Five things we learned from Kansas State’s dramatic overtime win over Iowa State
The Kansas State men’s basketball team pulled off its most unlikely victory of the season by defeating Iowa State 75-69 in overtime on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
For most of the day, it looked like the Wildcats were destined to lose by double digits rather than win. Turns out, they were just setting themselves up for a thrilling comeback.
Iowa State scored the first 13 points of the game and led by as many as 15 in the second half. It didn’t matter. Nijel Pack, Markquis Nowell and Mark Smith led an improbable rally and K-State found a way to boost its NCAA Tournament chances with an important win.
“We had passion,” Smith said. “Obviously, we had a real slow start. They were really hot in the first half, and we just said in the locker room that those first five minutes of the second half were going to be really important. We came out swinging and just kept chipping away. I’m really proud of the guys. We really fought back.”
Pack led the Wildcats (13-11, 5-7 Big 12) with 19 points, but unlike in some other recent games, he got lots of help from his teammates against the Cyclones (16-9, 3-9). Nowell had 16 points, six assists and four rebounds. Smith finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Most surprising of all, Ismael Massoud came off the bench to score 11 points and Mike McGuirl made several big plays late to help clinch the win.
Izaiah Brockington led Iowa State with 27 points, but it wasn’t enough. Iowa State surprised K-State in the early going by giving forward Jaz Kunc his first start of the season and he caught the Wildcats off guard for 16 points in the first half. That was the difference early. But K-State held him to three points the rest of the way and won with a balanced effort.
“At the end, the plays went our way,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “Our guys made plays and made shots. I thought our energy on defense was the thing that changed the game in the second half ... It’s just a good team win.”
Here are some key takeaways from the game:
Most dramatic win of the season
It’s hard to call this the best victory of the season for the Wildcats.
After all, Iowa State is in last place of the conference standings. Beating the Cyclones is what any team with NCAA Tournament aspirations is supposed to do, even if Iowa State was a five-point favorite heading into this game.
K-State’s wins over Texas and Texas Tech were probably more impressive. But this was definitely more dramatic than those.
“I’m just so happy that we got the win,” Smith said. “We’re just going to keep building and taking it one game at a time. I think everyone has really bought into Coach Weber and everyone is really locked in and fighting. I haven’t had a win like that in a very long time.”
The Wildcats showed great determination and grit to fight back from an early deficit and win this game. They also overcame an abysmal final possession of regulation in which the Cyclones blocked a shot by Nowell from near mid court.
Fighting through that much adversity couldn’t have been easy on the road, but K-State found a way to do it. Everyone in the rotation played a role.
K-State players deserved to celebrate after this one.
Welcome back Selton Miguel
The sophomore guard played in his first game for the Wildcats since he suffered an ankle injury three weeks ago against Baylor.
He made an immediate impact.
Miguel came off the bench and gave his team 22 quality minutes. He helped the Wildcats most on defense, but he he also had three points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Wildcats aren’t blessed with an abundance of depth on their roster, so adding him back to the rotation was a big deal.
“It was important to get Selton back,” Weber said, “because his defense is so good. He didn’t score much. He still needs to get in a rhythm but his defense was good. Three assists, five rebounds. Those are big minutes for us, especially when he stepped up down the stretch.”
Ismael Massoud makes big difference inside
It has been rare for a K-State forward or center to score in double figures this season.
Before Saturday, it hadn’t happened since Ismael Massoud scored 13 points during a loss at West Virginia on Jan. 8. That is a long time.
Massoud changed that when he gave the Wildcats 22 valuable minutes against the Cyclones. He came off the bench and scored 11 points to go along with three rebounds while playing at the five in a small-ball lineup.
He was more physical than he has been all season and even threw down two dunks. That gave the Wildcats a tremendous lift.
His breakthrough game came after Weber pulled him aside earlier in the week and told him, “Please, you have got to start giving us something.”
It will be interesting to see if he can continue playing at that level. K-State has lacked production from its center position most the year. He could be a difference maker.
Road warriors
Say this much for Weber’s team: It doesn’t get rattled by a road environment.
The Wildcats have won five games away from Bramlage Coliseum this season. That is an impressive number that includes victories at Wichita State, Nebraska, Texas, TCU and now Iowa State. That gives them a winning record (5-4) in road games.
K-State players celebrated their latest triumph by writing the words “Road Dawgs” in gigantic letters on the dry-erase board in their locker room.
“We came out and gave it our best,” Nowell said. “We tried to come up with grit and tried to play with as much passion as we could. Thankfully, we got to win.”
Back on the NCAA Tournament bubble
K-State truly has a realistic path to the NCAA Tournament following its victory at Iowa State.
If the Wildcats take care of business in their next game against West Virginia and then win a toss-up game against Oklahoma State next week, they will improve to 15-11 and have a .500 record in Big 12 play.
Any Big 12 team that finishes with nine conference victories this year will most likely receive an at-large berth into March Madness.
K-State is back on the bubble. It can solidify a spot in the postseason with a few more wins.
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 5:55 PM.