David N’Guessan had 20 points, joining three other Wildcats in double figures as host Kansas State defeated No. 16 Kansas 81-73 on Saturday in the Sunflower Showdown in Manhattan, Kan.
The Wildcats have won five straight games, including three against ranked teams and two on the road.
Kansas State (12-11, 6-6 Big 12) has won the last three games against Kansas in Manhattan, with the previous two going into overtime. Joining N’Guessan in double figures were Dug McDaniel with 15 points along with 11 assists and Max Jones and Coleman Hawkins with 12 points each.
Kansas (16-7, 7-5) was led by Hunter Dickinson with 21 points. Zeke Mayo added 15 and KJ Adams had 13.
Kansas State took a 55-43 lead at the 17:20 mark of the second half and led by double digits most of the rest of the game. The Wildcats matched their largest lead of 15 multiple times in the second half.
Kansas did trim the deficit to 81-73 with with 33.9 seconds remaining, but it was too late for a comeback.
The first half began and ended about as well as possible for Kansas State.
In the first game between the rivals in January, the Wildcats fell behind 14-0 and never recovered. They made sure that didn’t happen again. McDaniel hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the game’s first points.
The Wildcats led by as many as 12 on several occasions and took a 44-36 lead into the locker room after N’Guessan hit a fallaway jumper at the halftime buzzer. Their offense was aided by the fact that Kansas defensive specialist Dajuan Harris Jr. picked up his third foul with 9:56 left and had to sit the rest of the half.
Both teams shot well in the first half. Kansas was 16 of 28 (57.1 percent) from the field while Kansas State was 19 of 35 (54.3 percent). The Wildcats were led by N’Guessan’s 10 points.
Adams led Kansas with 13 points in the first half.
–Field Level Media
