MANHATTAN, Kan. — That looked familiar.
Anyone who watched the Kansas State men’s basketball team start conference play with a bang was reminded of just how good the Wildcats can play during a 75-65 victory over the Baylor Bears on Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum.
The No. 9 Bears were no match for the No. 14 Wildcats, despite leading at halftime and entering the day with more to play for in the Big 12 championship race than the Wildcats. K-State got back to looking like one of the best teams in the nation during the second half and pulled away for a convincing victory thanks to 25 points from Keyontae Johnson, 11 points from Cam Carter and a double-double (14 points and 10 assists) from Markquis Nowell.
K-State (21-7, 9-6 Big 12) played excellent defense against Baylor (20-8, 9-6 Big 12) all evening and swept its regular-season series against the Bears.
Wildcats coach Jerome Tang celebrated the victory by jumping on a scorer’s table and then zooming into the crowd to dance with fans.
He was understandably excited. This was the best the Wildcats have looked in a while.
They will look to continue their winning ways in their next game, on Saturday at Oklahoma State.
Until then, here are some thoughts on Tuesdays’ action:
Big game from Keyontae Johnson
It had been a while since Keyontae Johnson treated K-State basketball fans with a jaw-dropping performance on offense.
But the Florida transfer came through with an impressive scoring display on Tuesday.
Johnson scored 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting to lift his team to victory. It was his finest scoring game since the beginning of Big 12 play when both he and Markquis Nowell were shooting the cover off the ball.
Johnson did most of his damage on Tuesday with mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket, but he also knocked down a pair of 3-pointers when he was open on the perimeter.
Perhaps his best highlight of the evening came on a breakaway dunk early in the first half when he got behind the defense for a tomahawk slam that gave the Wildcats a 47-43 lead.
All of his buckets came as excellent news for the home team. K-State is at its best when its top all-around player gets in the zone. This was a good reminder of that and what he is capable of when he gets cooking on offense.
The Wildcats won this game inside
K-State scored how many points in the paint?
Many fans probably found themselves asking that question after this game went final, only they said it with an exclamation point instead of a question mark.
The Wildcats attacked the rim with reckless abandon against the Bears and walked away with a whopping 42 points in the paint. That was 26 more than Baylor, by the way.
Tang has preached paint touches all season, but they have been hard to come by at times without a traditional five man to feed underneath the basket. Interestingly, the Wildcats exploded for inside points against Baylor with a small starting lineup that featured an extra guard in Desi Sills instead of forward David N’Guessan.
Size didn’t matter. Tang was smart enough to realize that the Bears have struggled to protect the rim all season and he exploited that weakness.
Welcome back, Cam Carter
OK, so Kansas State sophomore guard Cam Carter technically never left. But he had been stuck in a month-long slump for the Wildcats.
Carter had scored a total of 30 points in his past seven games for an average of 4.3 points per night. He was held scoreless in two of those games, which raised questions about whether the Wildcats might be better off with a different guard in the starting lineup.
He quieted those doubters on Tuesday when he scored 10 points and provided a major offensive spark for K-State.
Much like Johnson, his most exciting play of the night came on a breakaway dunk in the second half. Only his was more powerful. On the play, Carter slipped past the defense after a scramble for a loose ball and found enough space to throw down a ferocious dunk with his right hand.
He picked a good night to find his offensive rhythm, as point guard Nowell was limited to 14 points while he spent most of the night as a distributor, finishing with 10 assists and zero turnovers.
This was a performance Carter can build on moving forward. The Wildcats are much more versatile when he gives them an extra scoring option.
