While the snow didn’t stop Kansas State fans from attending the Sunflower Showdown at Bramlage Coliseum on January 24, the hot scoring streak from the Kansas Jayhawks in the second half did.
“Sucks to see them do it like really, really sucks to see them do it,” K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. “I haven’t experienced that before, and it is not a good feeling, not at all.”
With 7:52 left, P. J. Haggerty made a splash from the left wing, cutting the scoring gap to four, 54-50.
But that was as close as the Wildcats would get, as Kansas denied K-State the chance to get the gap within single digits.
Rolling with the flow, Kansas made an alley-oop to extend its lead to 15 points. The Wildcats would finally respond after a scoring drought of 3:40 when Nate Johnson contributed a basket, and a pair of free throws by Haggerty cut the deficit down to 74-60 with 3:41 remaining in the game.
K-State couldn’t stop the offensive flow of the Jayhawks, who would extend their lead to 20 points with two minutes remaining in the game. Kansas would seal the win, 86-62, ending the Wildcats three-game home win streak in the Sunflower Showdown.
Haggerty ended the night with 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. Andrej Kostic was hot from the arc, going 4-for-7 and recording 12 points and four rebounds on the night.
“I think at the end, they wanted it more than us, and that’s what the outcome was,” Haggerty said.
Taj Manning dropped in a three-pointer from the wing to score K-State’s first points.
Later on, Nate Johnson would make a splash as well, pushing the Wildcats to a 6-4 lead.
On three K-State possessions, Kostic came out fierce, sinking 3-for-3 at the arc, with his third three-pointer tying the game at 19-19.
Feeding off the energy at the arc, the ‘Cats went on a 6-0 run over 0:30 seconds, as Manning and David Castillo pushed K-State to a lead of two with 5:54 remaining.
Having six lead changes throughout the first half, both teams struggled to go on consistent offensive runs. The Jayhawks had a scoring drought of 2:37 towards the end of the first half, while the Wildcats also had a difficult time making field goals, going 4:45 before Dorin Buca made a tip-in.
Kansas didn’t back down despite its scoring drought, leading 37-35 at halftime.
With 14:55 left in the second half, the Jayhawks went to the stripe after a technical foul on K-State, sinking both shots and extending their lead to 10 points.
The Wildcats found themselves in another drought, lasting 2:03, before Haggerty made a layup to cut the deficit to eight points, 49-41.
Continuing off the reignited energy, Haggerty kicked the ball out to Castillo, who hit a three-pointer from the left wing, still trailing by five.
With 8:11 remaining on the clock, officials called an offensive foul on Manning, causing an eruption from K-State fans, and chants of “Ref, you suck” to echo throughout Bramlage. After review, however, officials overturned the call and instead put the foul on the Jayhawks.
“Frustration, we just stopped playing,” Manning said. “We stopped competing as much down the stretch, and then you don’t want to let your rivals just come in your house and do stuff like that. So that’s where the frustration is at.”
K-State moves to a 10-10 overall record and 1-6 in conference play. The Wildcats’ next matchup is on the road in West Virginia at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 27.
“No, no excuses,” Tang said. “They just played harder than we did at the end.”
