K-State breezes into the holiday by beating Gardner-Webb

Now the real challenge can begin.

Kansas State closed out the initial portion of its nonconference basketball schedule with a 67-54 victory over Gardner-Webb on Wednesday at Bramlage Coliseum, a result that improved the team’s record to 11-1.

There is much for the Wildcats to be proud of. They are off to their best start under Bruce Weber and they enter Big 12 play on a six-game winning streak. Their only blemish is a 69-68 loss to Maryland on a neutral court. The hot start came against one of the nation’s weakest schedules, but K-State has played well enough to receive votes in each of the past two AP top 25 polls and to climb to No. 33 in Ken Pomeroy’s national basketball rankings.

But that will ultimately mean nothing if they can’t back it up against Big 12 competition. That is where their NCAA Tournament fate will be decided.

“We are going to have to go prove it,” Weber said. “We talk about it all the time. Everybody doubts you. I know the media doubts you. The fans, there are some fans that question you. You’ve got to go prove it.”

A year ago, K-State failed that mission. It started 10-2 against a similar nonconference schedule, losing only to North Carolina and Texas A&M, and then sputtered in the Big 12, going 5-13 for its worst conference record since 2003.

Will things be different this season?

For now, K-State players answer with optimism.

“A lot of people got lucky last year in close games,” K-State forward D.J. Johnson said. “It isn’t going to happen again this year. We gained a lot of experience and got better over the summer. It’s all we needed.”

“I feel like we are prepared,” K-State point guard Kamau Stokes said. “I feel like we are ready to go into conference play. We missed out on a lot of close games last year that we should have pulled out but we didn’t execute at the end and I feel like we learned from it. This year, we are going to have the ability to do that.”

We will begin to find out how much K-State has grown in the past year in its next game, a Dec. 30 home clash with Texas.

At the moment, there are few reasons to doubt the Wildcats. They once again flexed their muscles against an overmatched opponent on Wednesday, pulling away from the Runnin’ Bulldogs late in the first half and never letting up.

Gardner-Webb (7-6) upset Nebraska 70-62 on the road in its last game, but had no such luck against K-State.

Stokes shook off an injury scare to his right leg and led all scorers with 18 points. K-State fell behind when he exited the game for treatment, but he immediately made an impact when he returned by making a three to give the Wildcats a 20-17 lead.

That sparked a 19-1 run that turned the game into a blowout.

Later, he found Xavier Sneed for an alley-oop dunk with a nifty halfcourt pass. This was one of his best games.

“He was the catalyst that got us going,” Weber said. “He really responded.”

Johnson was also sharp, finishing with 16 points and seven rebounds. Most impressively, he was a perfect 8 for 8 from the floor.

No other K-State players reached double figures, but nine different Wildcats scored. Sophomore forward Isaiah Maurice remained suspended for the second straight game after violating departmental policy last week.

K-State didn’t need to be at its best to beat Gardner-Webb. Much like most of its nonconference opponents, the Bulldogs weren’t much a challenge.

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 9:20 PM with the headline "K-State breezes into the holiday by beating Gardner-Webb."