The Kansas State Wildcats beat the Robert Morris Colonials 61-40 Tuesday night to move to 4-0 this season ahead of a trip to Brooklyn, New York in the Barclays Center Classic.
Sophomore forward Dean Wade had 13 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Barry Brown also made it double-figures with 12 points and senior forward D.J. Johnson has 12 points with eight rebounds.
It was the 13th time holding an opponent under 50 points in the last five seasons.
That didn’t mean it was a great game for the Wildcats.
Offense
The Wildcats started fast, opening the game with a 10-0 run. It lasted only 1:25, but in that brief time, Wade scored seven points between two layups and a 3-pointer. Brown also hit a 3-pointer during the run.
It was hardly a clean half though. The Wildcats turned the ball over 11 times, only four more than the Colonials in the same time. They also only hit 7-15 from the free-throw line.
K-State came out sluggish in the second half but began a 14-0 run with 16:21 left that spanned nearly six and a half minutes to go up 52-23.
From there, the teams exchanged baskets throughout the remainder of the game. The Wildcats and Colonials committed the same number of turnovers at nine each.
Ultimately, however, K-State had built up too big of a lead for Robert Morris to build up any significant comeback. The Wildcats shot 47 percent in the game, while the Colonials only shot 22 percent.
Defense
The Wildcats were strong on the defensive boards early, out-rebounding the Colonials 20 to 13 in the first half. Defensively, they out-rebounded the Colonials 13-7.
The Wildcats gave up that rebounding advantage in the first eight minutes of the second half though. During that span, the Wildcats were out-rebounded 15-7 and looked particularly bad on the defensive boards, allowing the Colonials to get seven straight rebounds on the same possession before finally reclaiming the ball.
The Colonials out-rebounded the Wildcats 27-18 in the second half, and 40-38 in the game.
Quote of the night
“I really thought if we got stops and turnovers like we did, we could get transition (points) on them. For some reason we just didn’t push it, we didn’t run the ball, we weren’t crisp and hopefully we can be better in these next couple of games coming up.”
-K-State head coach Bruce Weber
Up Next
The Wildcats head to Brooklyn, New York to take on the Boston College Eagles at 6 p.m. Friday. Their next home game is against University of Wisconsin-Green Bay at 7 p.m. Nov.30 in Bramlage Coliseum.
