By Jackson Schneider
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State raised eyebrows nationwide on Thursday afternoon, hanging tough with the #2-ranked team in the country in the Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinals.
Baylor held off an upset-minded Wildcat squad 74-68 inside the T-Mobile Center.
“We came here with big dreams and hopes, but at the same time, I told the guys all I cared about was playing with courage,” said Head Coach Bruce Weber postgame. “We played on a turnaround of what, 14-15 hours, with not a whole lot of prep, with playing a hard-fought game last night, and gave them everything we had.”
Kansas State had previously played Baylor twice this season, losing both games by an average of 39.5 points. Thursday afternoon, the Cats stood their ground.
The Bears shot 55% from the field in the first half, yet only held a two point lead over the 9th-seeded Wildcats.
“It felt great to give them a run for their money,” said Freshman Nijel Pack. “Everybody probably looked over us. Didn’t expect it to be a good game. It felt good to be able to give people what they wanted, felt good for us to have courage, and show our improvement of what we made from the beginning of the year to now.”
In the second half, the Wildcats would snatch brief leads two separate times, but the Bears seemingly always had the answer. Midway through the second half, Baylor would go on a run that seemed inevitable.
With Baylor holding a 68-56 lead with under 6 minutes to play, all hope was lost from the outside looking in, but K-State refused to fold.
“For me, as a leader, it’s about the players,” said Weber. “No matter how bad it got, or what we had to deal with, I had to be there to lead them, and help them, and keep them believing, and giving them hope, and giving them love, and that’s what we tried to do.”
Kansas State closed the game on a 12-6 run, but were unable to close the gap in the end.
Defeat is never fun, nor is it easy to swallow, but for once, there were far more positives to take away than negatives following the season-ending loss.
Kansas State will likely return most, if not all, of its major role players next season. Players like Nijel Pack, who scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from long range in the effort, as well as Freshman Davion Bradford, who also tallied 18 points.
Sophomore Dajuan Gordon added 15 points and five rebounds. He’ll most likely return to lead a team that he says is night and day from the beginning of this season.
“We came a long way,” said Gordon. “We’ve come from being one of the worst in the country to, you know, pretty good. I feel like we can compete with anybody in the country right now.”
Kansas State ends it’s season at 9-20 overall, which at the surface level doesn’t look promising, but the ‘Cats closed the season winning four of their last six contests, and took one of the nation’s top teams to the wire.
The potential is there, and Bruce Weber says he isn’t going anywhere.
“I love K-State. I love coaching. I think, obviously, we haven’t won as many games the last two years as you’d always hope, but it’s been a long time since they have won championships,” said Weber. “And I think we have a great nucleus, hopefully this group wants to stay together, and this gave them a lot of hope, and drive, and motivation, and we can continue moving forward.”
POSTGAME AUDIO