One Wildcat or the other was going to lose a winning streak. The desert variety ‘Cats will be the ones trying to start a new one.
In what was possibly the first “lavender-out” in major sports history, K-State survived woeful outside shooting and a head-scratching call reversal to beat No. 13 Arizona 73-70 in Bramlage Coliseum Tuesday evening.
With the win, K-State extends its winning streak to six games and moves to 13-11 overall and 7-6 in Big 12 play. Arizona (17-7, 11-2) ends a 6-game winning streak and falls a game behind Houston at the top of conference standings.
The teams traded buckets early, with Arizona taking its first lead, 9-8, on a made three-point bucket by Carter Bryant. The make would not set a trend, as Dug McDaniel made K-State’s only deep shot in 19 attempts, and the teams combined to make only 3 of 41 for the game. If we characterized the misses as rim-outs, we would be mostly lying.
That meant the game was decided in the paint, where you would expect Arizona’s size to give them a pronounced advantage. But through a combination of back-cuts, drives, and crisp passing, the lavender Wildcats narrowly outscored the Arizona ‘Cats 46-44 in the lane.
A key sequence occurred late in the first half. Arizona had established a 25-18 lead before CJ Jones pulled K-State within 5 on a layup. After a defensive stop, Coleman Hawkins drove for a layup, and goaltending was called. At a later timeout, the officials reviewed the play and waved off the bucket, even though the monitor seemed to show that the ball hit the backboard before the defender made contact. Thus, what appeared to be a correct “live” call, got reversed, and two K-State points were taken off the board.
Adding further insult, Hawkins had rebounded the missgoaltend and was alone to drop it back in the hoop. Those pilfered two points would loom large late in the game.
As if inspired by official-sanctioned larceny, K-State staged a late first-half run. McDaniel knocked down the only purple “three” of the night, Max Jones tipped in a McDaniel miss, and CJ Jones scored on the fast break to knot the score at 29-all.
On the next possession, Max absorbed a foul on a three-point attempt (though, why anyone would foul an outside shooter in this game is a mystery) and made all three free throws. CJ Jones finished the half with a 1-2 trip to the line and a layup with 4 seconds remaining to send K-State to the break with a 35-29 lead.
After intermission, K-State briefly stretched its lead to 41-33 before Arizona worked the ball inside and crashed the offensive glass to narrow the margin. The home Cats scored only 5 points over 8 minutes of game time, and with 10:12 to play, Arizona seized a 48-46 advantage on a fastbreak layup by KJ Lewis.
K-State would not fold.
David N’Guessan scored a layup, and Brendan Hausen made a nifty cut down the lane for a lay-in off an equally nifty Coleman Hawkins pass, giving K-State a 50-48 lead.
Though Arizona would tie the score twice more, and the game would remain tense through the end, the Home Cats would never trail again.
N’Guessan and McDaniel did most of the heavy lifting, but Mobi Ikegwuruka contributed an enormous play, stealing the ball at mid-court and driving for a dunk. That pushed the score to 68-62 with 1:39 remaining.
Arizona still got back within 1. After ‘Zona’s Caleb Love scored on a fastbreak lay-in cut the lead to 2, CJ Jones made the front end of 1-and-1 but missed the second. A jumper by KJ Lewis cut the ‘Zona deficit one, to 71-70.
With 6 seconds remaining, Hausen K-State’s extended the lead to 73-70 with two free throws. McDaniel stole the Arizona inbound pass just in front of halfcourt and appeared to throw it to Max Jones before he was established in the frontcourt. Max was fouled, and the refs went to the monitor again. They concluded that our eyes were fooling us, apparently, and awarded Jones free throws.
Fittingly, perhaps, he missed both. But Arizona could not find long-distance magic in Manhattan, and K-State escaped with the win.
The smallest player on the court was the biggest player of the game, as Dug McDaniel made a dazzling array of medium-range bank shots and scoops off the glass to finish with 24 points. He also contributed 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and three steals to post a Coleman-esque overall stat line.
N’Guessan scored 16 and tied Max Jones for the team lead in rebounds, with 7, in only 23 minutes of playing time due to foul trouble. He was 7-9 from the floor and 2-3 from the line—absurd efficiency for this game.
CJ Jones was the only other K-State player in double figures, scoring 10.
Hawkins had an off night, scoring only 6 on 2-11 (0-6) shooting, and only grabbing 2 rebounds, officially. He did have 4 assists and 3 steals.
K-State shote 28-62 (45%) overall, but was only 1-19 from outside. Arizona was 26-63 (41%), including 2-22 (9%) from three.
Turnovers were a gigantic factor in the outcome. K-State forced 17, while only committing 10, and they outscored Arizona 23-10 in the points-off turnovers category. Considering the visiting Wildcats out-rebounded K-State 46-33 and had 13 second-chance points to K-State’s 6, capitalizing on turnovers wound up being the difference in the game.
Four Arizona Wildcats reached double-digit scoring, led by KJ Lewis, who had 15. K-State held former North Carolina guard Caleb Love to 6 points on 3-15 shooting.
Here is betting that if these teams meet again, the game may look completely different.
NEXT GAME
Having gotten above .500 in conference play, K-State will try to keep the momentum going at BYU Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The Cougars are 16-8, 7-6 in Big 12 play, and currently tied with K-State and Baylor for 6th in the Big 12.