Kansas State Drops Game to Iowa State on the Road 80-76

Kansas State refused to go away, but also refused to take the lead against Iowa State, eventually running out of time and falling to the Cyclones 80-76.

The first half was the Cam Carter show for the Wildcats. The sophomore guard opened the scoring with a jumper at the 19:04 mark of the first half, and went on to score 13 points in the half. It wasn’t a terrible half for the Wildcats, but it felt like they were both leaving points on the floor and giving the Cyclones easy baskets off turnovers.

This was also a game of droughts for Kansas State on offense. Cam Carter made a layup at the 14:46 mark to give the Wildcats a 14-10 lead. They wouldn’t score again until a Nae’Qwan Tomlin dunk with 9:43 left in the half gave them 16. In the meantime, Iowa State put up 9 points, giving the Cyclones a 19-16 lead after the dunk. From that point, the game settled into a rhythm. Neither team could separate. At one point, Iowa State built a 5 point lead, only to see it erased by erased by the ‘Cats. A Markquis Nowell layup with 45 seconds remaining pushed Kansas State into the lead, 33-31, heading into the locker room.

The teams came out of the locker room and fell into the same back and forth contest from the 1st half. Then after scoring 7 points in the first 4 minutes of the half, Kansas State would score 6 points in the next 6 minutes, marked by turnovers and miss free throws. A Gabe Kalscheur 3 with 11:43 remaining gave Iowa State a 10 point lead at 52-42. It looked like the Wildcats were done, but every time it felt like the game was slipping away, Ish Massoud nailed a 3 to bring the team back.

A Knowles layup with 5:51 remaining closed the Iowa State lead to 59-60, and it looked like the Cardiac Cats would pull another one out of the fire, but they couldn’t figure out a way to take the lead. Full credit to Iowa State, they hit crucial shots. Center Osun Osunniyi, in particular, tortured Kansas State late in the game. The big man avoided foul trouble early, and came through late, scoring 10 of Iowa State’s last 20 points.

Speaking of 20 points, that’s how Iowa State won the game. Their normally stuffy offense was unstoppable in the last 5:51. Kansas State had multiple opportunities to get a stop, but couldn’t find a way to keep the Cyclones off the scoreboard long enough to take a lead. The Wildcats scored 17 points in the final 5:51 with Knowell and Keyontae taking over the last 2 minutes on offense, pouring in 10 combined points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the poor defense.

The Wildcats dropped their 2nd Big12 game of the season 80-76.

Stat of the Game

Kansas State

14 Turnovers

17/25 from the line (68%) - Season average 74%

Iowa State

28 Rebounds (including 9 offensive rebounds) - Out-rebounded K-State by 8

19/25 from the line (76%) - Season average 67%