Field Level Media
Mar 6, 2021
Mike McGuirl had 12 of his team-high 17 points in the second half as Kansas State defeated Iowa State 61-56 Saturday in Manhattan, Kan.
Iowa State finished its first winless conference season since 1936-37. They are only the fourth team in the 25-year history of the Big 12 Conference to go winless in the conference season.
Both teams struggled from the field in the second half. Kansas State shot just 26.1 percent and Iowa State shot 30.8 percent.
Kansas State (8-19, 4-14 Big 12) has won three of its last four games. DaJuan Gordon, who was scoreless in the Wildcats' last game against West Virginia, hit double figures early in the second half. He finished with 12 points. Nijel Pack added 10 points.
Iowa State (2-21, 0-18 Big 12) has lost a school-record 16 games. The Cyclones were led by Jalen Coleman-Lands with 19 points and Solomon Young with 18. Javan Johnson had 11 rebounds.
Iowa State, which didn't shoot a free throw in the first half, reached the bonus at the 13:33 mark of the second half. But the conference's leading free-throw shooting team (78.3 percent) finished 13-of-18.
After Kansas State took its largest lead of 12 points, Iowa State went on a 10-1 run to cut it to 38-35. But the Wildcats broke a seven-minute field-goal drought and responded with a 7-0 run to reopen a double-digit lead.
Kansas State pulled away late in the first half and took a 33-25 lead into the locker room. Gordon led the Wildcats with nine points in the first half before picking up his second foul. The Wildcats had a balanced scoring attack in the opening half, with five players with either four or five points.
Iowa State, playing without leading scorer Rasir Bolton (15.4 ppg.), relied on three players for the bulk of their first-half scoring. Tyler Harris and Coleman-Lands each had seven points, and Young had six.
The first half was fairly clean, with the two teams combining for just nine turnovers. Kansas State came in second in the conference with 15.1 turnovers per contest, and Iowa State was third with 15.0.
--Field Level Media