By Jackson Schneider
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State used a hot 17-0 start and rode out its first victory of the season Monday night inside Bramlage Coliseum.
"When we come out and play the right way and come with energy, we get off to a good start," said sophomore Guard Dajuan Gordon. "Our biggest thing is that we've just got to sustain the lead once it gets to the end, which we didn't do against Colorado."
The Wildcats held Kansas City without a point for the first 8:10 of the contest, before the Kangaroos would find some rhythm and get themselves back in it. Kansas City would then outscore K-State 23-16 over the final 11:50 of the opening half to claw within 10 at the break.
"Obviously, we're happy we won the game," said Head Coach Bruce Weber. "All we've talked about is improving, getting better, giving ourselves a chance to win. Again, great energy, great defense to start the game, you're up 17-nothing, I guess our next step, we lead double digits first half against Colorado, lead double digits today, but we don't continue that. I hope it comes through experience, I hope it comes through execution, that's probably our next step."
The Wildcat defense hadn’t been a point of pride for the Cats over their first two contests of the year, but a much better effort lead them to their first victory of the season.
"I just feel like our defensive energy went up," said Freshman Nijel Pack. "We kind of brought that same energy against Colorado and we learned to that for 40 minutes, and I feel like that's going to make us a great team."
Although the defense improved, forcing Kansas City into 17 turnovers on the night, the Wildcat offense still struggled at times, turning it over 18 times themselves.
"I thought it was one thing when we watched tape that we would be able to turn them over," said Weber on his team forcing the Kangaroos into several errors. "I tell them a lot of times, 'just be in the right place,' and they'll throw it to you, and we did a good job of that."
"For us, I think we just forced the play," He went on. "You can't make a play every time you touch the ball."
The lack of clean possessions was cause for a bit of concern, as it helped to keep the Kangaroos in the game, getting within as little as 6 with 3:06 to play, and then the final margin of four with a three-pointer at the buzzer.
"They came out and fought us," said Weber. "They grabbed us, fought us, I mean, to their credit, and our guys didn't react very well."
It certainly wasn’t as crisp as Bruce Weber would’ve like, but a win’s a win, and Kansas State needed one.
Nijel Pack reiterated just how big the win was for him. "It means everything," he said. "It gets our confidence boosted. Coach's talking about 'we're going on a win-streak.' It's the first win of our win-streak, and we want to keep that going, keep that winning mentality going into Saturday's game."
Weber noted how important the win was for his team, but his most emphatic statement of the night came when talking about progress and being able to even play their games amid the pandemic.
"To play the games, that's what's really important, and then every win you can get, and then add into that get better," said Weber. "I keep saying, 'I've got to stay positive and the team's got to stay negative, negative of course on the covid tests."
The victory was K-State’s 19th all-time against Kansas City, and their fifth consecutive win over the Kangaroos since 2003.
Kansas State’s 62-58 win over Kansas City snapped a brief two-game skid to open up the 2020-2021 season. The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday night, hosting UNLV at 7 p.m. inside Bramlage Coliseum. The two schools met last year, with K-State escaping Las Vegas with a 60-56 win in overtime.
Kansas State Head Coach Bruce Weber and select student athlete’s full comments from the post game press conference can be heard below.
POSTGAME AUDIO
POSTGAME STATS
