It did not take lengthy for Massive 12 basketball to ship chaos.
On Monday, Kansas State (7-5, 1-0 in Massive 12) upset Related Press No. 16 Cincinnati (10-2, 0-1 in Massive 12), 70-67, within the first day of convention play.
Kansas State senior guard Coleman Hawkins led all scorers with 20 factors. He shot 7-of-13, together with 3-of-5 from three-point vary, whereas including 10 rebounds, 4 steals and three assists because the Wildcats pulled off the house win as a pre-game four-point underdog.
Cincinnati’s incapacity to get the road bit it within the loss. Per WarrenNolan.com, Cincinnati ranks 337th out of 364 basketball packages in free-throw charge (0.254). It solely tried seven free throws — making 4 — towards Kansas State, which went 16-of-20 from the foul line.
The Bearcats entered Monday tied with No. 3 Iowa State (10-1) for first within the Massive 12, whereas the Wildcats had misplaced three consecutive video games, together with most not too long ago to Wichita State (10-3, 0-0 in American), 84-65, plus Drake (12-0, 2-0 in Missouri Valley) and St. John’s (11-2, 2-0 in Massive East).
Kansas State began the day final within the Massive 12 in NET rankings (116) and was 0-5 towards Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponents, making Monday’s win its most spectacular of the 2024-25 season.
The Wildcats’ win can also be a testomony to the Massive 12’s depth. Together with the SEC, the conference has a case as the best in males’s faculty basketball. Kansas State’s skill to defend homecourt reveals that there is not any such factor as a straightforward win within the Massive 12.
Whichever program emerges because the convention’s finest by season’s finish can have gone by the wringer.
