MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas State was willing to go into a swoon once Saturday when Jacob Pullen went to the bench with foul trouble. Only once.
When
the Wildcats' senior guard picked up two fouls in the first half, No.
20 Missouri went on a 10-1 run. But when he took a seat with four fouls
with about 7 minutes left in a tight game, his teammates settled down
and took control, unfurling a gritty 9-0 run that carried them to an
80-70 victory.
"That's kind of what it's about," said Frank
Martin, who became the first coach in Kansas State history to win 20
games in each of his first four seasons. "You have a team, not players."
Pullen
scored 24 points, reaching a rare career milestone, and Curtis Kelly
added 15 points and six rebounds for the resurgent Wildcats (20-9,
8-6), who have won six of seven and are battling Missouri (22-7, 8-6)
for the fourth and final bye in the Big 12 tournament.
Pullen
went 3 for 3 from 3-point range and scored 11 quick points at the
game's outset, becoming one of two Kansas State players to go over the
2,000-point mark. But he picked up his fourth foul with 7:16 left and
was on the bench when Missouri's Michael Dixon hit a 3-pointer for a
60-60 tie with 6:10 to go.
But Will Spradling hit a 3-pointer,
Rodney McGruder made a floater in the lane and Nick Russell had four
free throws in a 9-0 run as the foul-plagued Tigers dropped to 1-6 in
Big 12 road games.
"Will was real tentative in practice the last
two days and I was real hard on him," Martin said. "It's a credit that
a young kid, a freshman, can step up and accept that responsibility.
When Jake went out, him and Rodney accepted responsibility. Curtis
accepted responsibility. The most important part was we got defensive
stops, which is what gave us the opportunity."
Marcus Denmon had
22 points and Laurence Bowers had 16 points and nine rebounds for the
Tigers, who came in with a four-game winning streak but have a
conference road win against only last-place Iowa State.
While
struggling to stop the Kansas State surge in the final minutes, the
Tigers had four players with four fouls and three others with three.
"They
made plays down the stretch," Denmon said. "We were in our zone defense
when it was tied 60-60. It was a credit to them. We had a lot of mental
mistakes as a team. We did a lot of things that you can't do on the
road."
Pullen, one of the hottest shooters in the nation the
past two weeks, hit his first three 3-pointers and had 11 points as the
Wildcats bolted to a 15-7 lead. He and Mike Evans are the only Kansas
State players to score 2,000 points.
The Kansas State bench
scored 29 points and the Wildcats had a 39-24 rebounding edge over the
team that beat them 75-59 on Jan. 17.
"We had a lot of dudes
step up, even in the first half," Pullen said. "Will made some shots.
They had confidence. They felt like this was our game and we weren't
giving it away. When you've got a team that's playing like we're
playing right now, just hitting our stride and feeling really good
about ourselves, it really makes everything easy, even when I'm not in
the game."
In his four-year career, Pullen has never lost to Missouri at home.
"We
take a lot of pride when we play again them," he said. "We really
wanted this game. We had our moments when we kind of got lackadaisical.
But at the end of the day we made plays and we did what we had to do to
win the game."
The Wildcats led by as many as 10 points in the first half but Missouri closed to 41-38 at halftime.
"They
started off with a tremendous run in a game where emotions are going to
run sky-high," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said. "I thought our guys
did a good job of settling in and getting back to the things that we
came on the road to do in terms of execution of our offense and
defense. When you go into halftime down by three points, you feel
pretty good about your team."
McGruder had 10 points for Kansas State. Dixon had 10 for the Tigers.
Updated February 26, 2011
