The Wildcats drop their fifth straight against the nation’s No. 1 team
TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona looked every bit the nation’s top-ranked team on Wednesday night, as the Wildcats shot nearly 50 percent from the field while posting a 55-32 advantage on the glass en route to a 101-76 win over Kansas State before 14,357 fans at the McKale Center.
K-State (9-6, 0-2 Big 12), which has opened conference play with consecutive top-10 opponents for the first time ever, fell to 5-19 all-time vs. the AP No. 1 team, including 1-5 on the road. The Wildcats have now lost 5 in a row against the top-ranked team with the last win coming in 2016.
One of six remaining unbeaten teams in the country, Arizona (15-0, 2-0 Big 12) connected on 49.3 percent (34-of-69) of its field goals, including 58.5 percent (31-of-53) from inside the arc with 56 points in the paint, while knocking down 30 of 39 attempts (78.9 percent) from the free throw line.
In addition to a 56-36 advantage in the paint, Arizona had 26 fast-break points (compared to 13 for K-State) while turning 15 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points.
It marked just the 18th time in school history that K-State has surrendered 100 or more points, including just the second time under head coach Jerome Tang in 118 games.
Equally impressive was Arizona’s play on the defensive end, holding K-State to a season-low 33.8 percent (26-of-77) from the field, including 22.2 percent (8-of-36) from 3-point range. Junior Abdi Bashir Jr., who entered the day ranking in the top-10 nationally in 3-pointers/game (3.71) and total 3-pointers (52), was held without a 3-point make (0-of-5) for the first time this season.
Arizona has now won its 15 games by an average of more than 23 points.
Freshman Brayden Burries (28 points) and junior Motiejus Krivas (25 points) paced the home team Wildcats with a combined 53 points on 19-of-26 shooting. Krivas had a double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds, while Burries narrowly missed a double-double with 9 rebounds to go with 4 assists and 4 steals. Freshman Koa Peat also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Tobe Awaka added 8 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Junior P.J. Haggerty led K-State with 19 points and 7 assists in 32 minutes, while senior Nate Johnson and junior Dorin Buca chipped in 15 and 12 points, respectively. Haggerty has now scored in double figures in all 15 games this season while the leading the team in scoring 12 times.
HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
Opening statement…
“I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the blessing I have to be a head basketball coach in this great league, at this great university with these terrific young men. What a great atmosphere it was tonight. You know, I coached here once before, and it was a great atmosphere then too, and Arizona was a really good team. I was proud of our guys’ fight. The great thing about this league, we’ve played one team with a 10 in front of their name, and now we played one with a one in front of their name and then got a whole line of others to go compete against and excited for the next battle at Arizona State on Saturday.”
On the play of Dorin Buca tonight…
“I thought Dorin competed. He did some good things. We got some things that he can take from this and learn. Obviously, (Motiejus) Krivas is a really good player, and with Arizona, you got to pick your poison and the problem is, it’s all poison. We have concerns with some of the numbers in the paint and rebounding. Well, the two teams we’ve played so far in our league, in the paint, they were just bigger than we were and then we foul way too much. I have to go look at that. Rebounding, it’s going to be a battle for us all year long, and we’ve got to figure some things out. But you know, it wasn’t one for a lack of competitiveness, so I’m okay with that.”
On consistency and efficiency on the offensive end…
“We got to take shots to make shots. I actually wanted to see if we could get up to 40 (3-point field goal attempts) tonight. I thought in the first half we turned down four. The goal was to make 14 (3-point field goals), and that would give us a chance to win this game. We knew we had to rebound just to have a chance to be in the game. But the only way we were going to win is by making 3-pointers. Obviously, we only made 8 of 36 (shots from 3-point range). If we hit our goal of 14 made 3-pointers, we’re talking about a one possession game. I thought our guys tried to execute the game plan. We just credit to Arizona for doing a great job of guarding the arc.”
On Arizona’s ability to rebound and push the ball up the floor…
“Yeah, our floor balance was not very good at time. First, they had 13 fast-break points in the first eight minutes. They ended the first half with 13 fast break points. I thought the second half, when we cut it to nine, was because we did a better job of getting back and making them play in the half court. But then in the last 10 minutes of the game they amped it up a little bit. We didn’t balance the floor. Some guards followed their shots rather than balancing. And then they were able to get 13 (fast-break points) in the second half also. So that’s something we got to clean up.”
On closing the gap on teams like BYU and Arizona…
“That’s not something I’m worried about. I’m trying to figure out how we’re going to win the next one. I’m a small picture guy. Let’s figure out what happened in this game, how we going to fix it, and what we’re going to do tonight, tomorrow, to give us the best chance to win on Saturday in this league. All you could do is try and win the next one, and that gap happens in the offseason. You’re recruiting, that’s that. That’s how you close the gap in that area.”
On the play of Andrej Kostic…
“I was happy with his play. I mean, we were in foul trouble. Needed somebody. I wanted to get Andrej some minutes. I’ve been wanting to do that. I thought he’d get a couple in the first half just for him to feel the environment. And, because we’ve got a plan for Andrej moving forward, a big picture plan in that area. I was pleased with how he competed, so that’s a big step for him.”
On what you would like to see in the next couple of days…
“Recovery, focus, when we put the game plan together, and just energy. I mean, these kids, they’re resilient. They bounce back way quicker than we do as adults. And so, you know, this is gonna bother me probably way more than it bothers them. And so not that they don’t care. It’s just they have the ability to bounce back quicker than we do. I’m excited to get back at it.”
