After witnessing higher seeds compete with lower seeds right before game-time, Kansas State knew they could not come into their NCAA Tournament First Round game against North Texas expecting the Mean Green to go down without a fight.
The Wildcats have responded well after losses this season, and looked to do it again after the heartbreaking loss to rival Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament Championship game. They did just that. Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen dominated the backcourt for K-State and thrashed North Texas 82-62 in Oklahoma City, OK.
Pullen came out firing, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the first half before leaving the game in the second half with a bruised elbow. He returned to the game later and appeared to be fine, with no real pain evident.
Johnny Jones, the head coach of North Texas, stated that the Wildcats’ speed and size would be hard to overcome. He was right, as his team simply could not overcome the quickness of K-State.
Clemente was able to rack up four early assists off of North Texas miscues by sprinting down the court in transition. That still wasn’t enough to pull away from the pesky Sun Belt Conference champions. The game was close early in the first half until a 7-0 run by the Wildcats forced North Texas into a timeout and changed the momentum of the game for good.
From that point on, K-State dominated North Texas and refused to become the next upset victim in this year’s version of March Madness. K-State lead by as many as 26 points and was able to cruise throughout much of the second half of the game.
As expected, the Wildcats dominated the offensive glass and scored most of their points in the paint. The most unexpected stat of the game was the number of blocks the Wildcats were able to accumulate. The Wildcats have not been a dominant shot-blocking team this season, but they were against North Texas, coming up with 10 blocks. Curtis Kelly, the Wildcats’ record-holder for blocks in a season, ended the game with four more blocks to add to his stats total. Luis Colon and Jordan Henriquez-Roberts chipped in with two blocks each.
The Wildcat bench played to its ability all day, accounting for 17 points, 19 rebounds and turned the ball over just four times.
The stingy K-State defense limited the Mean Green to 30 percent shooting from the floor and 26 percent from beyond the arc. Additionally, the Wildcat defense forced 16 turnovers to compliment its nine steals.
Clemente was the player of the game for the Wildcats. He finished with 17 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals—highlighted by his flip pass to Dominique Sutton in the first half which capped the Wildcats’ 7-0 run.
Earlier this season, when Frank Martin picked up his 20th win on the season, he mentioned that every win from that point on would be a historic win because of what the team had already achieved.
Martin could not have been more prophetic. Since then, the Wildcats have racked up seven wins along with three losses (two of which were to Kansas). After the win against North Texas, the Wildcats are 27-7 and continue to add to their school record of most wins in a season.
K-State will get an opportunity on Saturday to expand on that win total when they take on Brigham Young in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. BYU beat Florida 99-92 in double overtime earlier in the day, where BYU junior Jimmer Fredette scored 37 points. The game in Oklahoma City will air on CBS and the time is to be announced.
