CRAWFORD | Timing is everything: Late K-State threes sink Kentucky 75-69 in NCAA 2nd round | Sports

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WDRB) -- Timing is everything. Kansas State hit a trio of 3-pointers in the final 3 1/2 minutes to erase a 4-point deficit and beat Kentucky 75-69 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday.

The No. 3 seeded Wildcats trailed by 8 early, but clamped down on defense to take a 3-point lead to the half, and used great guard leadership from Marquis Nowell to outperform Kentucky in crunch time.

K-State was rock-solid at the end of each half. It went 0-for-12 from 3-point range in the first half, but 5 of 9 in the second, including 4 of 6 in the game's final 6:10.

For Kentucky, which won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2019 just two nights prior, the loss ends a disappointing season in which the Wildcats were ranked No. 4 in the preseason but never lived up to the expectations.

"Tough way to end," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "We had some guys really fight like crazy and then had a couple of guys offensively not play their game the way they played all year, but that stuff happens in this tournament. We did a pretty good job on (Keyontae) Johnson, and he makes that three. The little kid (Nowell) makes a three. He made a deep three. We miss a couple, and all of a sudden it gets out of hand. These kids fought. They never stopped."

Oscar Tshiebwe, again, was outstanding. He finished with 25 points and 18 rebounds. And freshman point guard Cason Wallace had 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists before fouling out late. Chris Livingston chipped in 11 points and7 rebounds.

But Kentucky got the worst offensive performances of the season from two key contributors at the worst possible time. Jacob Toppin, who averaged 12.7 points per game, went just 1-for-7 from the field. Antonio Reeves, who averaged 14.6 points per game this season and was the team leader in 3-pointers, missed his first 14 shots before a 3-pointer in the closing seconds.

Nowell led K-State with 25 points and 9 assists. Johnson, who hit one of the late threes, finished with 13. And for Ismael Massoud, who hit the other late three, it was his only basket of the game.

Kansas State also got 12 points from Nae'Qwan Tomlin and 11 from Desi Sills.

Kentucky out rebounded K-State 44-25, but couldn't take advantage of it.

"They made basketball plays at the end that we did not make," Calipari said. "So give them credit. But, yes, this is what happenes in certain games. You know, you turn around, and you are, like, guys, you can't -- you don't have to make them all. You just can't miss them all. And we've had games like that. It's, you know -- you just hope in the NCAA Tournament you can go on a run. And I thought after the first game where we fought, and we didn't shoot it great, but I thought that was a good sign."

Kentucky missed 9 of its last 10 first-half shots and went to the locker room down 3 after leading by 8. It was active on defense to open the second half and used a 13-0 run to go up by 8 again, but K-State kept making big plays.

It caps an amazing run for a program that was absolutely gutted by the time Jerome Tang took over as head coach. He had been an assistant at Baylor, and one day took one of the two players left in Manhattan, Nowell, to lunch.

"Quis and I went to lunch one day, and I said, 'Quis, I'm going to do everything in my power to put a team together to get to the NCAA Tournament.' He said, Coach, I don't care if we have five dudes, we're going to the tournament because Kemba Walker won a national championship with I think three freshmen and two sophomores,'" Tang said. "Whatever it was. But he knew, right? I was like, man, with that kind of confidence, it just inspired me to work harder and our staff to work harder. He always believed it, and he helped me believe."

"I was just in attack mode the second half because I seen how they were playing me," Nowell said. "They were playing me for the pass because I dropped a lot of dimes in the first half. I tried to look for my own shot a little bit more and be more aggressive, and I wanted to go to New York."

And now, the purple Wildcats are. At his locker after the game, Tshiebwe was dejected, but said he was grateful for his time at Kentucky. He said a decision on whether he'll return will wait.

"We knew that Oscar was going to get his, but we had to control everybody else," Tang said. "Cason Wallace had an unbelievable game, did a great job, but we felt we did a good job on the three-point shooters, and I think that was the difference in the game."