Senior forward David N’Guessan carded 18 points and 10 rebounds, recording his sixth double-double of the season to lead Kansas State men’s basketball to a close 54-49 victory at Cincinnati on Wednesday..
N’Guessan, the Wildcats’ field goal percentage leader, scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and shot a perfect 6-6 from the floor.
Returning for the Wildcats was forward Coleman Hawkins, who played 34 minutes while not fully healthy. Hawkins still was efficient, tallying nine points, eight rebounds and three assists.
“Well, Coleman wanted to play. And from the time he had the injury, he said, “I am coming back and I’m going to play,” head coach Jerome Tang said to K-State Athletics. “When you have a talented young man like that who sees the floor, he’s basically our second point guard on the floor, and it just makes everything move a little bit easier for you.”
In the first half, both teams struggled to make shots or find any offensive consistency. The Wildcats made just four of their first 17 shot attempts in the first half, including making only one of their first 10 3-pointers. In the first half, the ‘Cats had a five-minute scoring drought as well.
“We figured out a way. I mean, we’ve been down,” Tang said. “We just tell ourselves, we’ve been here before. Let’s just keep grinding. Tough people do the next right thing. I got a bunch of tough guys and did the next right thing.”
Defensively, the Wildcats held the Bearcats to 11-26 from the field and 1-9 from three in the first half. At the break, Cincinnati held the slight 25-22 in a defensive slugfest.
To open the second half, Cincinnati went on a small run to extend its lead up to seven at 35-28. However, the Wildcats scored the next eight points to take the lead and force a Cincinnati timeout.
All eight points on the run came from different players, and all eight came at the rim, something the Wildcats preached once they realized shots weren’t falling.
“You know, in the first half, we just weren’t making shots, and we were settling for too many threes. One of the things we want to have as our identity is the ability to get to the paint and make plays from the paint,” Tang said.
Cincinnati took the lead back shortly after, but K-State would go on an 8-3 run and take the lead. After that, K-State never trailed.
With 2:57 to go, the Cats held a 52-47 lead. In the last three minutes, both teams played stellar defense, and each team only scored two more points. Junior Brendan Hausen carded K-State’s couple of points, stepping to the line with 22 seconds left and making two free throws to extend the lead out to five.
Scoring in double figures for the Wildcats beyond N’Guessan was guard Dug McDaniel, as he scored 13 points and was a big part of K-State’s runs in the second half.
While K-State didn’t shoot the ball well, Tang said they played with a lot of heart and passion on both ends of the floor, making them a tough team to beat.
“I don’t want to be the most passionate person on the floor, the most passionate person in the gym, and it is fun to have a guy and multiple guys who are as passionate about this game and represent Kansas State as I am,” Tang said.
K-State has its senior night against Iowa State on Saturday. Tip-off for the contest is at 12:30 p.m. and will take place on CBS.
