Kansas State University Athletics
Friday, November 22
St. Thomas, U.S.V.I
7 p.m. CT
Kansas State University
4-1,0-0Big 12
83
vs
71
George Washington
4-1,0-0Atlantic 10
1
2
F
George Washington
27
44
71
Kansas St.
46
37
83
Five Wildcats Score in Double Figures in 83-71 win over GW
Nov 22, 2024 | Men's Basketball
Senior David N'Guessan led the way with a near double-double of 17 points and 9 rebounds.
ST. THOMAS, U.S.V.I. – Senior David N'Guessan paced five Wildcats in double figures with a near double-double, as Kansas State jumped out to a big lead en route to posting an 83-71 win over George Washington on day one of the 25th annual Paradise Jam on Friday night before 2,125 fans at the Elridge Wilburn Blake Sports and Fitness Center.
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K-State (4-1) will now take on Liberty (5-1) in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam on Sunday at 7 p.m., CT. The Flames knocked off Louisiana, 89-69, in the first game of the night cap.
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N'Guessan finished a rebound short of a double-double with a team-high 17 points on 5-of-8 field goals and 7-of-10 free throws to go with a game-high tying 9 rebounds and 3 assists in 35 minutes. He has now scored in double figures in 6 consecutive games dating back to last season.
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The Wildcats, who shot better than 50 percent in each half, got contributions from across the board, as N'Guessan was joined in double figures by junior Dug McDaniel (13 points), senior Max Jones (12 points), junior Brendan Hausen (11 points) and senior Achor Achor (10 points).
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It marked the first time this season that five Wildcats scored in double figures and the first time since doing it in a win over Texas at the 2024 Big 12 Championship.
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A sixth Wildcat – senior Coleman Hawkins – narrowly missed double figures with 9 points to go with a game-tying 9 rebounds and team-highs in both steals (3) and blocks (2) in 32 minutes.
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K-State used an emphatic start to upend previously unbeaten George Washington (4-1), putting together its most complete first half of the season in jumping out to a 19-point halftime lead. Eight different players scored in the opening half, as the Wildcats connected on 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field while holding the Revolutionaries to just 25 percent (7-of-28) shooting.
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The Wildcats led by 11 points (20-9) at the second media timeout then by 18 points (34-16) after a free throw by N'Guessan with 5:36 before halftime. After the Revs closed to with 37-25 with less than 3 minutes remaining, they responded with 6 straight points to end the half, including 4 points and an assist from McDaniel to go ahead 46-27 at the break.
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GW scored 9 of the first 12 points out of halftime and made numerous attempts at a comeback, including a 10-0 run that closed the deficit to 59-55 with 10:20 to play. However, each time, K-State provided an answer, including a 3-pointer from Hawkins and a 4-point play from senior Max Jones, that pushed the lead back out to 66-57 less than a minute later.
Although the Revs got to within 7 points twice down the stretch, including 71-64 with 7:09 to play, the Wildcats ran off 6 straight points to push the lead back to double figures and maintained it the rest of the way.
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K-State finished the night shooting 51.8 percent (29-of-56) from the field, including 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from 3-point range, while posting 19 assists on 29 made field goals. The Wildcats dominated the glass for the second straight game at 42-28, including 11 offensive rebounds.
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McDaniel scored his 13 points on 5-of-11 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws to go along with a game-high 5 assists and 2 steals in 29 minutes off the bench, while Max Jones connected on 4-of-6 field goals, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, for his 12 points.
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Hausen's 11 points came on 3 made 3-pointers and 2 free throws, while Achor collected his first career double-digit scoring game as a Wildcat with 10 points on 5-of-6 field goals in just 6 minutes.
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K-State held George Washington to 36.4 percent (20-of-55) shooting for the game, including 25 percent (7-of-28) in the first half. The Revolutionaries had just 9 assists on 20 made field goals with more than a third of their points coming from the free throw line (23-of-33).
