Kansas State Wildcats cruise past Virginia Tech Hokies
The Kansas State Wildcats had no trouble with the Virginia Tech Hokies, winning convincingly at home 73-57. The victory was made more impressive by the fact that Curtis Kelly was out for the match-up and
Jacob Pullen’s playing time was severely limited.
The Wildcats are expected to challenge for a national championship this season and are currently ranked third in the AP Top 25 Poll. Kansas State has a tough road out of the Big 12 Conference, but showed
that they can play with the best of them, downing a 24th ranked Hokies side.
Kansas State put together a strong team effort in their win over the Hokies on Tuesday 16 November, as they were once again forced to play without 6ft 8in forward Kelly, who was missing his second straight
game after being suspended by the team for disciplinary reasons. The club’s star and All-American Pullen was also forced into a limited role after taking two early fouls and playing only two minutes in the second half. Nevertheless, even without their stars
the Wildcats pulled together and orchestrated a convincing victory.
“When they saw me go out with that second foul, a lot of them just put their chins up and stepped up to the challenge,” said Pullen of his team’s performance. “Good teams don’t win games because of a person.
They win games because of a team. Today the team just came together.”
The game was tight throughout the first half, as the Wildcats were only able to take a one point lead into the break. However, after the intermission Kansas State went on an impressive 28-9 run, putting
the game out of reach.
“We can’t win games against teams of this calibre if we give up, I think, 12 offensive rebounds in the second half and don’t get 50-50 balls and we didn’t get 50-50 balls,” said Virginia Tech head coach
Seth Greenberg. “I thought they just found a way to get the loose balls. We did a bad job on that one stretch in defensive transition. They really pushed it hard and we didn’t get the ball under control and then eventually they started to make a couple shots.”
The Hokies were led at the offensive end by Malcom Delaney, who tallied 22 points, six rebounds and five assists, while the Wildcats had three players who managed 13 points on the night.
The Hokies will meet the UNC Greensboro Spartans on Sunday 21 November, while the Wildcats will be at home to the Presbyterian Blue Hose on Thursday 18 November.
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