K-State Defeats Utah 81-78

The Kansas State Wildcats got 71 points from its starting guards to beat Utah 81-78 Tuesday night in Bramlage Coliseum.

Without the services of Abdi Bashir Jr. and Khamari McGriff, who both missed the game with injuries, the Wildcats (10-9, 1-5 Big 12) had to rely on P.J. Haggerty, David Castillo, and Nate Johnson to carry the scoring load. Their effort, along with 10 points from the supporting cast, proved just barely enough to beat the Utes (9-10, 1-5).

Castillo did his best Abdi impression early on, scoring 11 of the Cats’ first 13, canning 5 of his 7 three-point attempts, and pouring in 17 points by halftime. Johnson joined in the early fun, making 3 of 4 from deep and scoring 15 in the first period. They finished the game with 20 and 17, respectively.

The second half featured P.J. doing P.J. things, setting up defenders and getting short-range jumpers and floaters to drop. He scored 28 of his game-high 34 in the second half. The only player other than Haggerty, Castillo, or Johnson, to score after halftime was Taj Manning, who took a nice high-low pass down the lane from Johnson for an easy lay-up.

The Cats shot 31-62 (50%) from the floor, including 12-23 (52.2%) from outside the arc. They committed only 10 turnovers and scored a robust 1.209 points per possession.

Though K-State led by as many as 10 in the first half, the Wildcats could never bury the Utes because (stop me if you’ve heard this before), they gave up far too many easy shots and second-chance points. Utah exploited defensive switches and help in the lane for many layups and stick-backs. They scored 40 points in the paint.

Utah missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer to fall one shot short of 50% themselves, finishing 32-65 from the floor. They were only 8-23 (34.8%) from outside, but they kept pace by winning the second-chance battle 12-6 and earning a 14-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Wildcats could neither stop nor slow Utah’s Terrence Brown, who dropped in 33 points in 32 minutes of playing time. Two other Utes had 15 each.

For the second straight night, P.J. Haggerty was K-State’s leading rebounder with 8. As a team, the Cats were out-rebounded 34-29.

Three in the Key

After the gut-shot Saturday in Stillwater, it’s nice to win a game that came down to the wire. It would be even nicer to win a game without sweating late. As if we have the luxury of being picky.
At this point, calling for the defense to improve is futile. Let’s collectively hope the Cats can drop at least 80 in the rest of its games and see how many opponents they can keep to 79 or fewer. Dark humor or realism? You be the judge.
What cosmic curmudgeon did we offend, and how? As if the season were not disappointing enough, Bashir is lost for at least a month (word is he had surgery for a stress fracture in his foot and will miss 4-6 weeks). We don’t know about McGriff’s injury, but he has been the lone stalwart in the paint, and the lack of scoring from anyone not named P.J., David, or Nate and the lack of experienced size on the defensive end will make the task of earning more conference wins especially difficult.

NEXT UP:

No. 19 Kansas comes calling at 7:00 Saturday. The Jayhawks have played very well in easy wins against No. 2 Iowa State and Baylor. They are presently in a close contest at Colorado, a game that the absurdity of conference realignment and TV obligations dictated should tip off at 10:00 p.m. Central Time. But remember: We care about our “student-athletes.”

Coach Tang has broken out some unexpected magic for KU in Bramlage during his tenure. The genie will need to rest up for this one.

Source: Utah News