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Four players scored in double figures led by a game-high 19 points from sophomore Jacoi Hutchinson, who went 6-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range, and 4-of-4 from the line to go with a game-high 4 steals. He was joined in double figures by junior Rafael Castro (12 points), graduate Gerald Drumgoole Jr. (10 points) and redshirt freshman Christian Jones (10 points). Leading scorer Darren Buchanan Jr. (16.3 ppg.) was held to 9 points and 4 turnovers.
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With the victory, K-State will get a day off at the Paradise Jam on Saturday before playing Liberty (5-1) at 7 p.m., CT on Sunday night in the semifinals. Longwood (6-0) and McNeese (3-2) meet in the other semifinal on Sunday at 4:30 p.m., CT. The winners of the two semifinals will meet in the championship game on Monday at 7 p.m., CT. All games of the tournament can be seen on ESPN+.
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HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
On a strong performance by the offense…Â
"That's what we wanted to do. You know, in tournament play like this, everybody has hope, and our goal was to try and let's take away hope early and get them on their heels. And our guys did a great job on the game plan. You know, first of all, Coach (Jareem) Dowling did a great job, and Coach AW (Anthony Winchester) put the game plan together, and the guys came out and really executed. We were able to hold Darren Buchanan Jr., who is one heck of a basketball player, to what we did, nine points and seven rebounds to go with four turnovers was big time. I mean, we held them to 36 percent field goal percentage defense. I felt like other than our turnovers we kept them out of transition for the most part then winning the rebounding battle. They had been averaging 44 points in the paint, and we held then to 22 and had 32 ourselves. We outrebounded them 42 to 28 so the things that we need to work on, we need to keep getting better at and we got a long way to go, but I really like the way our guys approached this game."
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On Coleman Hawkins setting the tone against Darren Buchanan Jr. …
"How about that line? Nine points, nine rebounds and he's matched up against the best player (Darren Buchanan Jr.) on the other team and holds him well under his scoring average. And just his activity. He just does so many things that don't show up on the stat sheet."
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On how the player responded down the stretch after they made their big run… Â
"It's a game of runs, and they made a run, and one of the things that we've been talking about is having the maturity to sustain our run, and then to be able to fire back to punch back. And I thought after the time out, we came out, and we probably went four minutes without them scoring. We fouled too much, giving them 33 free throws. I mean 23 of their points came at the line, and we haven't been a team that fouls that much, so obviously something we need to work on."
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On the play of senior David N'Guessan…
"Well, that's a fifth-year senior, third year in the program, and he's just been Mr. Reliable. Every challenge is getting better. Really proud of him."
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On the play of junior Dug McDaniel…
"Yeah, well, you know, when things started going south, Dug didn't go south. That's maturity, that's some growth. That's something that I have been on him about. You know, everybody wants this thing to be quick like a microwave. We have got a bunch of new guys, and they have to learn each other, and they have to learn me, and I have to learn them. And there's different ways of doing that. And we love Dug, and he's a special player, a special kid. You saw him out there, like, under control, the little spurt where he got away from but then he got under control, and he was running the team, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do, and then they couldn't guard it."
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FIRST HALF
K-State got off to a strong start, jumping out to a 10-3 lead at the first media timeout behind 5 early points from junior C.J. Jones, including the game's first 3-pointer. The Wildcats increased their advantage after the timeout, pushing their lead to 20-9 after consecutive 3-pointers from freshman David Castillo and senior Max Jones at the second media timeout with 11:14 to play.
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The lead grew to 30-14 with 7:57 remaining in the half behind 4 points each from seniors Coleman Hawkins and David N'Guessan and a layup from senior Achor Achor. After free throws by junior Brendan Hausen and N'Guessan expanded the lead to 34-16, George Washington started to cut into the deficit with 6 straight points to make it 34-22 with 3:29 to play.
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A Hausen 3-pointer ended the run as the team played even until the last few minutes of the half, as junior Dug McDaniel sparked a 6-0 run with 4 points and an assist to close out the half and give the Wildcats a 46-27 lead at the half.
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K-State connected on 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field with 16 points in the paint in the opening half, as eight different players registered points. N'Guessan led the way with 9 points to go with 3 rebounds and 2 assists, while Hausen and Max Jones had 8 points.
