There are still seven games remaining in the regular season, but Saturday’s clash in Provo, Utah, between Kansas State and BYU could go a long way in determining who escapes having to play in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
Kansas State and BYU are holding down spots in the top eight of the conference standings, but K-State (13-11, 7-6 Big 12) comes in as the hottest team in the Big 12, winners of six straight games, including four against teams ranked at the time.
Its five total wins over ranked teams this year matches Arizona for the best in the conference, after beating that batch of Wildcats on Tuesday night.
The Cougars (16-8, 7-6) are hot as well, winning five of their last seven games after defeating West Virginia 73-69 on the road Tuesday night. The Cougars used a 17-7 closing run to erase a West Virginia lead with 6:33 remaining. The hero for BYU was Egor Demin, who had 10 points in the run.
Demin is second on the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game, trailing only Richie Saunders at 14.9.
Head coach Kevin Young knows it will come down to who manages the details the best.
“It is so marginal,” he said. “Every little thing matters — every play, every cut, every block-out, every rebound, every pass. That’s this league. It’s extremely challenging.”
K-State is averaging 77.2 points per game during the winning streak, a stat that would put them fourth in the conference in Big 12 games if continued for the whole season. Dug McDaniel and David N’Guessan have led the Wildcats in scoring in five of the six games during the streak.
McDaniel led the Wildcats with 24 points Tuesday, after N’Guessan eared Big 12 Player of the Week thanks to a 22-point game against Arizona State and a 20-point outing against Kansas.
While the winning streak has gotten the Wildcats back into the conversation for an NCAA Tournament at-large berth, coach Jerome Tang knows that his team must keep playing well on the road.
“We want to be humble and keep working hard and keep realizing that it’s all the little things that allow us to have the score the way it’s been on the plus side for us,” he said.
–Field Level Media
