Kansas State men’s basketball fell 84-74 at Allen Fieldhouse in the first edition of the 2025 Sunflower Showdown on Saturday, failing to mount a comeback despite battling back from an early 14-0 hole against rival Kansas. 

K-State, which dropped to 7-10, 1-5 Big 12, worked Kansas’ lead down to six points two separate times with under four minutes to go but didn’t draw any closer. Despite the loss, the team felt there was improvement and something to build on in the future. 

“I saw guys moving forward the whole time, and so I like what I saw. I didn’t like the results. I haven’t liked the results (in the last five games). We have to keep getting better to get where we want to go,” head coach Jerome Tang said to K-State Athletics.

A sizeable portion of K-State’s success came from players receiving increased minutes in true freshman point guard David Castillo and junior center Ugonna Onyenso. 

Castillo, a four-star recruit, knocked down two much-needed threes in the second half and ended the game with K-State’s highest plus-minus margin on the court at +15, meaning K-State outscored Kansas by 15 when the true freshman played.

“I think the last couple games, he [Castillo] hasn’t allowed whether the ball went in the hole or not to affect his energy and effort and then his focus. He’s growing past that, and then he’s just getting more comfortable,” Tang said.

Onyenso was a perfect 4-4 from the field including an and-one finish. Onyenso, standing at 7-foot, was needed to match up with the KU’s 7-footers in Hunter Dickinson and Flory Bidunga. 

K-State tied the low turnover mark of the Tang era with five, helping keep as many possessions as possible in a tough environment. However, rebounding remained a problem as KU had 12 offensive rebounds and outrebounded K-State 35-25.

Three Wildcats scored in double figures led by transfer Coleman Hawkins’ points/assists double-double of 15 points and a career-high-tying 10 assists to go with seven rebounds across all 40 minutes.

It was his ninth career double-double, including his third at K-State, and his second double-double of points and assists. He is the first Wildcat player to post a points/assists double-double at Allen Fieldhouse.

Hawkins was joined in double figures by fellow seniors David N’Guessan (13 points) and Max Jones (11 points). McDaniel and Onyenso each finished with 9 points, while Castillo added six points on a pair of free throws to go with 2 steals in a season-high 23 minutes.

KU saw big-time performances from its big three of Dickinson, Zeke Mayo and Dajuan Harris. Dickinson led all scorers with 25 points while Mayo was just behind with 24. Harris was efficient as well scoring 15 points and dishing out five assists. 

As Kansas started the game with a 14-0 run, things looked bleak for the ‘Cats. KU guard Zeke Mayo had made three triples and K-State head coach Jerome Tang had to use his second timeout of the game, not even five minutes in.

After the run, K-State was able to find some offense and slowly hang around and not let KU extend their lead. After the 14-0 run by KU, K-State out-scored Kansas for the entire rest of the game. 

“I think we just adjusted to the environment. You can try and prepare for it and tell people about it, but if you haven’t been here before, it stuns you,” Tang said. “We just can’t have that (kind of start) because that’s just what happens on the road.”

To get on the board, junior guard C.J. Jones hit a mid-range shot which was good for the ‘Cats to see the ball go through the basket. Still, KU continued to put the ball in the basket though and after the second media timeout, the ‘Cats still trailed 20-8. 

From then on out, the contest turned into a game of runs. K-State cut the lead down to single digits and KU would respond quickly to keep a comfortable margin. Cutting the lead was difficult as K-State started the game 0-11 from 3-point land.

K-State cut the lead to six in the first half but KU answered with a run and led 39-29 at the break. 

While K-State didn’t shoot well from three, K-State found something inside the arch as it was a very efficient 11-14 in the first half and found easy looks around the rim. 

The second half opened mirrored the first as KU had an early run, forcing Tang into a timeout early. K-State continued to fight back and slowly got the lead back to single digits, but the damage had ultimately been done. 

Still, the 10-point loss was the closest at Allen Fieldhouse since a 73-72 setback in 2018. Kansas now leads the second-longest active rivalry in Division I, 206-96, including 96-35 at home and 54-17 at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks have now won 19 straight in the series at home.

K-State continues their road trip to Baylor on Wednesday with tip-off at 8 p.m.