Arthur Kaluma had a career-high 28 points to lead a quintet of Wildcats in double figures as Kansas State knocked off visiting No. 25 BYU 84-74 on Saturday afternoon.
Kansas State (16-11, 6-8 Big 12) had lost seven of its last eight games. Tylor Perry had 16 points, David N’Guessan and Cam Carter had 12 each, and Will McNair Jr. had 11. Kaluma also had 10 rebounds. Kaluma was 8 of 11 from the field and 10 of 12 from the line as the Wildcats shot 56.3 percent from the field.
BYU (19-8, 7-7) got 15 points from Jaxson Robinson. He was joined in double figures by Noah Waterman and Spencer Johnson with 12 each. Richie Saunders had 11 and Fousseyni Traore added 10 for the Cougars, who shot 40.8 percent from the field.
Kansas State, which shot 65 percent in the second half, started well in the second half, pulling out to a 53-43 lead with 15:10 left. The Wildcats extended it to 61-47 with 12:47 to go. Their largest lead was at 69-53 before BYU started to come back.
The Cougars stayed in the game by crashing the glass. They outrebounded the Wildcats 19-6 on the offensive end and held a 38-33 advantage overall.
K-State jumped out quickly, scoring the first eight points of the game. When Carter followed a Jerrell Colbert miss, the Wildcats led 12-2 with 16:44 left in the first half, leading BYU coach Mark Pope to call his first timeout.
K-State stretched it 16-4 on a 4-point play by Perry, but BYU responded with a 10-0 run. The Wildcats kept the lead for the entire first half, other than a brief tie at 28-28. The Cats used long-range shooting to their advantage. They hit 6 of 10 from beyond the arc, after coming into the game last in the Big 12 in shooting percentage from 3-point range at 30.3 percent.
BYU was just 4-of-16 from 3-point range. The Cougars were led by Johnson and Robinson with nine points each. Traore added eight.
Kaluma led K-State with 16 points and six rebounds in the first half. Perry added 10 points.
–Field Level Media