Wildcats win at Baylor; extend streak

Basketball

Are you as relieved as I am? At several points in yesterday’s Kansas State basketball game against Baylor, the Wildcats seemed unprepared for the lofty spot they occupied. But a strong final 10 minutes from Kansas State provided a 70-63 road win over Baylor. This extends the Wildcats Big 12 streak to eight, the most since the team won 11 in a row way back in 1974.

As Luke Sobba notes, the Wildcats ultimately wore down the Bears with physical play and greater experience. A stellar game from Kamau Stokes and another eye-popping play (this time an assist) from Cartier Diarra made all the difference.

Stokes led all players with 20 points, and Barry Brown (13), Dean Wade (12), and Diarra (10) joined him in double figures.

Up next, the Wildcats will attempt to exact revenge from a Texas team they lost to earlier this season. Win out and Kansas State’s chance at winning the Big 12 becomes nearly unassailable.

The women’s basketball team takes the court later today at Oklahoma for the second of a two-game road stand. The Wildcats will look to add to the winning ways they discovered against Kansas in the last game and sweep the Sooners in 2019. Tip off is scheduled for 2 PM, and the game will air on FOXSports Oklahoma.

Track

The Kansas State track teams finished up competition at the Texas Tech Shootout. The results were a mixed bag, with some key victories and personal bests, but also some disappointment. As Cliff Rovelto noted afterwards, some performances raised some questions, but mostly issues that can be worked on and corrected.

The big winner this weekend was Kansas State distance runner Kassidy Johnson. On Friday, she won the 800m event and then followed that up with a victory in the women’s mile on Saturday. She was the only athlete from any school to win two events at the Shootout.

Joining Johnson in the winner’s circle for Kansas State was Shardia Lawrence who capped off a great performance last week in Lincoln with a win in the women’s triple jump in Lubbock. Meanwhile, Helene Ingvaldsen continued her usual winning ways in the women’s weight throw.

On the men’s side, the weekend’s best performances came from Brett Neelly in the shot put, who finished third with a mark of 19.71m, just 1.44m off the winning mark. In the high jump, Tejaswin Shankar also finished third with a leap of 2.17m, well off the 2.28m mark he hit at the same event last year. Nevertheless, Shankar was the highest collegiate finisher in the field.

Next, the teams will return to Manhattan for the Steve Miller Open on February 16th.