Kansas State University Athletics
Happy With the Win, Excited for Continued Growth
Nov 14, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
A first-half knockout turned into a second-half slugfest before PJ Haggerty and Kansas State finally turned out the lights on a 99-96 win over California in the highest-scoring game ever at Bramlage Coliseum.
Haggerty scored 23 points, Khamari McGriff added 21 and Nate Johnson had 20 to become the first K-State trio of 20-point scorers since Dean Wade, Barry Brown and Kamau Stokes did so in 2017, and the Wildcats needed every point possible while sweating out a valiant comeback by California and former K-State player Dai Dai Ames.
Ames had 25 points and seven assists in his first return to Manhattan since 2024 while Chris Bell had a game-high 27 points and shot 7-of-13 on 3-pointers for the Golden Bears, who trailed by 25 points in the first half only to lose by three when time expired on a wild one in front of 7,521 in the Little Apple.
"Really proud of the guys," K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. "The first 24 minutes we played some really good basketball on both ends of the floor, and then human nature kicked in and they relaxed. When you let good shooters see the ball go into the hole, they start going in.
"Blessed for the win and excited to continue getting better."
Asked whether he had an appreciation for the 25-point lead in the first half or greater disappointment for California's comeback, Tang replied, "I'm going to have great appreciation for getting the lead and then the great thing is we have a lot of teaching film that we can do from a win. It's a whole lot better teaching after a win than a loss.
"We have a lot of good film where we can say, 'This is how we can get better.' It's good for us as a staff so we can say, 'What could we do differently to stem the tide.' I'm really proud of this team because last year if a team went on an 8-0 run, we were done and couldn't come back from it. California went on a 10-0 run, and I let it sit to see how we'd respond."
Haggerty scored a fastbreak layup to give K-State its largest lead at 47-22 with 6:02 remaining in the first half while the Wildcats barely gave the Golden Bears life over the first 20 minutes and led 55-34 at halftime. Haggerty, the preseason All-American who averaged 25.0 points and 7.0 assists in his first two games at K-State, shot 7-of-12 from the floor and made 8-of-12 free throws while dishing out six assists against California.
Although Haggerty didn't score his first basket until there was 7:17 left in the first half, he scored in chunks, and he dished out assists — many to McGriff inside the paint. K-State outscored California 56-34 on the inside.
"At the end of the day, I know I can get going, and they're going to look for me, but my teammates were hot, so I just played within the offense and didn't try to be selfish or look for my number," Haggerty said. "I was still aggressive and being myself."
K-State entered as the most accurate 3-point shooting team in Division I in shooting 56% from behind the arc. David Castillo shot 4-of-6 from long range and finished with 16 points after going 5-of-5 from behind the arc against Bellarmine on Saturday.
K-State shot 64.4% (38-of-59) from the floor — its highest shooting percentage in a game since 2017 — including 50% (9-of-18) on 3-pointers. California shot 56.5% (35-of-62) from the floor and 53.6% (15-of-28) from long range.
K-State shot an average of 25 3-pointers per contest entering Thursday's game.
"The thing about being a really good 3-point shooting team is that it spaces the floor," Tang said. "If we can make lay-ups, we'll make lay-ups all night long. It's a higher-percentage shot than shooting the 3. That's what we want first. The other stuff is the icing on the cake."
The icing slowly began to melt and back-to-back 3-pointers by Ames with 10:00 left in regulation pushed K-State's lead to under 20 points. The lead melted to 10 points after Bell hit four consecutive 3-pointers with his last one making it 95-85 with 2:22 remaining. California got it to within single digits on a John Camden jump shot with 1:17 to go.
"You're sitting there on defense and you're nervous," Johnson said. "It might be an and-1 or another 3. It's just nerve-wracking at that point."
California ended the game on a 11-1 scoring run over the final 1:50.
But a Haggerty free throw made it 99-92 with 12 seconds left and effectively put the game away.
"The first half, we came out really strong and everybody was hitting shots, and we were locked in on defense," Haggerty said. "Then we got comfortable midway through the second half. Kudos, they hit some tough shots, I'm not going to lie, but at the end of the day we came out with the win."
A first-half knockout turned into a second-half slugfest before PJ Haggerty and Kansas State finally turned out the lights on a 99-96 win over California in the highest-scoring game ever at Bramlage Coliseum.
