playing its fourth game in seven days and looked every bit like a tired and sluggish team. The Wildcats, meanwhile, were well rested after getting the entire week off before this rescheduled game.
That combination allowed K-State to take a 33-25 halftime lead, which was worth nothing because it was the team’s first halftime lead of the calendar year.
The Wildcats pulled ahead by working the ball inside against the worst defensive team in the conference. Forwards Davion Bradford and Kaosi Ezeagu both saw lots of scoring opportunities in the paint, while guards DaJuan Gordon, Mike McGuirl and Selton Miguel also found success near the rim.
McGuirl ended up leading K-State with 17 points, Gordon had 12 and freshman guard Nijel Pack had 10. Miguel gave them all a boost with seven assists.
All the while, K-State’s defense remained strong.
“About a month ago, our defensive intensity picked up,” Pack said. “We take pride in that now, especially with the stance and slapping the ground. I feel like we take pride in the defensive side. This is a different type of team with playing defense and locking guys down and not trying to have a scoring match with them. We try to keep them below a certain amount of points each game, and that makes us successful.”
Things tightened up in the second half when the Wildcats went more than seven minutes without scoring a field goal and the Cyclones pulled within 38-35. This was not a drama-free victory.
But Miguel gave K-State some breathing room with a three-pointer that ended the shooting slump and made it 43-35 at the 11:32 mark of the second half.
Iowa State never truly threatened again.
McGuirl seemed to clinch the game with a three-pointer from the corner that gave the Wildcats a 57-47 advantage in the final minutes.
The Wildcats will try to keep their good vibes going in their next game against TCU in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday.
It’s been a long, and suddenly fulfilling, journey to this point.
“I think we improved a lot,” Gordon said. “We started off real bad. We still didn’t do as well as we wanted, but we all kept grinding it out, coming to practice hard everyday. I feel like we got a lot better. Only time will tell how much better we’ll get.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2021 at 6:35 PM.