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SECOND HALF
GW had a strong start to open the second half, as the Revolutionaries used a 7-3 run to cut the deficit to 49-34 and force a timeout by head coach Jerome Tang at the 17:29 mark. K-State responded with baskets by N'Guessan and McDaniel to push it back out to 53-36, but the Revs continued to attack, closing to within 55-45 after a 7-2 run.
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Achor provided a lift with consecutive layups to give the Wildcats a 59-47 lead at the second media time with under 12 to play. However, the Revs connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to close to within 59-53 and force another Tang timeout at the 10:31 mark.
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A turnover and layup out of the timeout got GW to within 59-55 but 5 points from Hawkins and 4 points from Max Jones helped push K-State back ahead at 68-59 at the 7:59 mark. After free throws got the Revs to within 68-61, a 7-3 run ignited by a Hausen 3-pointer extended the lead back to double figures at 75-64 and force a GW timeout with 5:51 remaining.
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The teams played nearly even the rest of the way with the Wildcats maintaining a double-digit lead.
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K-State connected on 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the field in the second half, as 7 players registered points led by McDaniel's 9 points.
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BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
TEAM NOTES
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
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How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X, Instagram and Facebook.
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K-State (4-1) will now take on Liberty (5-1) in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam on Sunday at 7 p.m., CT. The Flames knocked off Louisiana, 89-69, in the first game of the night cap.
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N'Guessan finished a rebound short of a double-double with a team-high 17 points on 5-of-8 field goals and 7-of-10 free throws to go with a game-high tying 9 rebounds and 3 assists in 35 minutes. He has now scored in double figures in 6 consecutive games dating back to last season.
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The Wildcats, who shot better than 50 percent in each half, got contributions from across the board, as N'Guessan was joined in double figures by junior Dug McDaniel (13 points), senior Max Jones (12 points), junior Brendan Hausen (11 points) and senior Achor Achor (10 points).
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It marked the first time this season that five Wildcats scored in double figures and the first time since doing it in a win over Texas at the 2024 Big 12 Championship.
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A sixth Wildcat – senior Coleman Hawkins – narrowly missed double figures with 9 points to go with a game-tying 9 rebounds and team-highs in both steals (3) and blocks (2) in 32 minutes.
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K-State used an emphatic start to upend previously unbeaten George Washington (4-1), putting together its most complete first half of the season in jumping out to a 19-point halftime lead. Eight different players scored in the opening half, as the Wildcats connected on 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field while holding the Revolutionaries to just 25 percent (7-of-28) shooting.
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The Wildcats led by 11 points (20-9) at the second media timeout then by 18 points (34-16) after a free throw by N'Guessan with 5:36 before halftime. After the Revs closed to with 37-25 with less than 3 minutes remaining, they responded with 6 straight points to end the half, including 4 points and an assist from McDaniel to go ahead 46-27 at the break.
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GW scored 9 of the first 12 points out of halftime and made numerous attempts at a comeback, including a 10-0 run that closed the deficit to 59-55 with 10:20 to play. However, each time, K-State provided an answer, including a 3-pointer from Hawkins and a 4-point play from senior Max Jones, that pushed the lead back out to 66-57 less than a minute later.
Although the Revs got to within 7 points twice down the stretch, including 71-64 with 7:09 to play, the Wildcats ran off 6 straight points to push the lead back to double figures and maintained it the rest of the way.
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K-State finished the night shooting 51.8 percent (29-of-56) from the field, including 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from 3-point range, while posting 19 assists on 29 made field goals. The Wildcats dominated the glass for the second straight game at 42-28, including 11 offensive rebounds.
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McDaniel scored his 13 points on 5-of-11 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws to go along with a game-high 5 assists and 2 steals in 29 minutes off the bench, while Max Jones connected on 4-of-6 field goals, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, for his 12 points.
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Hausen's 11 points came on 3 made 3-pointers and 2 free throws, while Achor collected his first career double-digit scoring game as a Wildcat with 10 points on 5-of-6 field goals in just 6 minutes.
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K-State held George Washington to 36.4 percent (20-of-55) shooting for the game, including 25 percent (7-of-28) in the first half. The Revolutionaries had just 9 assists on 20 made field goals with more than a third of their points coming from the free throw line (23-of-33).
