GREENSBORO, N.C. — In a lose-and-go-home scenario that pitted the Wildcats against the Wildcats, it was the Kansas State Cats who survived.
KSU left Greensboro Coliseum with a 75-69 win after a hard-fought 40 minutes in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 matchup. It went down to the wire, with 12 total lead changes and 6:35 game time spent tied.
With the loss, Kentucky's season comes to an end. Their final record stands at 22-12 overall.
Kansas State point guard Markquis Nowell led the way for his team, finishing with 27 points, 23 of which came after halftime.
Oscar Tshiebwe paced the Cats with another double-double: 25 points and 18 rebounds. Cason Wallace fouled out in the game's final seconds with 21 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and five turnovers in 34 minutes.
Both Jacob Toppin and Antonio Reeves struggled for the duration of the game - Toppin finished with two points on 1-7 shooting from the field, while Reeves had five points, all of which came in the game's final 15 seconds. He ended the night 1-15 from the field and 1-10 from deep.
Chris Livingston played one of his best games of the season, earning 11 points and seven rebounds.
Both teams got off to slow starts offensively, especially from behind-the-arc. Reeves ended the first half 0-5 from deep, while Kansas State collectively went 0-12 from 3-point land. Kentucky did get a burst from deep when CJ Fredrick connected on one with 6:26 to play in the opening half - it was his first successful 3-point bucket since March 1st and his first points in general since March 4th.
Big Blue Nation held its breath when Wallace briefly checked out of the game with an injury near the 4:30 mark, but he quickly checked back in and battled through any lingering issues for the duration of the night, until his fifth foul sent him to the bench late in the game.
Despite his return to action, Kentucky struggled to end the first half. The Lexington Wildcats committed three turnovers in a quick three-minute stretch, while also failing to score a basket during that same time period. With 1:55 to play in the first, Kansas State retook the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of play. Tshiebwe was able to get his Cats back to even with an and-one with less than a minute to go, but it was all Manhattan Wildcats from there.
Although Kentucky led for more than 14 of the game's first 20 minutes, Kansas State was the program with momentum on its side heading into the locker room. The KSU Wildcats had two clutch baskets in the half's final minute: a driving layup by Nowell and an alley-oop slam by big man Nae'Qwan Tomlin. Their 29-26 advantage was Kansas State's largest lead of the game at that point.
Tomlin also scored the opening bucket of the second half to extend his team's run, but Wallace wasn't far behind. Kentucky's point guard had back-to-back baskets, including one that also gave him a successful shot at the free-throw line. Kentucky kept it going, rattling off a 13-0 run over a 3:02 stretch to get ahead by as many as eight points.
But Kansas State was able to respond, due in part to their point guard Nowell, who hit the team's first three-pointer of the game more than five minutes into the second half. The long-range bucket tied things back up, this time at 39-all. Both Wildcat programs continued to trade baskets until the Kansas State Cats were able to string together a 6-0 run that put them up 47-43 and forced Calipari to call a timeout to settle his team.
During that run, Reeves had back-to-back good looks from behind-the-arc, but he wasn't able to connect on either one of them. He was 0-12 (0-7 from deep) at that point in the game.
It was Chris Livingston who was able to find his shot from deep out of that timeout. Tshiebwe followed it up with two made free throws, and the Cats were back within striking distance. Basket after basket was answered by both teams, until Kansas State hit three, three-pointers, by three different Wildcats, which changed the game. Kentucky was never able to recover.
Kentucky ended the night shooting 41 percent from the field, 20 percent from behind-the-arc, and 76 percent from the free throw line. The outrebounded Kansas State 44-25 but committed 16 total turnovers.
