MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State battled back from a 16-point deficit to close to within one possession numerous times in the second half, but UCF had an answer to every rally en route to posting an 82-73 win on Wednesday night before 7,033 fans at Bramlage Coliseum.
After trailing as many as 16 points in the first half, including 12 at the half, K-State (9-8, 0-4 Big 12) showed some desperation out of break, closing to 57-56 at the 11:18 mark after a layup from junior Haggerty, who scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
UCF (14-2, 3-1 Big 12) responded with consecutive 3-pointers from graduate Themus Fulks and junior Jordan Burks to push back ahead 63-56 near the midway point. After consecutive layups from junior McGriff got K-State to within 63-60, senior Riley Kugel connected on a 3-point play to once again put some distance between the teams with 8:50 remaining.
Haggerty split a pair of free throws to close the deficit to 68-65, but a tip-in from junior Chris Johnson and a layup from Kugel put the Knights up 72-65, forcing a timeout from head coach Jerome Tang with 5:14 to play. Another 3-point play from Haggerty gave the Wildcats' one last opportunity at 72-68, but Johnson came through with a big 3-pointer to again answer the rally. From there, they got no closer than 5 points, as the Knights salted it away at the free throw line.
The loss dropped K-State to 0-4 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2021-22.
UCF connected on 52.5 percent (32-of-61) of its field goals, including better than 50 percent in each half, while hitting on 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from beyond the arc. Four players scored in double figures, including 19 from Kugel, 18 from senior Jamichael Stillwell and a points/assist double-double from Fulks with 13 points and a game-high 12 assists.
Haggerty was joined in double figures by 15 points from senior Tomlin, 12 points from junior McGriff and a new career-high 10 points from junior Harris. Senior Haggerty tied a career-high with 10 assists to go with 7 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
K-State rebounded to shoot 54.5 percent (18-of-33) from the field in the second half after making just 34.4 percent (11-of-32) in the first half. For the game, the Wildcats hit on 44.6 percent (29-of-65), including just 20 percent (6-of-30) from 3-point range.
The win was the first in 3 tries for UCF at Bramlage Coliseum.
HEAD COACH JEROME TANG
Opening statement...
"First of all, thankful, blessed to do what I do; this calling of coaching is not for the faint of heart, especially in this league. Three days ago, I probably couldn't tell you guys that we were close, but tonight, we're close. We had enough. I know we're missing two guys [, ], and I'm sorry, please don't ask me any questions. I'm not allowed to talk about why they weren't here for HIPAA reasons. We had enough; we just didn't deliver right; like we had opportunities and we didn't take advantage of it. We started the game the first eight minutes; had eight turnovers; and a couple of shots that might as well have been turnovers; and so they got to get out in transition. When you dig yourself in a hole, it's just hard. In the second half, we were better, but we couldn't get a stop; and that's why we got to keep grinding. A great thing is that we got a lot of games ahead of us. We got to develop more of a desperation. I just watched games yesterday and watched games today. The most desperate teams win; there's a bunch of teams in our situation; and they were all more desperate than their opponent; and were able to get wins; and we didn't start the game; we didn't play the whole game more desperate than them. There were certain times that we did; but there's times that we didn't; and so we just had to develop a greater desperation to change this thing; and we were moving in that direction; and we will get there."
On if he has any indication to the slow conference play start...
"If I do know those reasons, man, I'd bottle it and sell it. I felt like the way we practice; we worked on things I felt like coaches addressed where we needed to. We didn't; and for whatever reason; we will keep flipping rocks to figure it out and go; but yeah; I don't have an answer for that."
On if it was more UCF's defense or rather the execution of the offense...
"They pressured us. I mean, they crawled up on us. They pressured us. They blew every handoff, and we didn’t play with poise and force early. Like they sped us up, so we shot contested layups instead of staying on two feet and stopping and pivoting and finding the next pass. I mean, I think we had eight turnovers, four assists on five made buckets, and in the second half, we end up with 25 assists on 28 made buckets or something like that. So, you’re like the second half, we played with more poise and more force on our drive and found the next person, whereas in the first half, their pressure sped us up, especially early in the game."
On how the team is handling these losses...
