Kansas State men's basketball gears up for first Big 12 road test at No. 6 Texas
AUSTIN, Texas — The Kansas State Wildcats accomplished one critical goal Saturday by opening the Big 12 with an 82-76 overtime victory over West Virginia: They protected their home court.
That the Wildcats won at home was magnified by the fact that they have two big road tests coming up this week, starting with Tuesday's 8 p.m. game against No. 6-ranked Texas at the new Moody Center. They follow that up Saturday with a 5 p.m. game at Baylor.
"You've got to win at home, and that's the most important thing," K-State coach Jerome Tang said following the West Virginia game. "You have to control your home court to give you a chance in this league.
"I think only one road team won (Saturday), and that was Texas at Oklahoma by one point."
With the victory over West Virginia, the Wildcats improved to 12-1, their best start since the 2016-17 season. The record also gives Tang the best start of any coach in school history.
Texas (12-1, 1-0) is coming off a 70-69 victory at Oklahoma on Saturday and, like K-State, has won six straight. The Longhorns' lone loss was an 85-78 overtime decision against Illinois on Dec. 6.
The Longhorns are led in scoring by super-senior guard Marcus Carr with 17.5 points per game. Iowa State transfer Tyrese Hunter adds 10.8 points and guard Timmy Allen 10.1 with a team-high 4.2 assists.
For K-State, Keyontae Johnson averages 17.7 points and 6.8 rebounds, point guard Markquis Nowell 14.4 points and 8.5 assists and Nae'Qwan Tomlin 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Nowell had 23 points, 10 assists and seven steals against West Virginia, and Johnson 18 points. The Wildcats also got season highs of 14 points and eight rebounds from center Abayomi Iyiola, who started in place of the injured David N'Guessan.
K-State rallied from a 14-point deficit against No. 24-ranked West Virginia.
"That's big-time," Nowell said of the victory. "Any time you can get a win, across the board, it's good for you. But to get a conference win versus West Virginia, a really (well) coached team, is always good."
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 men's basketball to face Texas in first Big 12 road game
