AMES, Iowa – Kansas State scored 9 of the last 12 points in overtime, including a dagger 3-pointer from the corner by junior Markquis Nowell, to complete its 15-point second-half rally against Iowa State, as the Wildcats posted a 75-69 victory over the Cyclones on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 13,477 fans at Hilton Coliseum.
K-State (13-11, 5-7 Big 12), which trailed by 15 points just a minute into the second half, used an 18-4 run over a near 9-minute span to take a 60-58 lead on a jumper by sophomore Ish Massoud with 4:09 remaining. ISU responded with 5 straight points to retake the lead at 63-60 before sophomore Nijel Pack tied the game at 63-all on his fourth 3-pointer of the day with 2:36 to play. No one was able to score in last few minutes of regulation, as the teams went into overtime for the first time since 2010.
In overtime, the teams were knotted at 66-all with 2 minutes remaining before a steal and fast-break layup by fifth-year senior Mike McGuirl gave K-State the lead for good at 68-66 with 1:50 to play. After a miss by Iowa State, Nowell knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner off a feed from fifth-year senior Mark Smith to push the lead to 71-66 with just over a minute remaining. A pair of free throws by sophomore Selton Miguel, who was making his return from injury, and a dunk by Massoud finished off the scoring as the Wildcats won their third straight overtime game dating back to 2018.
The 15-point deficit overcome to win represented the second-largest in a road conference game and the most-ever in the Big 12 era, as the only one greater came as the Wildcats rallied from 16 points down at Oklahoma on February 23, 1993. Overall, it represents the ninth-largest in school history and the largest since rallying from a school-record 21-point deficit to West Virginia at home on January 9, 2019.