As the Kansas State men’s basketball team traveled to Kansas City, Missouri, for Big 12 Tournament play, the Wildcats came in as the No. 15 seed, competing against No. 10 BYU. During their last encounter on Jan. 3, the Cougars defeated the ‘Cats 83-73 in a physical battle. This time around, the stakes were higher as both teams were competing to move on to the second round. BYU would find themselves on top once again in a 105-91 win, moving them to the next round of the tournament.
K-State looked to have an edge in the first half, as the team shot 62.1%, going 18-for-29 on field goals, compared to BYU’s 56.8%, going 21-for-37.
After the Cougars got it started with a 4-0 run, the Wildcats kicked into gear and put up a 7-0 run. Nate Johnson would hit four three-pointers across eight minutes of play. At the 12:20 mark, Johnson made his fourth three-pointer to tie the game at 18-18 and snap a BYU scoring streak of eight points.
The Wildcats would continue their work, cutting deficits and tying the game. After a Cougar three-pointer to extend their lead to 10 points, P.J. Haggerty went on an 8-0 run along with C.J. Jones tallying a three-pointer to put K-State up 37-36 with 5:22 remaining in the first half.
The combo of Jones and Haggerty proved to be successful again as they both made a pair of fastbreak layups, which extended the lead to six points. BYU, however, would go to work right before the break, making seven points in 47 seconds. Going into halftime, the Cougars would lead 50-49 after a 7-0 run, ending with two dunks by AJ Dybantsa.
Haggerty and Johnson were the leaders for the night. At the break, Haggerty and Johnson had a combined 32 points during the first 20 minutes of play. By the end of the night, Haggerty accumulated 27 points, five rebounds and two assists. Johnson scored 19 points, had three rebounds and three assists.
Coming back from halftime, K-State trailed by single digits until the 16:10 mark when Dybantsa connected on a pair of jump shots, which pushed the Cougars’ lead to 68-57.
Several Wildcat runs allowed the purple and white uniforms to stay in the game, but they slowly fell behind as the second half clock ticked down.
Haggerty found himself at the stripe throughout the night, shooting 9-for-11. The junior guard knocked down one set of free throws at the 13:25 mark, with Taj Manning adding a bucket as well to make a 4-0 run.
The Wildcats would trail by five points, 76-71, after Haggerty sank another pair of free throws and Andrej Kostic contributed a layup.
With K-State’s effort of closing the gap within five, that’s as close as BYU would allow before going on their biggest run of the game. With 8:23 remaining, the Cougars found consistency, going on a 12-0 scoring run, extending their lead to 19 points.
David Castillo would make a layup, ending BYU’s extensive run and putting the Wildcats within 17, 92-75.
As the Cougars’ offense was meshing, they attacked with a 6-0 run, taking their largest lead of the night with 23 points. Even with three splashed threes — all from Marcus Johnson — under the 2:12 mark, the clock was not on K-State’s side as they tried to defuse the deficit.
Taking the win 105-91, BYU ended K-State’s season and now moves on to the second round of the Big 12 Tournament. The Wildcats end the year 12-20 overall and 3-15 in conference play. K-State’s 12 wins are the fewest since winning nine in 2020-21.
While it was a disappointing night for K-State players and fans, the Wildcats are looking to fill the head coach position to create a new culture and bring success back to the purple and white next season.
