Wesley Iwundu tied a career-high with 23 points and three teammates joined him in double figures as Kansas State routed Hampton, 89-67, in the opening game of the Barclays Center Classic Saturday evening at Bramlage Coliseum.
For the second time in three games, the Wildcats used three-pointers as a critical and effective portion of their offense, making 12 of 23 attempts.
In stark contrast to the first two games of the season, however, K-State opened the game red-hot from the floor.
“We’ve shown we have a number of guys who can shoot,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “I hope it continues. We need more and more consistency on both ends of the court.”
K-State shot 61 percent from the floor in the first half and took a 46-36 lead to the break.
But to Hampton’s credit, the Pirates weren’t exactly ice-cold, and used three pointers of their own to keep the game competitive into the second half. They made 10 of 18 three-pointers, including two from Jermaine Marrow, who scored a team-high 15 points.
K-State (3-0) put the game away with a 13-0 run in the second half, which included ten points by Iwundu alone.
“He can do so many things on the court,” Weber said. “That’s what makes him so tough to defend and deal with.”
The Wildcats’ most significant struggle in the game came at the free throw line, where they were 21 of 38. Hampton committed 27 fouls in the contest.
“It was frustrating to miss that many free throws,” Iwundu said. “We definitely need to get back in the gym and work on that.”
Barry Brown scored 16 points for K-State, while Xavier Sneed and Kamau Stokes added 15 and 13, respectively.
After a slow start to the season, Dean Wade had a better showing. He scored eight points while also contributing a team-high eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Weber said his team’s defensive performance wasn’t up to his standards.
“That’s a good team, they’ve been to two straight NCAA tournaments,” Weber said. “But I don’t think we defended at the level we needed to. They ran some stuff on us, especially early, and gained some confidence.”
K-State faces Robert Morris on Tuesday before heading to Brooklyn, N.Y. for this weekend’s tournament at the Barclays Center.
