Mar 07, 2021

Wildcats defeat Iowa State in season finale

Posted Mar 07, 2021 1:47 AM

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State handled its final test of the 2020-2021 with relative ease on Saturday, defeating the Iowa State Cyclones 61-56 inside Bramlage Coliseum. 

The Wildcats led for nearly 38 minutes in the contest, trailing only once at 10-9, en route to their eighth victory of the season and fourth in Big 12 play, cementing their spot as the 9 seed in the conference tournament next week.

Senior Mike McGuirl led the Wildcats with 17 points on 3/9 shooting from the field, but making the most of his free throw opportunities, sinking 9/10. 

Kansas State's defense frustrated the Cyclones all afternoon, holding them to just 36% from the field and 22% from three point range. 

ISU freshman Jalen Coleman-Lands led the charge in a come back attempt for the Cyclones, scoring 19 points. ISU would never allow Kansas State to run away with the game, keeping themselves within striking distance, but was never able to get over the hump.

“We’ve picked it up since Christmas break. About a month ago, our defensive intensity picked up. We take pride in that now, especially with the stance and slapping the ground. I feel like we take pride in the defensive side,” said freshman Nijel Pack. “This is a different type of team with playing defense and locking guys down and not trying to have a scoring match with them. We try to keep them below a certain amount of points each game, and that makes us successful.”  

Kansas State would prove to be the stronger of the two teams, collecting the season sweep over Iowa State and Kansas State's third win in its last four games. 

“I had President Myers talk to them afterwards. It’s great to have him back. Obviously with COVID, his normal coming into the locker room and being around the guys and going on roadtrips, he couldn’t do that, but the last few weeks he’s been back and in the locker room. He’s a pretty smart man. He’s an engineer. He drew a graph and drew a line and said, ‘This is where you guys have improved from the beginning until now’,” said Head Coach Bruce Weber on his team’s improvement. “They’ve made big strides. Especially defensively, you’ve gotta give them some credit. Selton with nine, seven and five. Selton really guards, and he has taken on that role and is really great on the ball. They’ve improved quite a bit.” 

Now, the Wildcats will head into a similar situation next week when they will take on TCU in the first round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament, much like they did in 2020, the night before the world came to a halt.