Kansas State won’t have long to get over Saturday’s last-minute defeat at Texas Tech.
The Wildcats will welcome No. 9 Baylor to Manhattan, Kan., for a Big 12 matchup Tuesday night. The Bears have won five straight games and survived a nail-biter Saturday.
Kansas State (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) led Texas Tech 57-49 late in the second half in Lubbock, Texas, only to be outscored 11-2 down the stretch to fall 60-59. The reward is a contest against the Bears, who join Texas Tech as the only 3-0 teams in the conference.
The Bears (14-2, 3-0 Big 12) are coming off a harrowing 62-59 victory over visiting Cincinnati on Saturday.
“They were tougher than us,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said after the loss. “They got to the paint, they got to the free-throw line, they got second-chance shots, and that’s the recipe for winning a close game in the last five minutes. That is something we try to pride ourselves on, and they did it better than us tonight.”
Texas Tech pulled ahead 60-59 with 30 seconds left on a three-point play from Joe Toussaint. Replays showed Toussaint taking a couple of extra steps before making the layup and drawing a foul, but traveling was not called.
On the ensuing possession, the Wildcats did not get off a shot.
Baylor had its own second-half comeback. Ja’Kobe Walter scored all 14 of his points in the second half. He also grabbed seven rebounds, helping the Bears come back from a seven-point deficit in the second half.
Baylor led 60-59 and Cincinnati had four chances to take the lead without converting. After Walter made two free throws to extend the lead. The Bearcats missed two 3-pointers that could have tied the game.
“I think that was par for all the Big 12 games today,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “Analytically, we have 10 teams in the top-50 (in NET rankings) and five games came down to one possession. So, if you’re ranked, you probably lost. That’s college basketball.”
Drew scored a second win over the weekend with the announcement Sunday that prized recruit VJ Edgecombe, listed by 247Sports as the No. 6 overall player in the 2024 class, would come to Baylor.
The shooting guard’s other two finalist schools were Duke and Kentucky.
“On my visit, it felt like home. I got a feeling in my heart, and I just knew,” Edgecombe said, according to ESPN, which had him in the top five of his class. He also visited Duke, Florida, Kentucky and St. John’s.
ESPN called the 6-foot-5 Edgecombe, who is from Long Island Lutheran in Glen Head, N.Y., the Bears’ highest-ranked commitment since 2012.
–Field Level Media
