No. 13 Arizona and Kansas State, the teams with the longest winning streaks in the Big 12, meet Tuesday night in Manhattan, Kan.
Arizona (17-6, 11-1 Big 12) achieved its sixth straight victory with an 82-73 win over then-No. 13 Texas Tech on Saturday at Tucson, Ariz.
Kansas State (12-11, 6-6) extended its winning streak to five games with Saturday’s 81-73 win against then-No. 16 Kansas at Manhattan.
The conference winning streak is the longest for Kansas State since the 2018-19 season.
Kansas State coach Jerome Tang is 12-3 at home against AP Top 25 opponents, including 3-1 this season.
“When we were losing, we had said to move on to the next one; it’s the same thing with wins,” Tang said. “You got to tuck this one away, and move on to the next, because we got another great team coming in, and another great opportunity ahead of us.”
In conference games, Kansas State is 4-2 at home and Arizona is 5-1 on the road.
Arizona avenged its lone loss of the Big 12 season with the victory over Texas Tech, as coach Tommy Lloyd’s team made a concerted effort to penetrate the lane and not resort to 3-point shots.
When Arizona lost at Texas Tech 70-54, it missed its last 10 shots from the field, including nine from 3-point range.
“I thought we did a much better job today just kind of asserting our physicality on them across the board,” Lloyd said.
Caleb Love went 1 of 6 from 3-point range after missing all five of his shots beyond the arc at Texas Tech, but he scored 16 points Saturday on drives to the basket and a 7-of-9 performance at the free-throw line after drawing fouls from aggressive moves to the lane.
Lloyd has also lauded Love’s defense when matched against the opponent’s top perimeter scorer.
Love helped contain Texas Tech guard Chance McMillian to eight points off only eight shots from the field, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
“Phenomenal defender,” Arizona point guard Jaden Bradley said of Love. “Coach had challenged him to pick his defensive energy up. Contesting shots, being in the passing lanes, taking away passes — he’s really grown on that end.”
Bradley had 16 points, five assists and five steals against Texas Tech. He has only three turnovers in 75 minutes over the last two games against BYU and the Red Raiders.
Kansas State’s David N’Guessan achieved consecutive 20-point games for the first time in his career when he finished with 20 points while making 9 of 13 shots from the field against Kansas.
He also led Kansas State with seven rebounds.
Michigan transfer Dug McDaniel finished with 15 points and a career-high 11 assists.
“What I like about Dug is that he’s not letting negative plays impact his next play,” Tang said. “That’s what leaders do and that’s what tough people do. I hope all of our guys have great confidence, but you still have to go out there and execute.
“I’m very proud of Dug and everyone else.”
–Field Level Media
