Wildcat fans got their first glimpse of the K-State men’s basketball team this weekend as they opened the season with two home games. K-State won both games by an average of 29 points.
On Friday night the Florida A&M Rattlers came to Bramlage Coliseum and ran into a Wildcat team dressed in lavender. The Wildcats unveiled their fourth alternative uniforms that are a replica from the Jack Hartman era in the mid 1970s.
K-State came out, fired up and kept the pressure on as they jumped out to a 30-4 lead in the first half.
“K-State came out and took the fight to us,” Florida A&M head coach Eugene Harris said.
The defensive pressure the Wildcats applied to the Rattlers caused them to shoot 33 percent from the field and just 15 percent from behind the 3-point line. Leading the way offensively for K-State was Denis Clemente with 19 points and Jacob Pullen with 17 points as K-State beat FAMU 96-57.
“We still have some growing to do,” head coach Frank Martin said. “And we need to get our team to play up to its capabilities.”
The second game of the weekend for the Wildcats was against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks on Sunday.
Defensive pressure by the Wildcats kept the Redhawks out of their offensive rhythm in the first half as K-State jumped out to a 23-6 lead and ended the half up 39-16.
“During a game like that we just try to stay focused and stick to our principals,” senior forward, Darren Kent said. “It allowed us to work on our offense.”
But the second half was a different story for the Wildcats.
“We didn’t play well at all in the second half,” Kent said. “We played sloppy on offense, and we got lazy and didn’t block out on defense.”
Coach Martin did not like what he saw – Southeast Missouri State outscored the Wildcats 15-7 at the beginning of the half, which Martin responded by subbing out all five starters.
“We played selfish[ly] and lathargic[ally],” Martin said. “Those problems will be corrected in practice.”
The run by the Redhawks was stopped by back to back scores by Darren Kent.
Sophomore guard Fred Brown led all Wildcats in scoring with 21 points. Jamar Samuels, Darren Kent and Dominique Sutton were the other Wildcats to score in double digits in the 88-68 Wildcat victory on Sunday.
The next game for the K-State men’s basketball team will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Bramlage Coliseum against Emporia State University.