LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas bounced back from its 19-point blowout loss to Tennessee on Saturday by downing rival Kansas State, 74-51, in a return to Big 12 play for both teams on Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
The No. 23-ranked Jayhawks (12-6, 6-4), who barely hung onto a Top 25 ranking in the AP men’s basketball poll following Saturday’s 80-61 defeat — their fourth loss in five games — handed the Wildcats (5-14, 1-9) their ninth straight defeat. K-State fell to Texas A&M 68-61 on Saturday, also in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge
Christian Braun hit four threes and scored 18 points, while David McCormack had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Ochai Agbaji added 15 points for KU, which claimed its 200th victory against K-State against 94 defeats. KU notched its 15th consecutive win over K-State in the fieldhouse.
Jalen Wilson added 10 points (with six rebounds), including eight points the second half. Marcus Garrett had two points, six rebounds, five assists and three turnovers.
Mike McGuirl and Nigel Pack scored 10 points apiece for K-State, which fell to 18-51 in the fieldhouse. Selton Miguel contributed nine points and six rebounds for the Wildcats. Antonio Gordon grabbed eight boards for KSU,
KU continued to struggle offensively in leading 33-25 at halftime.
Agbaji and McCormack had 10 points apiece on combined 9-of-15 shooting. Braun had nine points on 3-of-6 shooting. However Wilson was 0-for-6 shooting the first half with five rebounds and Garrett 0-for-2.
The Wildcats had an even worse half on offense. McGuirl scored 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting, while Davion Bradford and Miguel had four points apiece. K-State hit 39.1% of its shots, just 2 of 9 from three in the half.
KU opened the second half on a 10-4 run and built a 14-point lead (43-29) with 15:20 to play following five points from Wilson and a three by Braun. The Jayhawks extended the lead to 19 points at 50-31, scoring six straight at one point on a three by Braun, slam by Agbaji and two free throws from Mitch Lightfoot, who finished the game with five rebounds.
KU, which led 9-0 early, opened a 16-6 lead with 11:38 left in the half thanks to eight points from Agbaji and six from McCormack.
The Jayhawks led 24-12 at 6:11 and 27-19 at 4:13. At that point Agbaji, Braun and McCormack had combined for 25 of the points with Lightfoot scoring two. McGuirl had nine for K-State and Bradford two off a hard slam dunk. Self called a time off after the dunk cut the gap to eight.
The Wildcats, who play host to KU on Feb. 16, have lost four in a row, 12 of 13 and 61 of the last 67 games in the series. K-State beat KU, 59-55, on Jan. 14 2006, for its last victory in Lawrence. The last KSU win in the series was 74-67 on Feb. 5, 2019 at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Jayhawks improved to 100-15 following a loss in the 18-year Self era, including 4-2 this season.
