Kansas State 73, Utah State 68
TUCSON, Ariz.
-(USU Media Relations) Three players in double-digits was not enough for 12th-seeded Utah State as the Aggies were topped by the Wildcats of Kansas State, 73-68, Thursday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the McKale Center at Tuscon, Ariz.
USU, ranked No. 17 in this week’s ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll and No. 19 in the Associated Press poll ends its record season with a 30-4 mark, as the 30 wins ties the 2008-09 team for most in school history and its 30-4 mark is the best-ever in the program’s history. No. 24/21 K-State improves to 23-10 overall and advances to play third-seeded and No. 16/16 Wisconsin in the third round on Saturday.
In his final game in an Aggie uniform, senior forward Tai Wesley netted a team-high 18 points, while junior guard Brockeith Pane added 17 points and senior guard Pooh Williams tied a career-high with four three-pointers on the way to 16 points. Wesley and senior guard Tyler Newbold shared not only team-best rebounding honors but game-best as well snaring six boards each.
The Wildcats had four players in double-digits, led by Jacob Pullen’s 22 points, while Curtis Kelly added 15 and Shane Southwell and Rodney McGruder tossed in 10 points apiece. Curtis and McGruder pulled down six rebounds each, as K-State had a 33-29 rebounding advantage, only the eighth time this season that USU has been out-rebounded.
The Aggies were 23-of-50 (46.0 percent) from the field, hitting 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) behind the arc while making 16-of-21 (76.2 percent) at the free throw line. The Wilcats netted 22-of-54 (40.7 percent) field goal shooting while making 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from three-point range and 24-of-28 (85.7 percent) at the charity stripe.
Williams hit a three-pointer from the left wing to give USU its only lead of the game at 5-4 with 16:13 on the clock and senior guard Brian Green later hit a trey from the right wing to knot the score at 10-all. K-State opened a 31-17 lead with 2:42 to go in the half, and took a 33-22 advantage into intermission.
The Aggies pulled within 33-28 less than three minutes into the second half as Wesley hit a jumper and a layup sandwiched around a Pane layup. The Wildcats responded and opened a 47-34 lead at the 10:14 mark on a Kelly jumper. USU countered to close to 56-50 on a driving Williams dunk with 4:20 to play, but that would be the closest the Aggies would get until the waning seconds.
Utah State’s senior class of Wesley, Green, Newbold, Williams, and forwards Nate Bendall and Matt Formisano leave USU as their winningest players in school history with a four-year record of 108-28. That group led the Aggies to four-straight regular-season Western Athletic Conference championships and two WAC Tournament titles in the last three years.