A winning weekend for the Wildcats

Basketball

The Kansas State men’s basketball team finally ended up on the correct side of the scoreline, beating Iowa State 79-63 to snap a 10-game losing streak and just barely guarantee a winning season at home (9-7) for the 74th consecutive season.

It was Senior Day, so naturally, it was a senior who contributed the fireworks. Xavier Sneed had a career day with 31 points, including 26 in the first half. Another senior, Pierson McAtee, got his first career start and promptly set new career highs for points, rebounds, and minutes played.

As Luke Sobba notes in his recap, had the Wildcats played like this on offense, much of the season would have gone differently. We’re left instead with a few highlight moments from a deeply frustrating campaign. One game to go, and then the Big 12 Tournament before this particular nightmare season is offically in the books.

Speaking of Sneed and highlights, there’s also this:

The women’s team, not to be outdone by their brethren, also earned a big win on Senior Day, beating Kansas 83-63 to win the Sunflower Showdown. This was the last regular season game for this squad, and Kansas State’s 76th win in the series.

Senior Peyton Williams, who was also just named a second team CoSIDA Academic All-American, had a game-high 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and is now ninth on the all-time scoring list. She also had six assists and pulled down seven rebounds.

And yes, Ayoka Lee managed another double-double (her 19th) with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

The Wildcats will next be in action at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament as the fifth seed. They take on Iowa State on Friday at 11 AM in Kansas City.

Baseball

The BatCats were also winners this weekend, scoring a 6-1 victory over Stanford to clinch the series 3-1 over the Cardinal. This is Kansas State’s first series win over a Pac-12 school since 2001, and the first road series win against that conference in program history. The BatCats have now won six of their last seven games.

Starter Jordan Wicks pitched seven strong innings, giving up just one run in the process, and Dylan Phillips had a two-run homer to lift the BatCats to victory in the game and the series.

On Saturday, the Wildcats had dropped the first game of the series 7-5 but rallied in the second contest of the doubleheader, winning 11-1, thanks to a five RBI effort from Terrence Spurlin. Kansas State had opened the series with a 6-1 win on Friday.

The BatCats are back at Tointon Family Stadium on Tuesday for a two-game series against South Dakota.

Rowing

Kansas State began its spring campaign with two wins at the Sac State Duel in Sacramento over the weekend.

The first victory of the day came in the 3v8+ race with the rowers finishing the race at 7:06.74. Later, the 1v4+ squad of won Kansas State’s second race with a time of 7:36.4.

The rowers are back in action April 3 at the Sunshine Invitational in Sarasota.