The first time Kansas State faced off against Missouri, the Tigers expanded their home winning streak to 30 games and sent the Wildcats home on a sour note to begin conference play.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, the rematch took place in the Octagon of Doom, a place the Tigers had no streak to lean on.

The Wildcats have been held under 70 points in a game just four times this season. Against Missouri, the Wildcats could only muster up 63 points. Fortunately, stifling defense by the Wildcats limited the Tigers to 53 points and the Wildcats achieved their 24th win of the season.

The game only had four lead changes and three ties, but it was much closer than the final score indicated.

In the first match-up between the Tigers and the Wildcats, the Tigers used suffocating defense to upset the then-No.11 Wildcats. This time around, it was the Wildcats’ pressure defense that yielded the win. Both defenses played well, K-State’s just proved to be more dominant.

The Wildcats stole the ball 10 times and forced the Tigers into 17 turnovers. The Wildcats scored a total of 21 points off turnovers and had 13 fast-break points. The Wildcats limited the Tigers to 4 of 16 from behind the line.

Perhaps the biggest difference in this game from the previous match-up was the number of free-throw attempts for the Tigers. In the first match-up, the Tigers attempted an astonishing 43 free-throws. Tonight, the Wildcats limited the Tigers to just 13 attempts.

Wildcats junior forward Curtis Kelly had a great night, collecting ten rebounds to complement his ten points and three blocks.

The K-State bench was a huge factor against Missouri. When starters needed to a rest, the reserves came in and gave the Wildcats 22 points. In comparison, Missouri’s bench only scored 9 points.

Junior guard Jacob Pullen shot 2 of 7 from the field, but both of those shots were huge three-point shots that really got the Wildcats going. Pullen is just seven three-pointers away from a Kansas State milestone. He will become only the third player in Kansas State history with 1,000 points, 200 three-pointers, 250 assists and 100 steals. Pullen’s first three-point basket sparked a 13-5 Wildcats run to end the first half and his second put the Wildcats in the lead for good in the second half.

The Tigers were competitive for the entire 40 minutes. The Wildcats simply could not shake them. With less than 30 seconds in the game, Missouri pulled to within five of the Wildcats. But shortly thereafter, Dominique Sutton iced the game by hitting three key free-throws that pushed the game out of reach for the pesky Tigers.

The Wildcats picked up a very impressive win against a solid Missouri team. After an extremely slow start, the Wildcats prevailed in the second half of the game. The Wildcats dominated the last 20 minutes of basketball scoring 40 of their 63 points in the second half.

This is a big win for K-State because it keeps them in the running for at least a share of the Big 12 title. The Wildcats are 24-4 overall; one win shy of tying the all-time school wins record. Additionally, they now stand at 11-3 in the Big 12–the most conference wins of any Wildcat team this decade. With the win, K-State has locked up a first round bye in the Big 12 tournament.

After seeing Kansas come up short against Oklahoma State, the Wildcats are now just two games behind the conference-leading Jayhawks and have a chance to pull to within one when they travel to Lawrence, KS on Wednesday. Tip-off against Kansas is at 7PM and will be on the Big 12 Network.