After winning their fourth consecutive road game in the Big 12 Conference since 1979, the K-State men’s basketball team will try for its fifth tonight as the team travels to play the No. 11 Missouri Tigers.
K-State (19-8, 7-5 Big 12 Conference) is coming off a 50-46 victory over the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames, Iowa on Saturday. The win was K-State’s seventh in a row over the Cyclones.
The Wildcats trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, until two bench players — Buchi Awaji and Jamar Samuels — stepped up and made plays for the Wildcats.
Awaji hit a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining in the first half to pull K-State within five points of the Cyclones. He would finish with seven points.
Samuels was solid throughout the game for K-State. He notched his first career double-double with a team-high 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
K-State trailed for most of the game until a Denis Clemente 3-pointer gave the Wildcats the lead with 8:37 left in the second half. The Wildcats would never look back from that point on.
Missouri (23-4, 10-2 Big 12) comes into Wednesday’s game on a six-game winning streak and are 16-0 this season at home. The Tigers have won games over Texas, Nebraska and KU during this stretch. Their last loss was to the Wildcats 88-72 on Jan. 28 in Bramlage Coliseum.
“We played real well, we defended well and made every shot against them,” head coach Frank Martin said. “They’re real good. They are so unselfish, they play so hard, those are two things that I try to preach to our team.”
The Tigers are led by senior forward DeMarre Carroll, who leads the team with 17 points per game and with 6.9 rebounds per game. Senior forward Leo Lyons also averages double-digit points for Missouri at 14.3 points per game.
Missouri comes into the game tonight with the second-highest scoring offense at 82.2 points per game. As a team, the Tigers lead the Big 12 Conference with 19.15 assists per game and with 10.78 steals per game.
“They like to press a lot so we’re expecting them to be fired up and ready to go,” senior forward Darren Kent said. “We need to match their energy.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:05 p.m.