ATLANTA _ All week, Kansas State basketball players heard about how they had no chance against mighty Kentucky.
College basketball experts said John Calipari's team was bigger and better than Bruce Weber's. They said Kentucky steamrolled through its first two NCAA Tournament games and had an easy path to the Final Four playing in the friendly confines of Philips Arena while K-State got here on luck as much as it did on talent.
Of all the teams that made it to the Sweet 16, K-State had the least respect.
Perhaps that will change now that these Wildcats are one game away from the Final Four.
K-State defeated Kentucky, 61-58, on Thursday, a result that will go down as one of the biggest in school history. It is headed back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010.
Kansas State led for the entire first half and then the first 2:38 of the second, stifling Kentucky with its pressure defense and making just enough timely shots to stay on top. And when Kentucky finally took its first lead and threatened to take control of the game, K-State responded with a string of 3-pointers and driving layups that gave it a 52-44 advantage.
All with top player Dean Wade relegated to the bench for all but eight minutes of the first half as he recovers from a foot injury.
Xavier Sneed played the game of his life, knocking down five 3-pointers on his way to 22 points and nine rebounds.
Barry Brown chipped in 11 points and just about everyone that took the court scored. K-State played through foul trouble all game, scraping together every point it could with unconventional lineups.
Kentucky countered with 18 points from P.J. Washington, 15 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and waves of free throws.
Brown put K-State in position to win the game with a driving layup with 18.4 seconds remaining to give K-State a 60-58 lead. Then it got a stop on the other end when Quade Green missed a 3 and Amaad Wainright hit a free throw to extend the lead to three.
That gave Kentucky one more chance with 5.4 seconds remaining. Calipari called timeout and drew up a play. It went to Gilgeous-Alexander and he missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
K-State players celebrated wildly.
The game ended and started in ideal fashion for them.
In order for K-State to have any shot against a bigger, deeper and more talented opponent it had to play stellar defense and make 3-pointers. And K-State did plenty of both early.
Behind Brown and Sneed, K-State played with reckless abandon every time Kentucky touched the ball and started the game with five straight stops.
That led to open shots on the other end and K-State took advantage. Brown hit a free-throw and a 3, then Sneed made a shot from beyond the arc. Before you knew it, it was up 7-0. Kentucky answered with a free throw, but K-State kept its foot on the metaphorical gas and surged ahead 13-1 thanks to shots from Kamau Stokes and Sneed.
Calipari had seen enough and called timeout less than four minutes into the game.
The hot start epitomized K-State's play throughout the entire NCAA Tournament. Few, if any, experts gave this group a chance against favored Kentucky. And yet, it came out looking like the better team.
Kentucky answered with a 9-0 run, and things went back and forth from there. But K-State never surrendered the lead and held a 33-29 advantage at halftime.
Not bad considering all it had to go through to stay on top. Kentucky sent wave after wave of big forwards at K-State and got to the free-throw line 23 times, making 16 of those shots.
Gilgeous-Alexander was particularly effective driving to the rim and made 11 of 12 shots from the line.
That left K-State in alarming foul trouble. Levi Stockard, Wainright and Sneed all had three fouls by halftime, and Makol Mawien and Cartier Diarra each had two. Weber had to get creative with substitutions to compensate for all those injuries, opting to go small against Kentucky's massive lineup. The strategy worked, even with K-State using five guards for extended stretches.
Sneed was the biggest reason K-State led for the first 20 minutes. The sophomore wing made 3 of 5 3-pointers and played excellent defense. But Wade also came off the bench and played for the first time in two weeks. He had missed K-State's past three games with a foot injury. He didn't look all that rusty, scoring four points in his first eight minutes.
It had the feel of a game in which every possession mattered. Kentucky only made 6 of 23 shots in the first half, but only trailed by one in the final minute. A timely 3-pointer by Mike McGuirl gave K-State minor separation.