Haggerty scored 23 points, Khamari McGriff added 21 and Nate Johnson had 20 to become the first K-State trio of 20-point scorers since Dean Wade, Barry Brown and Kamau Stokes did so in 2017, and the Wildcats needed every point possible while sweating out a valiant comeback by California and former K-State player Dai Dai Ames.
Ames had 25 points and seven assists in his first return to Manhattan since 2024 while Chris Bell had a game-high 27 points and shot 7-of-13 on 3-pointers for the Golden Bears, who trailed by 25 points in the first half only to lose by three when time expired on a wild one in front of 7,521 in the Little Apple.
"Really proud of the guys," K-State head coach Jerome Tang said. "The first 24 minutes we played some really good basketball on both ends of the floor, and then human nature kicked in and they relaxed. When you let good shooters see the ball go into the hole, they start going in.
"Blessed for the win and excited to continue getting better."
Asked whether he had an appreciation for the 25-point lead in the first half or greater disappointment for California's comeback, Tang replied, "I'm going to have great appreciation for getting the lead and then the great thing is we have a lot of teaching film that we can do from a win. It's a whole lot better teaching after a win than a loss.
"We have a lot of good film where we can say, 'This is how we can get better.' It's good for us as a staff so we can say, 'What could we do differently to stem the tide.' I'm really proud of this team because last year if a team went on an 8-0 run, we were done and couldn't come back from it. California went on a 10-0 run, and I let it sit to see how we'd respond."
Haggerty scored a fastbreak layup to give K-State its largest lead at 47-22 with 6:02 remaining in the first half while the Wildcats barely gave the Golden Bears life over the first 20 minutes and led 55-34 at halftime. Haggerty, the preseason All-American who averaged 25.0 points and 7.0 assists in his first two games at K-State, shot 7-of-12 from the floor and made 8-of-12 free throws while dishing out six assists against California.
Although Haggerty didn't score his first basket until there was 7:17 left in the first half, he scored in chunks, and he dished out assists — many to McGriff inside the paint. K-State outscored California 56-34 on the inside.
"At the end of the day, I know I can get going, and they're going to look for me, but my teammates were hot, so I just played within the offense and didn't try to be selfish or look for my number," Haggerty said. "I was still aggressive and being myself."
K-State entered as the most accurate 3-point shooting team in Division I in shooting 56% from behind the arc. David Castillo shot 4-of-6 from long range and finished with 16 points after going 5-of-5 from behind the arc against Bellarmine on Saturday.
K-State shot 64.4% (38-of-59) from the floor — its highest shooting percentage in a game since 2017 — including 50% (9-of-18) on 3-pointers. California shot 56.5% (35-of-62) from the floor and 53.6% (15-of-28) from long range.
K-State shot an average of 25 3-pointers per contest entering Thursday's game.
"The thing about being a really good 3-point shooting team is that it spaces the floor," Tang said. "If we can make lay-ups, we'll make lay-ups all night long. It's a higher-percentage shot than shooting the 3. That's what we want first. The other stuff is the icing on the cake."
The icing slowly began to melt and back-to-back 3-pointers by Ames with 10:00 left in regulation pushed K-State's lead to under 20 points. The lead melted to 10 points after Bell hit four consecutive 3-pointers with his last one making it 95-85 with 2:22 remaining. California got it to within single digits on a John Camden jump shot with 1:17 to go.
"You're sitting there on defense and you're nervous," Johnson said. "It might be an and-1 or another 3. It's just nerve-wracking at that point."
California ended the game on a 11-1 scoring run over the final 1:50.
But a Haggerty free throw made it 99-92 with 12 seconds left and effectively put the game away.
"The first half, we came out really strong and everybody was hitting shots, and we were locked in on defense," Haggerty said. "Then we got comfortable midway through the second half. Kudos, they hit some tough shots, I'm not going to lie, but at the end of the day we came out with the win."
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
W
/ Men's BasketballK-State Football | Pregame Hype vs Oklahoma State
Friday, November 14
K-State Volleyball | Recap vs #21 Baylor
Friday, November 14
K-State Men's Basketball | Head Coach Jerome Tang Press Conference - November 14, 2025
Friday, November 14
K-State Men's Basketball | Players Press Conference - November 14, 2025
Friday, November 14