WACO, Texas When Angel Rodriguez committed to Kansas State last fall, he did so because of Frank Martin. </p><p>He liked the way they grew up in the same area of Miami and shared Latin roots. He liked the way Martin had developed young point guards at K-State. And he liked his tough coaching style. They shared a special bond, and he wanted to play for him. </p><p>It was easy to see why following K-State&#x92;s wild 57-56 victory over No. 9 Baylor at the Ferrell Center on Saturday. The bond between player and coach was on full display.</p><p>Rodriguez played one of the finest games of his K-State career by scoring 15 points, dishing out six assists and making four steals. He continually attacked the Bears&#x92; zone defense and created open shots for himself and others while playing adequate defense on Baylor point guard Pierre Jackson. </p><p>The Wildcats could not have beaten the Bears without him. But Rodriguez could not have played as well as he did without his coach.</p><p>Five days earlier, Rodriguez played so poorly in a loss to Kansas that he described it as, &#x93;The worst game of my life. Not just my college career, my whole entire life.&#x94; </p><p>He was low on confidence, and it would have been understandable for Martin to begin evaluating other options at point guard. But that thought never entered his mind. Martin sat down with Rodriguez before Saturday&#x92;s game, and told him to stay positive, to keep battling and to realize the entire team had confidence in him.</p><p>So even when Rodriguez turned the ball over and allowed Jackson to slip past him for an easy layup in the opening moments Saturday, he stayed positive and came through with a memorable performance.</p><p>&#x93;I always wanted to play for somebody that communicates with me, especially because I am the point guard,&#x94; Rodriguez said. &#x93;We need to have a good connection. The position I was in, I was kind of frustrated. He sat me down and told me, &#x91;Don&#x92;t worry about it. You&#x92;re going to be OK. Stay positive.&#x92; I told him, &#x91;I needed to hear that,&#x92; especially from him, because I&#x92;m playing for him. He&#x92;s my coach.&#x94;</p><p>Sitting at his right shoulder, Martin smiled.</p><p>&#x93;He was great,&#x94; Martin said of Rodriguez. &#x93;He battled and battled and battled.&#x94;</p><p>Baylor coach Scott Drew noticed.</p><p>&#x93;When we went up there he wasn&#x92;t really involved,&#x94; Drew said, referring to a 75-73 at Bramlage Coliseum last month in which Rodriguez played poorly late. &#x93;He finished today with 15, six and four steals, and I thought really played a good game on the road for them and did a tremendous job.&#x94;</p><p>K-State (18-8 overall, 7-7 Big 12) needed him to. Coming into the weekend, the Wildcats were living on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a conference record below .500. They needed a marquee victory to boost their resume, and got one. A road win over a top 10 team will greatly increase their chances of reaching a third straight NCAA Tournament.</p><p>But this victory meant more than that. It also gave the Wildcats confidence they can close out the season strong and enter March Madness with a good seed. </p><p>&#x93;I&#x92;m not too worried about that now,&#x94; McGruder said. &#x93;I&#x92;m just trying to finish out the season out the right way, and we&#x92;ll see where our bid is in the NCAA Tournament after that.&#x94;</p><p>K-State has been close to pulling off this type of victory for a while now. It took leads against Iowa State, Texas and Kansas in the past three weeks, but lost all three. It developed a bad habit of letting games slip away late. Maybe beating Baylor can serve as a breakthrough moment of sorts.</p><p>&#x93;It always feels good to win, especially when we&#x92;ve lost a couple games,&#x94; Rodriguez said. &#x93;Coming into their building and winning this game after all the losses we&#x92;ve had feels great.&#x94;</p><p>The Wildcats had to work for it. Baylor jumped out to a 20-11 midway through the first half, and probably should have been up by more. It played sloppy at times on offense on its way to 18 turnovers, and was unable to pull away from K-State when it had opportunities to do so.</p><p>But when K-State had its opening, it took advantage. Behind the play of Rodney McGruder, who scored 15 points, Jamar Samuels, Jordan Henriquez and Rodriguez, the Wildcats closed out the first half on a nice run and took a 32-28 lead on a deep three-pointer by Samuels at the buzzer.</p><p>The Wildcats wildly celebrated the shot and then came out ready to keep playing in the second half. But behind Jackson, who scored nine points and dished out seven assists, and Quincy Acy, who scored 14 points, Baylor quickly took a three-point lead in the second half. </p><p>It wasn&#x92;t going to let K-State pull away. Even when the Wildcats took a 55-51 lead with 3 minutes, 39 seconds remaining on a three-pointer from Rodney McGruder, Baylor fought back with top big man Perry Jones III fouled out. The Bears pulled ahead 56-55 on a three from Jackson with 2:06 to go.</p><p>But Rodriguez made sure K-State would win by finding Henriquez with a lob pass that he turned into a dunk with 1:55 remaining. He helped the Wildcats take the final lead of the game, and then defended Jackson well enough that Baylor couldn&#x92;t score in the final moments.</p><p>It had several cracks at a go-ahead bucket, including an off-balance shot near the basket from Quincy Miller with 2 seconds remaining, following a questionable traveling call against Rodriguez that negated a breakaway layup with 13 seconds left, but Henriquez blocked it and the game ended with the ball bouncing harmlessly out of bounds. </p><p>Just like that, K-State put the finishing touches on a win it badly needed. </p><p>Players and coaches all celebrated the victory in different ways. But it was satisfying to everyone. Especially for Rodriguez. Martin put his trust in him, and he came through.</p><p>&#x93;He tried his heart out,&#x94; Martin said. &#x93;He has grown as a kid. He has grown as a player.