It was a see-saw of awful basketball that ended with awful free throw shooting. As is fitting.
K-State trailed by 16, led by 13, and ultimately beat Arizona State by 1 late Tuesday night in Tempe, 71-70.
The game effectively ended when the Sun Devils’ freshman phenom, Jayden Quaintance, missed two free throws with 4.1 seconds on the clock, and Dug McDaniel cleared the rebound for the Wildcats (11-11, 5-6 Big 12). Quaintance was at the line because he had a free lane to the basket after the ball bounced out of a scrum near the right elbow. K-State’s David N’Guessan hustled to prevent a dunk, and the big freshman rewarded the Cats with two back-iron misses, dropping him to 1-6 from the free throw line for the game.
Just like that, the Wildcats have put the 6-game losing streak behind them. They are back to .500 overall and a win shy of .500 in league play. After failing to win an away game in nearly two years, they have won back-to-back road tilts as part of a 4-game winning streak. Just what we all expected.
This one could have been—probably should have been—a blowout for either team.
Arizona State (12-10, 3-8) scored the first 15 points of the game, as K-State missed its first 9 field goal attempts. Even after Max Jones finally got the Cats on the board with a jumper nearly 7 minutes into the contest, the Wildcats missed a dunk and turned the ball over on the next two possessions, allowing Arizona state to push its lead to 18-2.
But over the last 10:53 of the first half, the Wildcats outscored the Sun Devils 33-14 and went to the break with an improbable 35-32 lead.
They did it by finally getting the ball in the paint, were N’Guessan went to work. The big man scored 9 of his 22 points over the last 6:12 of the first half. Once shots started falling from inside, Max Jones connected on two open three-point looks, and Brendan Hausen and Coleman Hawkins joined the fun.
The purple onslaught continued after the break, as well. K-State held Arizona State scoreless for over three minutes and allowed only 3 points over the first seven, as the Wildcat lead ballooned to 48-35.
Prosperity did not suit the Cats, apparently.
The Sun Devils turned up the defensive pressure and mounted a comeback behind three-point buckets, layups, and free throws. When Alston Mason made a layup with 4:04 to play, the K-State lead had shrunk to a single point, 62-61.
Coach Tang elected not to call a timeout, and Coleman Hawkins lost his footing on a drive attempt near the basket. Arizona State got a dunk at the other end, and suddenly the big K-State lead had completely evaporated.
Hawkins more than atoned. Drawing a double-team on consecutive possessions, he showed tremendous vision to find N’Guessan for back-to-back layups. Unfortunately, ASU’s BJ Freeman answered both with layups of his own.
Wiht K-State down 1 with 1:28 remaining, Hawkins nailed a three pointer from above the key. After an Arizona State miss, N’Guessan made two free throws to give the Cats a 71-67 lead with under a minute to play.
But the Devils’ Alston Mason scored on a layup, and Hawkins was whistled for somewhat of a phantom foul. Mason converted the 3-point play, leaving K-State up 71-70 with 42 seconds on the clock.
The final K-State possession was a mess that ultimately resulted in Dug McDaniel hoisting an unsuccessful 3-point attempt.
McDaniel applied pressure on the defensive end and nearly poked the ball loose. Three K-State players wound up on the floor. There was nearly a tie-up, but the ball squirted free, leading to the foul on the dunk attempt, the missed free throws by Quaintance, and the outcome.
N’Guessan’s 22 led all scorers, and he also grabbed 8 rebounds, tying for team lead with McDaniel.
Max Jones scored 15, Hausen had 12, and Hawkins wound up with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Alston Mason led Arizona State with 20 points.
K-State out-rebounded the Sun Devils 38-34, and outscored them 30-16 in the paint.
The Wildcats shot 27-58 (47%) overall and 10-26 (38%) from deep. ASU was 22-57 (32%) and 12-37 (32%). But the Sun Devils benefited from 21 free throw attempts (14-21), while K-State had only 10, making 7.
Free throws kept the game close, and they ultimately cemented the outcome.
NEXT GAME
We will see if Coach Tang can continue the home magic when the Wildcats try to even their conference record against Kansas at 1:00 Saturday in the Octagon. ESPN will have the broadcast.