Takeaways from Kansas State’s come-from-behind basketball victory against Tulsa
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State rallied from an 83-78 deficit with 48 seconds left to win 84-83.
- Wildcats forced two late turnovers and held Tulsa scoreless on final three possessions.
- PJ Haggerty scored 31 with 10 rebounds while Khamari McGriff supplied inside scoring.
Jerome Tang was fired up after the Kansas State men’s basketball team pulled off a last-minute comeback to beat Tulsa 84-83 Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.
The K-State head coach sprinted into the stands and celebrated the win with students. Then he exchanged high-fives with everybody he passed on his way off the court.
Finally, before he disappeared into the home locker room, he pumped his fist and exclaimed to his assistants, “That’s what I’m talking about.”
He was understandably happy after this result.
K-State appeared on its way to a discouraging defeat in the final minute. So much so, that Tang later admitted he was mentally prepared to give his team a speech had they gone on to lose. Tulsa held an 83-78 lead with 48 seconds remaining.
A pair of free throws from PJ Haggerty made the score 83-80. But Tulsa still clung to a three-point lead and possessed the ball. The Wildcats had to do everything right down the stretch to escape with a victory. But that is exactly what they did.
The Wildcats forced two turnovers in the closing moments and didn’t allow the Golden Hurricane to score on their final three possessions. On the other end, PJ Haggerty and David Castillo both converted fast-break buckets to put K-State ahead 84-83 with 18 seconds remaining. Then it got one more stop, and the game was over.
“I am so proud of the guys,” Tang said. “We do a drill almost every day in practice called championship points. You get a stop, a score and a stop. That’s how you win a championship. At the end of some games, to win that thing, you need to get a stop, you need to go down and get a score, and then you have to come back and get a stop. We ended the game with two championship points.”
Haggerty led K-State with 31 points and 10 rebounds. Castillo had 12 points, including a pair of clutch shots in the second half. Forward Khamari McGriff added 13 points for the Wildcats.
K-State needed all of those contributions on a night it only made 21% of its shots from 3-point range.
Few will brag about a narrow win over Tulsa, but the Wildcats (4-0) definitely showed resolve. They are next in action Thursday against Mississippi State at T-Mobile Center in the Hall of Fame Classic.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Monday’s action:
Kansas State didn’t shoot the lights out
This is what it looks like when K-State doesn’t make 3-pointers at an elite level.
Many wondered what would happen when the Wildcats finally cooled off on offense. Well, it happened on Monday and they almost lost to Tulsa.
The Wildcats made an astounding 54.4% of their shots from 3-point range during the first three games of the season. They shot the ball so well in those contests that nothing else they did truly mattered. Heck, they gave up 62 points in a single half against California and still won.
But they couldn’t stay hot on Monday. K-State went 5-of-24 from beyond the arc against the Golden Hurricane. That meant Tang’s team had to find other ways to win.
They pulled it off thanks to a big night from Haggerty, who did most of his damage off the dribble and got to the free-throw line 12 times. McGriff, Castillo and Nate Johnson also helped with needed buckets from close range.
K-State even played timely defense down the stretch.
This wasn’t a pretty game for the Wildcats. But it probably made the result more meaningful for Tang and his team. They proved they could win when they weren’t at their best offensively.
Khamari McGriff showed off his touch around the basket
It appears that K-State has found a consistent scorer in the paint.
UNC Wilmington transfer Khamari McGriff continued his nice stretch of games by scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds against Tulsa.
The 6-foot-9 forward has now reached double figures in three straight games. He has averaged 16.7 points during that time.
Tulsa held PJ Haggerty in check ... for a half
K-State’s leading scorer was unusually quiet in the first half of this game.
Tulsa held him to just four points in the first half. Nothing was coming easy for him. Thus Tang pulled him for stretches and let sophomore David Castillo run the point.
The Golden Hurricane frustrated Haggerty by forcing him into difficult shots and by not fouling on defense when he attacked the rim. They held him in check better than any other team has this season.
Well, sort of.
Haggerty fought back with 27 points in the second half. He finished the day with 31 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
He was in attack mode after a slow opening half.
With the big effort, he became the first K-State newcomer since Michael Beasley to top 20 points in his first four games with the Wildcats.
K-State hasn’t protected leads this season
For a while, it looked like the Wildcats were going to win each of their past two games by big margins.
K-State led by 25 against California, but the Golden Bears rallied to make it a game in the final minute. The Wildcats survived 99-96.
On Monday, K-State led by as many as 10 points in the first half. There was also a moment in the second half when it went on a 13-3 run. But the Wildcats were unable to seize control of this game, too. This time, they needed a comeback to win 84-83.
That won’t hurt K-State in the standings, but it could damage their tournament resume. Margin of victory matters in college basketball. K-State’s metrics would have looked much better with a pair of blowout wins instead of consecutive narrow victories.
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 9:50 PM.