Kansas State basketball tops No. 16 Baylor in overtime, 97-95: Three takeaways
WACO, Texas — Kansas State has done it again.
Three Big 12 games against ranked opponents, and three victories, two of them in overtime.
Markquis Nowell scored 32 points and had 14 assists to lead the Wildcats to a wild 97-95 overtime victory against Baylor on Saturday at Ferrell Center, as they pushed their record to 14-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference. No. 16-ranked Baylor fell to 10-5 and 0-3.
K-State also got 24 points and nine rebounds from Keyontae Johnson and 13 points off the bench from Ismael Massoud, including a 3-pointer with 32.6 seconds left that gave his team the lead for good. For Baylor, Adam Flagler had 23 points and Keyonte George 22.
Nowell became the first player in school history to record 30 points and 10 assists in the same game and the first in NCAA Division I since Oklahoma's Trae Young against TCU in 2017.
Massoud's 3-pointer with 32.6 seconds left in overtime put K-State in front, 96-95, and with 6.1 seconds to go, Flagler lost the ball out of bounds, giving the Wildcats the ball back. Nowell made the first of two free throws at 5.3 seconds, and Caleb Lohner missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer for the Bears.
The game marked a return to Baylor for K-State coach Jerome Tang, who spent the previous 19 years as a Bears assistant under Scott Drew.
K-State now returns home to face Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Tuesday before returning to Texas next Saturday against TCU.
K-State proving it belongs in Big 12 race
Just three games into the Big 12 schedule, it remains to be seen just where Kansas State stacks up, but the Wildcats have looked like anything but a team that was picked last in the conference preseason poll.
At 14-1 overall and 3-0, they have clearly showed that they can be competitive in the league, regardless of whether they can sustain the early momentum.
One reason the Wildcats were picked 10th no doubt was the uncertainty factor, with a new coach in Tang and a totally rebuilt roster from last year's 14-17 team that posted a third straight losing record under Bruce Weber. But still, this is no last-place team.
Wildcats have found their mojo on offense
Tang and his K-State players have talked incessantly about how much harder it would be to score once Big 12 play started, but that hasn't been the case so far.
After an 82-76 overtime victory against No. 24-ranked West Virginia, the Wildcats set a school scoring record with a 116-103 win at No. 6 Texas and then shot 60% and scored 47 points in the first half at No. 16 Baylor. K-State also hit 6 of 8 shots to start the second half and finished the game at 53.1%.
It hasn't hurt that Nowell and Johnson have been lights out, but the Wildcats' offense has looked visibly crisper in its execution, even in the absence of starting post player David N'Guessan.
A healthy Abayomi Iyiola has filled in nicely for N'Guessan, and Massoud has played his best basketball of the season while slowly earning Tang's trust.
Protecting Nae'Qwan Tomlin
For the second straight game, Tang tried to protect Nae'Qwan Tomlin from foul trouble by sitting him down the rest of the half after two personals.
Against Baylor, Tomlin picked up his second with 7:37 left in the half and did not return to the floor the rest of the period, logging only 10 minutes.
With N'Guessan still injured — Tang said earlier this week that he is day-to-day — the Wildcats could ill afford to be without Tomlin down the stretch against a long and athletic Baylor team, even though the Bears have relied primarily on their guards for scoring.
Tomlin, who had five points and three rebounds with a block in the first half, went nearly nine minutes of the second period before picking up his third foul, and Tang stayed with him. He did foul out with 2:56 left in overtime, but not before finishing with nine points and six rebound while forcing Baylor to adjust numerous shots near the basket.
With the addition to Iyiola and Massoud to the rotation, the Wildcats should be in much better shape depth-wise when N'Guessan returns.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball prevails over Baylor in overtime
