The Kansas State Wildcats shook off the turmoil of the week to defeat Baylor 90-74 Tuesday night in a game they never trailed in Bramlage Coliseum.
The win ends a 6-game losing streak for the Cats (11-15, 2-11 Big 12) and turns the page after Athletic Director Gene Taylor announced the dismissal of head coach Jerome Tang Sunday evening.
K-State got early production from Nate Johnson, who made his first three attempts from 3-point range, to open a 17-8 lead before the second media timeout. Baylor (13-13, 3-10) cut the deficit to 20-15, but P.J. Haggerty asserted himself off the dribble to lead a 14-6 run to build a 13-point margin with five minutes to play in the half.
Baylor reeled the Cats in a bit before halftime but still trailed led 41-34 at the break.
Out of the locker room a 13-4 Wildcat run, capped by a three-point bucket by Andrej Kostic, staked K-State to a 54-38 advantage with 13:42 to play. The lead ballooned to 21 (61-40) before the under-12 timeout.
Baylor extended the backcourt pressure, with mixed results. The Bears forced some turnovers, and K-State obliged them by forcing passes and taking poor shots in the halfcourt, and twice the Bears cut their deficit to 11. But they never got closer. K-State threw the ball upcourt for enough easy buckets to maintain a double-digit lead for the last 17:34 of the contest.
Both Johnson (33) and Haggerty (34) eclipsed thirty points. The last time two Wildcats accomplished that feat was in 2008 when Michael Beasley (44) and Bill/Henry Walker (31) combined for 75, ironically also against Baylor. That game, in Waco, wound up being a 92-86 Wildcat defeat.
K-State played its most complete game of the conference season tonight to avoid wasting the stellar effort of its star guards. While the Cats made 34 of 60 shots (56.7%), including 8-17 from deep (47.1%), they held Baylor to 28 of 70 (40%) including 3-24 (12.5%) three-point shooting from the floor. The Cats lost the rebounding battle, 41-31, but won the points-off-turnovers battle 23-17 and the fastbreak points contest 24-14. By getting around defenders and attacking the rim, they even outscored the bigger Bears lineup in the paint, 46-42.
Both Haggerty and Johnson had complete stat lines. PJ made 15-23 shot attempts and had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Nate made 11-21 shots, including 5-8 from outside, grabbed 5 rebounds, tossed 9 assists, and snared a whopping 6 steals. In light of all that, we can probably forgive his 6 turnovers.
Four Baylor players reached double-digits, led by Isaac Williams, who scored 16.
Whether the relatively comfortable win was a result of a fresh message with Coach Driscoll leading the way, a good matchup against a bad Baylor squad, or the team just finding refuge by tuning out the noise and focusing on basketball, it was nice to see the squad play with some enthusiasm and energy. This was the fun team we thought we were going to enjoy after the first few nonconference games. It’s too late to salvage the season, but it was nice to see them again.