Kansas State uses hot first half to upend Oklahoma

Published Jan. 7, 2017 7:57 p.m. ET

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas State came close to upsetting in-state rival Kansas earlier this week. That anger and frustration of not pulling off the upset was used as fuel to push the Wildcats into Saturday's matchup with Oklahoma.

Wesley Iwundu led a balanced attack with 16 points and Kansas State used a strong first half to defeat the Sooners 75-64.

Barry Brown added 14 points, Kamau Stokes 13, Dean Wade 12 and D.J. Johnson 10 for the Wildcats (13-2, 2-1 Big 12).

"I thought they were great," Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. "I told them to come out angry, I said guard the heck out of them, push and share the ball."

Kansas State started out fast, opening a 14-3 lead and building it to 43-27 at the half on 54 percent shooting (15 of 28) as Stokes scored 13 and Wade 10. The pair combined to go 5 of 6 on 3-pointers.

"I thought Kansas State opened the ballgame well, they obviously played sharp and set the tone." Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger, a former player at coach at K-State, said.

The Sooners, who shot 38 percent in the first half, shot 68 percent (15 of 22) in the second, got within six midway through the half but could get no closer.

"We just tried to fight, compete and come back. We tried to do whatever it takes to do that," Oklahoma's Rashard Odomes said.

Kameron McGusty came off the bench to score 20 points for Oklahoma (6-8, 0-3), which lost its sixth straight.

Although the Sooners are in the middle of a lengthy losing streak, they remain optimistic about breaking through and getting that elusive conference win.

"Each game we come out confident," Odomes said. "I feel like we have confident players that are working to try and get it done. Game after game we try to improve."

BIG PICTURE

Oklahoma: The loss is the fifth-straight in Manhattan, dating back to 2012.

Kansas State: The win was the 250th in Bramlage Coliseum.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Oklahoma's turnovers quickly became Kansas State points as the Wildcats scored 18 points off of Oklahoma miscues. Oklahoma also turned Kansas State points into double digit scores as they cashed in 13 points off of Kansas State turnovers.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: The Sooners host No.3 ranked Kansas on Tuesday.

Kansas State: The Wildcats are at Texas Tech on Tuesday.