Kansas St. (25-9 straight up, 22-12 against the spread) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018 with Sunday’s 75-69 comeback win over Kentucky in a Round-of-32 thriller at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina. The Wildcats won outright as three-point underdogs, cashing +135 tickets for their money-line backers.
Kansas St. star point guard Markquis Nowell stole the show with a spectacular performance. The third-team All-American PG from New York City finished with 27 points, nine assists, three steals and two rebounds.
Nowell hasn’t been home to NYC in the last three years, remaining on campus during the holidays to work on his craft. However, the first-team All-Big-12 selection returns to the Big Apple on Thursday when K-St. takes on Michigan St. in a 6:30 p.m. Eastern tip at Madison Square Garden.
As of Monday night, most books had Tom Izzo’s team installed as a two-point favorite with a total of 137.5. I’ve already backed the Wildcats and I also have a 99/1 future ticket on K-St. (from mid-December) in pocket.
After Kentucky went ahead 60-56 with four minutes remaining, Nowell either scored or assisted on all but two points (on a pair of clutch free throws from Desi Sills) in the Wildcats’ 19-9 run to end the game. Nowell’s domination at crunch time started with a stepback trey that you can see in the clip below.
Jerome Tang’s team didn’t get an ideal outing from star forward Keyontae Johnson, who only went 5-of-14 on field-goal attempts. With Johnson struggling to find his shot, Nowell had to keep his team in the game with shots like the one in the clip below:
He also ended the first half with a gorgeous no-look pass to Tomlin for a dunk to put the Wildcats up 29-26 at halftime.
Johnson came up huge when it mattered the most, though. With K-St. leading by two and less than 90 seconds remaining, the former Florida Gator took a pass on the right wing, sized up his defender, took one dribble and buried a stepback 3-ball to insert a quasi-dagger into Big Blue Nation.
The real dagger came at the free-throw line. In the final 37 seconds, K-St. had to go to the charity stripe for three different front ends of one-and-one situations. Nowell drained a pair of front and back ends, while Sills took care of his business on the front and back as well.
Kentucky absolutely dominated K-St. on the boards by a decisive 42-23 margin, crashing the glass for 17 offensive rebounds. John Calipari’s squad also had a monumental homecourt advantage in terms of crowd support, but it also had Cal calling the shots on the sidelines.
Antonio Reeves, who averaged 14.2 points per game during the regular season and made 41.0 percent of his 3-pointers, couldn’t buy a bucket on Sunday. Nevertheless, he took more shots than any other UK player. After yet another missed attempt with less than 10 minutes remaining, I made my thoughts clear on Reeves.
The transfer from Illinois St. missed his first 14 shots. In fact, he didn’t make his first shot from the field until there were six seconds remaining.
Oscar Tshiebwe was terrific in the losing effort, scoring 25 points to go with 18 rebounds and two steals. Cason Wallace added 21 points, nine boards, four assists and two steals.
K-St.’s Nae’Qwan Tomlin had 12 points, six rebounds, four blocks and a pair of steals, while Sills finished with 12 points and four rebounds, going 6-of-7 from the FT line. Johnson had 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal.
For a team that was predicted to finish last in the Big 12, K-St. has turned in a helluva season in Tang’s first year on the job. With Kansas, Baylor and other conference counterparts already at home, K-St. still has a pulse and so does my 99/1 ticket.