Upsets in Big 12 Hoops: K-State Shocks No. 7 Kansas, WVU Routs No. 11 Iowa State

What started as a battle in the state of Kansas ended as an upset with Monday’s 85-82 Kansas State (17-7, 7-4) OT win over No. 7 Kansas (18-6,9-2).

The victory snapped K-State’s six-game losing streak against Kansas and represented its first home win against this rival since Feb. 14, 2011.

Marcus Foster

With less than two minute remaining in regulation time, Kansas State gave up a nine-point advantage and some momentum but fought back not only to enter overtime but also take the win. Wildcat freshman Marcus Foster hit two free throws with 21.9 seconds remaining in OT to give his team an 83-79 advantage. Fellow freshman, Andrew Wiggins from Kansas,  tried to immediately get points for his team but missed a 3-pointer. Teammate Tarik Black tried for another shot but missed.

The Wildcats got the rebound and watched the clock run out for the win.

For the night, Foster led in scoring for Kansas State with his 20 points followed by Will Spradling adding 15 points along with six rebounds, five assists and three steals. During the game, Foster hurt his ankle and in the postgame press conference was wearing a boot.

Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said of the momentous game via the Associated Press, “If we lost, it would have been a heartbreaker.”

Wiggins scored 16 points for the night but his teammate Perry Ellis contributed 19 points with Naadir Tharpe adding 13 and Brannen Greene scoring 10. Kansas’ other freshman phenom, Joel Embiid, again only played for 18 and scored six points (2-of-5 shooting). The short game came after the player had been described as “beat up” from lingering back and knee problems. He may miss some time but no additional details had been provided.

For the Big Dance, Kansas sits at 7/1 to win it all while Kansas State is 100/1.

In a second Big 12 upset on Monday, West Virginia (15-10, 7-5) defeated No. 11 Iowa State (18-5, 6-5), 102-77.  During the game, the Cyclones fell into a double-digit deficit by the middle of the game’s first half and toward the end of the game, were behind by as much as 32 points. While Kansas State had its notable win, for Iowa State, Monday’s loss represented its most unbalanced one since January 2011 against Texas with a 23-point differential.

Contributing to the all-out drubbing, was Remi Dibo’s 3-point play. He hit 13 of them to tie a season high. For the night playing in his fourth consecutive start, Dibo had 20 points while Juwan Staten contributed 19 points and Eron Harris and Terry Henderson both added 16 points each.

Remi Dibo

Dibo said of the game via CBS Sports, “I think my teammates did a great job of finding me. I think it’s been a while. They’ve been doing a good job finding me and I was not responding. But I did today.”

For the game from the field, West Virginia shot 54 percent (35 of 65) and saw a season-high night for points. In their last four consecutive games that has come against ranked teams, they are 2-1 and will carry that momentum against No. 19 Texas on Saturday.

As for Iowa State, it tried to keep up offensively as five players scored in double numbers. Georges Niang led with 17 but Melvin Ejim, who is the Big 12’s leading scorer, only had six points (1-of-9 shooting). This performance followed his conference record of 48 points and his career-high 18 rebounds versus TCU last Saturday.

Dustin Hogue also contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds for Iowa State while Deandre Kane added 14 points.

These two teams will again meet on Feb. 26. Iowa State sits at 33/1 to win the Big Dance while West Virginia is not even on Vegas’ radar.

Tuesday’s Top 25 Games

No. 3 Florida (-1.5, 128.5 o/u) at Tennessee
Southern Illinois at No. 4 Wichita State (-17)
No.5 San Diego State (-4, 118 o/u) at Wyoming
No. 15 Michigan at No.22 Ohio State (-4, 129.5 o/u)
Oklahoma State at No. 19 Texas (-4, 145.5 o/u)