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Four players scored in double figures led by a game-high 19 points from sophomore Jacoi Hutchinson, who went 6-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range, and 4-of-4 from the line to go with a game-high 4 steals. He was joined in double figures by junior Rafael Castro (12 points), graduate Gerald Drumgoole Jr. (10 points) and redshirt freshman Christian Jones (10 points). Leading scorer Darren Buchanan Jr. (16.3 ppg.) was held to 9 points and 4 turnovers.
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With the victory, K-State will get a day off at the Paradise Jam on Saturday before playing Liberty (5-1) at 7 p.m., CT on Sunday night in the semifinals. Longwood (6-0) and McNeese (3-2) meet in the other semifinal on Sunday at 4:30 p.m., CT. The winners of the two semifinals will meet in the championship game on Monday at 7 p.m., CT. All games of the tournament can be seen on ESPN+.
Â
HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
On a strong performance by the offense…Â
"That's what we wanted to do. You know, in tournament play like this, everybody has hope, and our goal was to try and let's take away hope early and get them on their heels. And our guys did a great job on the game plan. You know, first of all, Coach (Jareem) Dowling did a great job, and Coach AW (Anthony Winchester) put the game plan together, and the guys came out and really executed. We were able to hold Darren Buchanan Jr., who is one heck of a basketball player, to what we did, nine points and seven rebounds to go with four turnovers was big time. I mean, we held them to 36 percent field goal percentage defense. I felt like other than our turnovers we kept them out of transition for the most part then winning the rebounding battle. They had been averaging 44 points in the paint, and we held then to 22 and had 32 ourselves. We outrebounded them 42 to 28 so the things that we need to work on, we need to keep getting better at and we got a long way to go, but I really like the way our guys approached this game."
Â
On Coleman Hawkins setting the tone against Darren Buchanan Jr. …
"How about that line? Nine points, nine rebounds and he's matched up against the best player (Darren Buchanan Jr.) on the other team and holds him well under his scoring average. And just his activity. He just does so many things that don't show up on the stat sheet."
Â
On how the player responded down the stretch after they made their big run… Â
"It's a game of runs, and they made a run, and one of the things that we've been talking about is having the maturity to sustain our run, and then to be able to fire back to punch back. And I thought after the time out, we came out, and we probably went four minutes without them scoring. We fouled too much, giving them 33 free throws. I mean 23 of their points came at the line, and we haven't been a team that fouls that much, so obviously something we need to work on."
Â
On the play of senior David N'Guessan…
"Well, that's a fifth-year senior, third year in the program, and he's just been Mr. Reliable. Every challenge is getting better. Really proud of him."
Â
On the play of junior Dug McDaniel…
"Yeah, well, you know, when things started going south, Dug didn't go south. That's maturity, that's some growth. That's something that I have been on him about. You know, everybody wants this thing to be quick like a microwave. We have got a bunch of new guys, and they have to learn each other, and they have to learn me, and I have to learn them. And there's different ways of doing that. And we love Dug, and he's a special player, a special kid. You saw him out there, like, under control, the little spurt where he got away from but then he got under control, and he was running the team, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do, and then they couldn't guard it."
Â
FIRST HALF
K-State got off to a strong start, jumping out to a 10-3 lead at the first media timeout behind 5 early points from junior C.J. Jones, including the game's first 3-pointer. The Wildcats increased their advantage after the timeout, pushing their lead to 20-9 after consecutive 3-pointers from freshman David Castillo and senior Max Jones at the second media timeout with 11:14 to play.
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The lead grew to 30-14 with 7:57 remaining in the half behind 4 points each from seniors Coleman Hawkins and David N'Guessan and a layup from senior Achor Achor. After free throws by junior Brendan Hausen and N'Guessan expanded the lead to 34-16, George Washington started to cut into the deficit with 6 straight points to make it 34-22 with 3:29 to play.
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A Hausen 3-pointer ended the run as the team played even until the last few minutes of the half, as junior Dug McDaniel sparked a 6-0 run with 4 points and an assist to close out the half and give the Wildcats a 46-27 lead at the half.
