Kansas State men's basketball beats Iowa State for 3rd straight time
Mar. 7—For the first time in nearly three months, Kansas State on Saturday had a mostly drama-free outing against a Big 12 foe. In that game Dec. 15, K-State led for 37:37 in a 74-65 win at Iowa State.
The Wildcats led for 37:53 Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.
It should come as no surprise that Iowa State was the foe in question Saturday.
The Wildcats won 61-56 in the regular-season finale for both teams, topping the Cyclones for the third straight meeting.
"I'm just happy for our guys," K-State head coach Bruce Weber said. "They've endured, persevered. They've been resilient."
The Wildcats (8-19, 4-14 Big 12) closed the regular season with victories in three of their final four games, following a 13-game losing streak that stretched from Jan. 2 to Feb. 20.
"The thing they've done is that they haven't quit," Weber said. "They've gotten way better on defense. This is the fourth in the last five teams that we've held in the 50's. The other one was West Virginia, which was in the 60's and the last five games they had scored in the 90s. The defense is playing hard."
The Cyclones (2-21, 0-18) didn't win a single game in conference play during the regular season. It didn't help matters Saturday that their top scorer, Rasir Bolton, was sidelined with an ankle injury.
"I think our guys have handled everything in a first class manner," said Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm, who fielded multiple questions about his job security following Saturday's loss, the team's 18th defeat in a row. "I think they've been unbelievable. I think their character, their resiliency. Look what they've done, especially the last couple of weeks but in life you don't always get what you want, what you expect, or what you work for. But can you come back the next day and show up."
K-State didn't let a prime opportunity for a win — it entered as a favorite for the first time since its game versus Omaha on Dec. 29 — go by the wayside.
Senior guard Mike McGuirl paced the Wildcats with 17 points. DaJuan Gordon had 12 points and Nijel Pack finished with 10.
"I think we (have) improved a lot," Gordon said. "We started off real bad. We still didn't do as well as we wanted, but we all kept grinding it out, coming to practice hard every day. I feel like we got a lot better. Only time will tell how much better we'll get."
Jalen Coleman-Lands (19 points) and Solomon Young (18) combined for 37 of the Cyclones' 56 points in a losing effort for the visitors.
Coleman-Lands had no interest in discussing Prohm's future with the program. A player in his sixth college season, Coleman-Lands said he believes Prohm is "a great coach" hampered by the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's an abnormal year, especially having to adjust around COVID and being in pause and not even having a practice a few weeks (or a) month or so before the non-conference season started," he said. "(There are) a lot of different outliers that come into play, so I don't think it's right to judge somebody off this year at all."
Both teams now turn their attention to the Big 12 tournament, which begins Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo.
With K-State and Iowa State finishing the regular season ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 10-team league, they both will be in action on Day 1. The Wildcats will be in the 8/9 matchup against TCU, while Iowa State will face seventh-seeded Oklahoma.
Wednesday's K-State/TCU tilt is slated to tip off at 5:30 p.m. and air on ESPN.
