The Kansas State men’s basketball team got a monstrous win for its résumé Wednesday after defeating the University of Texas 67-64 on the road.
“That was a really good win for us tonight,” head coach Bruce Weber said after the game. “I was disappointed that we lost on Saturday against West Virginia, but I was even less satisfied with their effort. We played much better tonight and our effort was pretty good too.”
All five Wildcat starters ended in double digits in scoring, led by junior Dean Wade with 16 points. Freshman Cartier Diarra had 13, juniors Barry Brown and Xavier Sneed both had 11 and sophomore Makol Mawien had 10.
K-State jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Texas scored 14 out of the next 17 and led the Wildcats 14-7 at the first TV timeout.
The first half was very even with both teams tied at 34 and hitting four three-pointers each.
Out of the halftime break, K-State scored six of the first eight points and led 40-36.
The turning point in the game was when Texas led 54-50 and K-State went on a 9-0 run, then leading by five with four minutes left in the game.
The Longhorns got back into the game as they trailed 61-59, but K-State extended the lead to 64-59 after Sneed hit a three-point basket.
Both teams exchanged two-pointers, and then Texas hit a three to trail 66-64 with just 44 seconds to play.
After a Texas foul with 15 seconds left, Brown missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Longhorns got the rebound and turned it over before fouling Wade to send him to the charity strip.
Wade made the first free throw, but missed the second to give the Wildcats a 67-64 lead with three seconds to play.
Texas missed a potentially tying three-point basket to give K-State the win over the Longhorns.
K-State is now 17-7 overall and 6-5 in Big 12 play, which puts the team in a tie for fourth with Oklahoma. The Longhorns are now 15-9 and 5-6 in conference play.
Next up for K-State, the team will host the seventh ranked team in the country, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Bramlage Coliseum.
“It gets a lot easier on Saturday, doesn’t it?” Weber said jokingly after the game. “We need another good performance, but I think our guys are up for the challenge.”