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K-State connected on 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field with 16 points in the paint in the opening half, as eight different players registered points. N'Guessan led the way with 9 points to go with 3 rebounds and 2 assists, while Hausen and Max Jones had 8 points.
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SECOND HALF
GW had a strong start to open the second half, as the Revolutionaries used a 7-3 run to cut the deficit to 49-34 and force a timeout by head coach Jerome Tang at the 17:29 mark. K-State responded with baskets by N'Guessan and McDaniel to push it back out to 53-36, but the Revs continued to attack, closing to within 55-45 after a 7-2 run.
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Achor provided a lift with consecutive layups to give the Wildcats a 59-47 lead at the second media time with under 12 to play. However, the Revs connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to close to within 59-53 and force another Tang timeout at the 10:31 mark.
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A turnover and layup out of the timeout got GW to within 59-55 but 5 points from Hawkins and 4 points from Max Jones helped push K-State back ahead at 68-59 at the 7:59 mark. After free throws got the Revs to within 68-61, a 7-3 run ignited by a Hausen 3-pointer extended the lead back to double figures at 75-64 and force a GW timeout with 5:51 remaining.
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The teams played nearly even the rest of the way with the Wildcats maintaining a double-digit lead.
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K-State connected on 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the field in the second half, as 7 players registered points led by McDaniel's 9 points.
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BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
- K-State now has won 6 straight games at the Paradise Jam dating back to 2002.
- K-State now has an 184-116 overall record in-season tournament play.
- K-State is now 185-57 in non-conference play since 2006-07.
- K-State is now 5-1 all-time against George Washington with 5 consecutive wins in the series… The Wildcats have won back-to-back games at neutral sites.
- K-State used a starting lineup of junior C.J. Jones, junior Brendan Hausen, senior Max Jones, senior Coleman Hawkins and senior David N'Guessan for the fourth time this season… Hausen, M. Jones, Hawkins and N'Guessan have now started the first 5 games.
- Hawkins now has 87 career starts (Illinois/K-State), M. Jones now has 86 career starts (Tampa/Cal State Fullerton/K-State), C. Jones now has 54 career starts (UIC/K-State) and N'Guessan now has 44 career starts (all at K-State).
- All 5 of Hausen's career starts have come at K-State.
TEAM NOTES
- K-State scored its 83 points on 51.8 percent (29-of-56) shooting, including 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from 3-point range, and hit on 59.3 percent (16-of-27) from the free throw line.
- The Wildcats shot better than 50 percent in each half for the second time this season and the first time since the Cleveland State game, including 51.7 percent (15-of-29) in the first half and 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the second half.
- K-State had 5 players score in double figures for the first time this season and the first time since beating Texas in the 2024 Big 12 Championship on March 13.
- K-State had 19 assists on 29 made field goals.
- K-State scored 32 points in the paint and got 26 bench points.
- K-State held a 42-28 rebounding advantage, including 11 offensive rebounds.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Five Wildcats scored in double figures led by 17 points from senior David N'Guessan… He was joined in double figures by junior Dug McDaniel (13 points), senior Max Jones (12 points), junior Brendan Hausen (11 points) and senior Achor Achor (10 points).
- N'Guessan now has 30 career double-digit scoring games, including 19 at K-State, after his 17-point performance on 5-of-8 field goals and 7-of-10 free throws… He has scored in double figures in 6 consecutive games dating back to last season… He set a career-high with 7 made free throws.
- McDaniel scored in double figures for the 39th time in his career and second time at K-State… He has at least 4 assists in all 4 games played this season.
- Jones registered his 68th career double-digit scoring game, including his third at K-State.
- Hausen collected his 15th double-digit scoring game, including his third at K-State… He now has at least 2 triples in all 5 games played this season.
- Achor picked up his 32nd career double-digit scoring game, including his first as a Wildcat.
- Senior Coleman Hawkins had a near double-double with 9 points and a game-tying 9 rebounds while adding team-highs in both steals (3) and blocks (2).
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How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Team Stats
GWU
KState
FG%
.364
.518
3FG%
.320
.346
FT%
.697
.593
RB
28
42
TO
10
14
STL
9
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballW
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