SE: K-State Finds Second Half Fight in Win Over Kansas to Stay on Top of Big 12
Feb 06, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
There were two different speeches during halftime of K-State's 74-67 victory against 13/14 Kansas on Tuesday night.
There was the one K-State football coach Chris Klieman gave to the 12,000-plus fans in attendance, electrifying Bramlage Coliseum before the final 20 minutes. Then there was the one going on inside K-State's locker room, where the Wildcat basketball coaches challenged their team after a hot start to the game turned into a three-point halftime deficit.
"We said, 'We're down three at home, didn't play well, and you're against your rival. For 20 minutes, what are you going to do? Stand up and fight and go at them and attack? Or are you going to lay down?'" K-State head coach Bruce Weber said. "I think it was a great message."
The message was received.
K-State outscored Kansas by 10 in the second half to stay atop the Big 12 standings and send K-State to its seventh-straight Big 12 win, the program's longest such streak since 2010.
In the process, the Wildcats overcame a seven-plus minute scoring drought in the first half, missed a painful amount of free throws and had its fair share of turnovers. None of it mattered, however, when the buzzer sounded milliseconds before a thunderous dunk from Barry Brown Jr.
"It's just a big time win for us," Brown said. "It was a bucket list game for us. It was a game that we knew we really wanted to win, not just us seniors, but for our fans, ourselves and all the hard work we put in. It's a great feeling right now."
That feeling started to change in the locker room.
The Wildcats, after nearly a nine-plus minute stretch without a field goal late in the first half, looked much more confident in the second. They shot 48 percent from the field and 45 percent from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes.
The difference? K-State senior Dean Wade pointed to the halftime speech.
"I think it was our coaches coming and telling us we're in a fight right now, we have to grind every possession, fight, don't give up anything, not one possession, you just have to fight everything," Wade said. "It's a game of inches, and we can't give up any inches. We just came out and battled, grinded, fought, whatever you want to say, and came out on top.
"Every possession we were battling on the defensive end, offensive end. It was a dogfight tonight."
K-State got 41 of its 44 second-half points from Cartier Diarra, Xavier Sneed, Brown and Wade.
Diarra scored all 11 of his points in the final 20 minutes, highlighted by a SportsCenter-worthy windmill dunk. It came off one of Kansas' 23 turnovers in the game, which K-State turned into 22 points. Diarra hit 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, along with three assists and two steals.
"He was big time," Brown said. "He kind of did a little bit of everything that we needed, especially in that second half."
Brown and Wade scored K-State's first 14 points of the second half to build a six-point lead. The two combined for 30 points, 10 assists and 13 rebounds for the game.
"I kind of challenged the seniors, 'What are you doing? Go attack. Go make plays. Play the game the right way.' I thought we did a better job in the second half," Weber said. "We got the lead and then we said, 'It's a fight, it's a battle. You have to continue to stand up and battle and attack them."
Sneed added half of his 14-point total in the final half, including a momentum-swinging corner 3-pointer. It sparked a crucial 7-0 run in the game's final two minutes to end K-State's eight-game skid in its rivalry with the Jayhawks and cross off another to-do item for its three seniors.
"This is our first time beating KU since we've been here, so it definitely means a lot for us, and to stay in first in the Big 12, that really means a lot," senior point guard Kamau Stokes, who scored the game's first five points and finished with nine, said. "We just have to keep this momentum going and get the next one."
There were two different speeches during halftime of K-State's 74-67 victory against 13/14 Kansas on Tuesday night.
There was the one K-State football coach Chris Klieman gave to the 12,000-plus fans in attendance, electrifying Bramlage Coliseum before the final 20 minutes. Then there was the one going on inside K-State's locker room, where the Wildcat basketball coaches challenged their team after a hot start to the game turned into a three-point halftime deficit.
"We said, 'We're down three at home, didn't play well, and you're against your rival. For 20 minutes, what are you going to do? Stand up and fight and go at them and attack? Or are you going to lay down?'" K-State head coach Bruce Weber said. "I think it was a great message."
The message was received.
K-State outscored Kansas by 10 in the second half to stay atop the Big 12 standings and send K-State to its seventh-straight Big 12 win, the program's longest such streak since 2010.
In the process, the Wildcats overcame a seven-plus minute scoring drought in the first half, missed a painful amount of free throws and had its fair share of turnovers. None of it mattered, however, when the buzzer sounded milliseconds before a thunderous dunk from Barry Brown Jr.
"It's just a big time win for us," Brown said. "It was a bucket list game for us. It was a game that we knew we really wanted to win, not just us seniors, but for our fans, ourselves and all the hard work we put in. It's a great feeling right now."
That feeling started to change in the locker room.
The Wildcats, after nearly a nine-plus minute stretch without a field goal late in the first half, looked much more confident in the second. They shot 48 percent from the field and 45 percent from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes.
The difference? K-State senior Dean Wade pointed to the halftime speech.
"I think it was our coaches coming and telling us we're in a fight right now, we have to grind every possession, fight, don't give up anything, not one possession, you just have to fight everything," Wade said. "It's a game of inches, and we can't give up any inches. We just came out and battled, grinded, fought, whatever you want to say, and came out on top.
"Every possession we were battling on the defensive end, offensive end. It was a dogfight tonight."
K-State got 41 of its 44 second-half points from Cartier Diarra, Xavier Sneed, Brown and Wade.
Diarra scored all 11 of his points in the final 20 minutes, highlighted by a SportsCenter-worthy windmill dunk. It came off one of Kansas' 23 turnovers in the game, which K-State turned into 22 points. Diarra hit 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, along with three assists and two steals.
"He was big time," Brown said. "He kind of did a little bit of everything that we needed, especially in that second half."
Brown and Wade scored K-State's first 14 points of the second half to build a six-point lead. The two combined for 30 points, 10 assists and 13 rebounds for the game.
"I kind of challenged the seniors, 'What are you doing? Go attack. Go make plays. Play the game the right way.' I thought we did a better job in the second half," Weber said. "We got the lead and then we said, 'It's a fight, it's a battle. You have to continue to stand up and battle and attack them."
Sneed added half of his 14-point total in the final half, including a momentum-swinging corner 3-pointer. It sparked a crucial 7-0 run in the game's final two minutes to end K-State's eight-game skid in its rivalry with the Jayhawks and cross off another to-do item for its three seniors.
"This is our first time beating KU since we've been here, so it definitely means a lot for us, and to stay in first in the Big 12, that really means a lot," senior point guard Kamau Stokes, who scored the game's first five points and finished with nine, said. "We just have to keep this momentum going and get the next one."
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