"I don’t know. I hope they’re pissed off. I hope they are; like when we went through earlier in the year; like they came in and they were like ‘Okay coach; tell us what we need to do.’ You could tell they were very coachable at that time. Like; they didn’t think they had the answers; hopefully with these four losses; they’ll come back in and they say ‘Okay coach; we don’t have the answers; you got to help us’ because we’re giving them what they need. They just have to go out and have to execute it. At some point in time; it falls on their shoulders to do it. We don’t browbeat our guys; you know; we love them up. They know they’re loved now; we got to be better at the business of basketball. We have to play basketball better. That’s just the challenge; that’s what they signed up for; you know? All of them want to play after college; and in some shape or form if you want to do that; you have to keep getting better every day. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing 30 minutes right now; or you’re not playing at all every day. You have got to come to practice and get better; right? There’s something you want to do later on; every one of us as coaches; there’s something that we want to accomplish; right; we have to keep getting better. So that’s the mindset I believe our guys are going to have; and we start Oklahoma State tonight. Like; how you rehab; how you eat; how you sleep; you know tomorrow morning when we stretch/get a lift/whatever it is/you know it starts right away. Whether you win or lose it has to start right away because it can turn quickly. You can go from losing four to winning six. Some teams that are 3-1 right now can be 3-7. Teams that are 1-4 right now can end up being 5-4. I told you guys before Big 12 I said you looked at our first five games we could play well and be 1-5 or we can play well and be 5-1.That’s just league we're in right how it is so have keep getting better.Our staff excited bunch resilient dudes staff going keep grinding believe players."
FIRST HALF
The teams went back and forth over the first few minutes before UCF rattled off 7 straight points to go ahead 16-10 and force a timeout by head coach at the 13:51 mark. The run grew to 11-0 as the Knights went ahead 20-10 at the second media timeout with 11:35 to play.
A 3-pointer by sophomore finally ended the nearly 5-minute scoring drought, but UCF responded with 9 of the next 12 points to go ahead 29-16 at the third media timeout with 7:44 before halftime. The run continued out of the timeout, as the Knights scored 7 of the next 11 points to go out ahead 36-20 at the 5:15 mark.
A layup by junior sparked an 8-2 run by the Wildcats, as they closed to within 38-28 to force a timeout by UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins at the 2:42 mark. However, the Knights ended the half with 4 straight points to go ahead 42-28 at the break.
UCF connected on 52.9 percent (18-of-34) from the field, including 40 percent (4-of-10) from 3-point range, and made both free throws. K-State was held to just 34.4 percent (11-of-32) shooting, including 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from long range, made 2-of-4 free throws.
Riley Kugel led all scorers with 10 points, while had 8 points for K-State.
SECOND HALF
K-State had a spark to start the second half, scoring 9 of the first 12 points to close the deficit to 45-39. After consecutive baskets by the Knights, the Wildcats responded with 13 of the next 19 points to get within 55-52 after a 3-point play by junior at the under-12 timeout.
Back-to-back baskets by McGriff and Haggerty pulled K-State to within 57-56, but UCF responded with consecutive 3-pointers to extend the lead to 63-56 and force a timeout by head coach at the 10:17 mark. Junior scored on consecutive possessions to once again get the Wildcats to within63-60,but a3-pointplaybytheKnightspushedittto66-60with8:50toplay.
Down68-65afterHaggertysplita pair offree throws,K-Statehadtwoopportunities totieorclosetowithinonepoint,butbothshotsmissedandUCFwasable togetatip-infromChrisJohnsonandalayupfromKugel togobackahead72-65with5:22toplay.
Outofatimout,theWildcatsrespondedwitha3-pointplayfromHaggertybeforeJohnsonansweredbackwith3-pointerrightbeforethelastmedia timeout.Afterabasketbymade77-72with1:31remaining,theKnightswereabletosaltawaythegamefromthefreethrowlineenroutetoan82-73win.
Haggerty led all scorers in the second half with 18 points.
WHAT'S NEXT
K-State returns to the road on Saturday night, as the Wildcats travel to Stillwater, Okla., to take on Oklahoma State (13-4, 1-3 Big 12) at 9 p.m., CT on CBS Sports Network. OSU leads the series, 35-26 at Gallagher-Iba Arena with wins in 5 of the last 6 matchups, including a 79-66 win last season.