How K-State basketball pulled off a ‘nerve-wracking’ shootout win against Cal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State produced a 55-34 first-half surge and held on for a 99-96 win.
- California outscored K-State 62-44 in the second half and nearly completed a comeback.
- Wildcats deployed balanced scoring from nine players yet exposed defensive lapses to fix.
There were times during Kansas State’s shootout basketball victory against California on Thursday when it felt like both teams were playing by make-it, take-it rules.
The Wildcats won the highest-scoring game in Bramlage Coliseum history 99-96, thanks to a sensational first half in which it felt like they could do no wrong. But the Golden Bears nearly pulled off an incredible comeback with an equally impressive second half of their own.
K-State won the first half 55-34 and led by as many as 25 in the early going. That turned out to be an insurmountable advantage ... barely. Cal won the second half 62-44 and forced the home crowd to sweat until the final seconds.
College basketball games don’t get much wilder than that in November.
“It was nerve-wracking,” K-State guard Nate Johnson said, “because we saw how good we could be at the beginning of the first half. We should have kept our foot on the gas pedal, but we kind of let off. From there, being in a moment where they are just hitting every shot, and you know the momentum is on their side. You are sitting there on defense nervous.”
California coach Mark Madsen was proud of his team for fighting back.
For a while, though, it looked like the Golden Bears (3-1) had run into a buzz saw against the Wildcats (3-0), who are averaging 96.7 points early on this season.
With new assistant coach Matthew Driscoll at the offensive controls for head coach Jerome Tang and a talented backcourt leading the way, K-State is built to win shootouts instead of defensive battles. And the Wildcats flexed their scoring muscles in the opening 20 minutes.
“Kansas State did a phenomenal job of blitzing us,” Madsen said. “They got us off-kilter in the first half. They were way more physical than us. They were first to every loose ball. We were on our heels. We were shell shocked.”
PJ Haggerty (23 points), Khamari McGriff (21 points) and Johnson (20 points) gave the Wildcats a three-headed monster on the offensive end. But they got lots of help. David Castillo provided 16 points off the bench and Abdi Bashir drained a pair of 3-pointers. Overall, nine different K-State players scored.
They did damage from all over. K-State made half of its shots from beyond the arc (9 of 18), connected on four dunks and made 21 layups. McGriff gave the Wildcats a true inside presence.
In the first half, the Wildcats made 67.6% of their shots from the field and 75% of their shots from 3-point range.
“I was really proud of the guys for probably the first 24 minutes,” Tang said. “We played some really good basketball on both ends of the floor, and then human nature kicked in, and they relaxed.
“Then their guys saw the ball go in the hole. And when you let good shooters like Chris Bell see the ball go in the hole, they all just start going in.”
Indeed, Cal flipped a switch in the second half.
Bell led the way with 27 points and former K-State guard Dai Dai Ames added 25. They were both on fire late in the game.
The Golden Bears connected on 67.6% of their field goals and 63.2% of their 3-pointers in the second half. They averaged 1.67 points per possession and finished the second half with 62 points.
Cal never had an opportunity to tie or take the lead, but the Bears did pull within six, 98-92, with 38 seconds remaining. They had a chance to pull within one possession soon after, but CJ Jones came up with a steal against Ames and that effectively ended Cal’s comeback hopes.
“We came up short, but we fought,” Madsen said. “Our guys scrapped and we came back. I was very proud of the fight.”
When the game was over, and both teams were done lighting up the scoreboard, Tang was asked to assess a game in which the K-State offense looked incredible and the K-State defense looked hapless.
His answer: He was glad the Wildcats won.
“The great thing is that we have a lot of teaching film that we can learn from,” Tang said. “It’s a whole lot better teaching after a win than it is that teaching after a loss.”