FIRST HALF
The teams were knotted at 4-all before an 8-0 run capped by a steal and dunk by freshman Ivan Kharchenkov forced head coach Jerome Tangto use his first timeout at the 16:47 mark. The run grew to 10-0 before a jumper by senior Khamari McGriff snapped a more than 4-minute scoring drought by the visiting Wildcats. However, the home team responded with 5 quick points to push the lead to 13 at 19-6 with 13:41 to play.
K-State got 3-pointers from juniors P.J. Haggerty and Taj Manning on consecutive possessions to close to within 21-12 at the second media timeout. Arizona scored 8 of the next 10 points to go ahead 29-14 before Haggerty connected on his second 3-pointer. The home team rattled off 5 more points, including a dunk by freshman Koa Peat, that pushed them ahead 34-17.
Five straight free throws by senior Nate Johnson pulled K-State to within 34-22, however, Arizona scored 10 of the next 14 points to go ahead 44-26 at the final media timeout with 3:44 before halftime. The lead grew to its largest at 50-30 with 2:09 to play before the visiting Wildcats finished the half with 6 of the last 7 points to trail 51-36 at the break.
K-State connected on a season-low 28.9 percent (11-of-38) in the first half, including 18.2 percent (4-of-22) from 3-point range, while Arizona shot 51.4 percent (18-of-35) from the field despite missing all 8 of its 3-point attempts.
Freshman Brayden Burries led all scorers with 16 points, while Haggerty had 10 points for K-State.
SECOND HALF
K-State showed some fight to start the second half, outscoring Arizona, 10-5, to close to within 56-46, which included a 3-pointer from junior Dorin Buca. A 3-pointer from Johnson shrank the deficit to single digits for the first time since the opening minutes of the first half, but the home team responded with 5 straight points to go back out by double figures at 64-49.
The teams matched each other point for point over the next few minutes as Arizona led 69-57 at the second media timeout with 11:57 remaining. The home team scored 7 of the next 10 points to go back out 76-60 before Buca finished at the rim, prompting a timeout by Tang with 9:26 to play.
A second 3-pointer by Buca pulled K-State to within 78-65, however, Arizona ran off 6 straight points capped by a dunk from Peat to go ahead 84-65 and forced Tang to use his second-to-last timeout with 5:53 remaining. The run grew to 11-0 after a corner 3-pointer from Jaden Bradley made it 89-65 at the final media timeout with 4 to play.
The lead grew to as many as 29 points with 2:14 to play as Arizona broke triple digits after a dunk by freshman Sidi Gueye with 29 seconds remaining.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
- K-State lost the opener of its 2-game road trip, 101-76, to top-ranked Arizona.
- K-State is now 5-19 all-time vs. the AP No. 1 team, including 1-5 on the road… The Wildcats have now lost 5 in a row against the top-ranked team with the last such win coming in 2016.
- This was the first matchup against the No. 1 team since playing Kansas at home in 2020 and the first on the road since 2002 at Kansas.
- Head coach Jerome Tang is now 16-19 vs. ranked teams, including 7-8 vs. the Top 10.
- K-State has lost back-to-back games to open Big 12 play for the first time since 2022.
- K-State still leads the all-time series, 9-7, with Arizona holding a 6-2 mark at home in the series, including 5-1 at the McKale Center.
- K-State used a starting lineup of junior P.J. Haggerty, senior Nate Johnson, junior Abdi Bashir Jr., junior Elias Rapieque and senior Khamari McGriff… This is the 12th time using this lineup with the Wildcats posting a 9-3 mark in those games.
- Haggerty now has 81 career starts (Tulsa/Memphis/K-State), N. Johnson now has 75 career starts (Akron/K-State), McGriff now has 57 career starts (UNC Wilmington/K-State) and Bashir now has 47 career starts (Monmouth/K-State)… This is the 12th start for Rapieque.
TEAM NOTES
- K-State scored its 76 points on a season-low 33.8 percent (26-of-77) shooting, including 22.2 percent (8-of-36) from 3-point range, while hitting on 84.2 percent (16-of-19) from the free throw line.
- Arizona became the 18th team to record a 100-point game vs. K-State.
- Arizona outscored K-State, 56-36, in the paint and 26-13 in fast-break points.
- BYU outrebounded K-State, 55-32, including 40 defensive rebounds, and posted a 19-13 advantage in second-chance points.
- K-State was whistled for a season-high 29 fouls.
- K-State trailed 51-36 at halftime and is now 1-6 this season and 18-37 under head coach Jerome Tang when trailing at the break.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Three Wildcats scored in double figures, including 19 points from junior P.J. Haggerty. He was joined by senior Nate Johnson (15 points) and junior Dorin Buca (12 points).
- Haggerty scored his 19 points on 8-of-20 field goals, including 2-of-6 from 3-point range, and 1-of-1 free throws to go with 7 assists and 2 rebounds in 32 minutes… He has now scored in double figures in all 15 games this season… He has now scored in double figures in 79 of 87 career games in college.
- Johnson scored his 15 points on 3-of-13 field goals, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range, and 7-of-7 free throws to go with 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 29 minutes… He has scored in double figures in 50 career games, including 10 this season.
- Buca recorded his first career double-digit scoring game with 12 points on 5-of-7 field goals, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range, with 2 rebounds and 3 blocks in 17 minutes.
WHAT’S NEXT
K-State concludes its 2-game road trip through the state of Arizona with a visit to Arizona State (9-6, 0-2 Big 12) on Saturday at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe. Tip is set for 2 p.m., CT and will be broadcast nationally on Peacock. The Wildcats defeated the Sun Devils, 71-70, in Tempe last season in the first of 3 meetings.
