Kansas State Wildcats Start Fast, Hold Off Sooners
By Stan Unruh
The Kansas State Wildcat basketball team returned to their winning form on Saturday. Bruce Weber’s guys started fast and held off Oklahoma 75-64
The Wildcats were at their very best early in this 13th win of the season.
The tough loss in Lawrence was a distant memory for most.
I thought it was funny when the officials called traveling on an OU player in the first minute of the game. Where was that ref on Tuesday?
On offense, the Wildcats started hot. They hit three early 3-point shots including 8 of their first 13 shots from the field.
OU coach Lon Kruger called a pair of timeouts to slow down the ‘Cats. It didn’t seem to work.
The ‘Cats also had a10-2 advantage on points off turnovers with 7:30 left in the first half.
Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade combined for 23-points in the opening half.
The team shot 53.6% from the field in the opening period and led 43-27.
The second half was scary.
While Wade and Stokes were in control in the first half, the duo did nothing through the first 12 minutes of second half.
Wade spent too much time on the bench after a 3rd foul.
The Sooners pulled to within six points a couple of times.
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With 3 minutes left in the game, OU was shooting over 65% in the second half.
Fortunately D.J. Johnson was aggressive and took control of the paint with another double digit scoring performance. The ‘Cats once again had 5 players score in double figures.
Barry Brown had14 points and hit the ‘Cats only 3 point shot in the second half. It was a big bucket to extend the lead to 61-52 to slow a Sooner run.
The ‘Cats travel to Texas Tech next. We know that all Kansas State teams have been very successful against teams from the Lone Star State over the past 6 months. Let’s see if Bruce Weber’s guys can continue the trend on Tuesday.