KANSAS CITY — K-State survived a closing-minute run from Nebraska on Saturday evening at T-Mobile Center to beat Nebraska 71-56.
Each team experienced a slow, sloppy start on the offensive end. Nebraska started the game just 1-for-6 from the field. K-State also struggled to gain momentum early despite Nebraska providing them plenty of chances. Keyontae Johnson had a pair of turnovers in the first few minutes.
Each team traded missed buckets for the next couple of minutes until Markquis Nowell drilled a 3-pointer to put the Wildcats ahead 12-14 with 14:06 left in the first half. But Nebraska responded with a pair of buckets, including two shots by Wilhelm Breidenbach to make the score 12-11, K-State.
K-State struggled to find scoring momentum on their next couple of possessions until Cam Carter buried a 3-pointer from Nowell to put K-State ahead 17-13.
In the final five minutes of the first half, though, K-State started to open their lead a bit, closing the final 4:44 of the first half with a 12-5 run, which included a pair of dunks for Johnson, and one of them was a half-court length alley-oop pass from Nowell. The first half ended with another alley-oop from Nowell, but this time David N’Guessan slammed it home right at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 39-26 halftime lead.
The Wildcats carried much of their momentum from the first half into the second half. The WIlecdats were able to score on four straight possessions to start the second half, which helped them take a 15-point lead with more than 17 minutes left in the contest.
From that point, Nebraska struggled to bite into K-State’s lead with the Wildcats not allowing Nebraska to get the Wildcat lead under 10 points for most the next 13 minutes. Until the Cornhuskers went on a run to make it a 59-50 game after Emmanuel Bandoumel converted on a jumper.
But the Cornhuskers were able to go their nine-point run while K-State was in the midst of a scoring drought that lastest more than five minutes. But the Wildcats ended that drought after a Jerome Tang timeout with Nae’Qwan Tomlin hitting a corner 3-pointer to put K-State up 12 with just under 3:30 left in the game. It was Tomlin’s second 3-pointer of the game.
The Wildcats then closed out a final couple of minutes without further threat from the Cornhuskers to earn a ____-_____ win and improve their record to 10-1, which is the program’s best start since the 2011-12 season.
STAR OF THE GAME
The Florida transfer finished Saturday evening’s game with an efficient 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. But Johnson also experienced one of his best rebounding games of the season with a team-high 11 rebounds.
Despite his two early turnovers, Johnson helped facilitate the Wildcats’ offense in the final 10 minutes of the first half with a couple of assists, which helped K-State take a 13-point lead into halftime.
UP NEXT
K-State plays its final nonconference game of the calendar year against Radford on Wednesday at 1:30.
