Tylor Perry had a season-high 25 points as Kansas State welcomed UCF to the Big 12 with a resounding 77-52 victory at Manhattan, Kan. Perry hit six of his first eight 3-point attempts.
The Wildcats, who came into the game hitting just 30 percent of their 3-point shots, connected on 37.5 percent (9-of-24), including 6 of 11 in the second half.
Kansas State (11-3, 1-0 Big 12) held UCF to just 33.8 percent shooting for the game. The Wildcats also got 14 points from Arthur Kaluma, 12 from Cam Carter and 11 from Will McNair.
UCF (9-4, 0-1 Big 12) was led by Darius Johnson, who scored 10 points before fouling out.
The Knights came into the game forcing turnovers on 23.4 of their opponents’ possessions, but they forced just 12 K-State turnovers, 6 in each half.
The second half started nearly as well as the first half for the Wildcats. They outscored the Knights 9-2 to open up a 23-point lead out of the first media timeout. They eventually extended the lead to as many as 35 points. Perry scored 12 straight points on four 3-pointers for the Wildcats early in the second half.
The first half couldn’t have started any better for Kansas State. The Wildcats scored the first 12 points of the game. Although the Knights cut it down to a seven-point deficit at one point, the Wildcats used a 9-0 run to extend the lead to 19 at 32-13. The Wildcats led 35-19 at halftime.
The difference in the first half was the lid on UCF’s basket. The Knights hit only 21.6 percent (8-of-37) of their shots in the first half. The Wildcats, meanwhile, connected on 42.9 percent (12 of 28) of their shots.
K-State was led by Kaluma with 11 points as four Wildcats had at least six points in the first half.
UCF was led by Jaylin Sellers with 5 points. He hit one of the Knights’ 3-pointers; they were just 2 of 11 from long range in the half.
–Field Level Media