“It’s a good matchup for us,” Kansas State senior Wesley Iwundu said. “You know they’re a tough team, but we’re down for any challenge. It’s what we’re here for. We’re the underdogs now but we like being the underdogs and we plan to put up a tough fight.”
It was a two-point game Tuesday with just over five minutes left before Kansas State went on a 7-0 run to extend the gap, and the Demon Deacons never drew closer than five points after that.
The Wildcats closed out the game at the free-throw line, scoring their last seven points on freebies and leading by as many as 11 points in the final minute.
“I thought they obviously made more plays than us down the stretch offensively and defensively to have more success than us in this game,” Wake coach Danny Manning said. “… I thought in the second half we’re able to come down, execute and knock down some shots and give ourselves a chance and we cut it to one (with eight minutes left), but we weren’t able to get it over the hump.”
Kansas State’s defense lived up to its hype, stymieing one of the nation’s most efficient offenses in the first half, but its offense was the key.
While Wake Forest shot 36.4 percent the first half, the Wildcats started and finished strong. Four of their starters reached double figures for scoring, led by Iwundu’s 24 points and Kamau Stokes’ 22 points, and the team shot 66.0 percent for the game.
The Demon Deacons had to rely on free throws to keep the game close early on, making 17 of 18 attempts at the line in the first half to trail just 40-36 at the break. Wake Forest led a mere 36 seconds and despite a more productive second half, the Deacons simply couldn’t keep pace with Kansas State.
John Collins finished with 26 points and nine rebounds for Wake.
“We felt if we guarded and took care of the ball and moved the basketball we’d be able to score,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “I didn’t know that we’d get 95. But I thought we’d be able to score. I thought the big key was when we had all the foul trouble, the bench did a great job maintaining and we went in the halftime with a little bit of a margin of a lead there. And then the second half Kamau Stokes settled down, made some big shots. Wes was big time the entire time.”
What's next: Kansas State heads to Sacramento, where it will face sixth-seeded Cincinnati (29-5) on Friday.
Pivotal play: Just as Wake Forest seemed to be heating up for a final push, Kamau Stokes gave Kansas State the momentum it needed to fend the Deacons off, hitting a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 run with five minutes left. Wake had just gotten back-to-back dunks from John Collins to make it a two-point game but that was as close as it would get.
Unsung hero: Barry Brown, known as Kansas State's best defender, played a key role in holding Keyshawn Woods, who averages 12.8 points, to four points. Brown had 14 points and three assists on offense.
Spotlight stat: Kansas State made 15 of 24 field goals in the first half but was even better down the stretch, as the Wildcats shot 69.6 percent to finish at 66.0 percent for the game. They had 42 points in the paint, including 24 in the first half.
Crowd count: Tuesday's attendance was 11,855. Tickets are still available for Wednesday's games.
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