MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State tied a school-record with 19 steals, as the Wildcats finished their season-opening homestand unbeaten with an 80-58 win over Northern Arizona at Bramlage Coliseum on Monday night.
The 19-steal performance tied the previous record set on January 10, 1976 set against Tulane at Ahearn Field House. Junior guard Barry Brown led the Wildcats with a career-high six steals, coupled with junior forward Dean Wade, who recorded a career-high 5 steals.
Brown led the four Wildcats in double figures with fifth career 20-point game, while fellow juniors Kamau Stokes and Wade added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
K-State came firing early, as the first three Wildcat baskets came from beyond the arc. Junior Kamau Stokes got the scoring started with an opening 3-pointer, and Wade and sophomore forward Xavier Sneed followed suit, adding treys of their own to jump out to a 9-4 lead.
Defensively, the Wildcats suffocated the Lumberjacks into turnovers, forcing 19 turnovers in the first half. Among the defensive pressure, Brown swiped 3 of the team’s 10 steals, resulting in easy points on the other end.
With the pressure on the defensive end, K-State was able to total 28 points off turnovers in the first half, including 14 fast-break points, as Brown and Stokes each reached double digits with 12 points and 10 points, respectively at halftime. K-State led 43-27 at half behind the points off turnovers and 53.3 percent (16-of-30) from the field, while holding Northern Arizona to 8-of-17 shooting in the half.
Out of the break, the Wildcats continued where they left off, spouting off a 6-0 run to open the half, including multiple forced turnovers on defense.
Throughout the game, the defensive pressure from K-State was too much to handle, as the Wildcats forced a total of 31 turnovers as a team, including 6 steals from Brown and 5 steals from Wade, which helped lead the Wildcats to their historic effort.
Brown continued his hot hand from the first half, as he shot 9-of-13 from the field in the game to lead to his 20 points, tied for fourth-best in his career. Brown led four Wildcat scorers who hit double-digits, as Stokes tallied 16, Wade scored 15 and Sneed added 12 points. Brown also added 2 assists and 6 steals to his impressive stat line.
The Wildcats connected on 50 percent (31-of-62) from the field in the game. The defensive pressure held the Lumberjacks to 39 percent shooting (16-of-41) from the field, including 25 percent (5-of-19) from beyond the arc.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Barry Brown – scored a new season-high 20 points and swiped away 6 steals from the Lumberjacks, as Brown helped lead a defensive-charged attack. Brown shot 9-of-13 from the field in the game to earn his third double-digit scoring effort of the season.
STAT OF THE GAME
19 – K-State recorded 19 steals on Monday night, tying a program-best 19 steals recorded against Tulane on January 10, 1976. The historic effort was led by several career-highs in steals, as Brown and Wade recorded 6 and 5 steals, respectively. Stokes also added 3 steals.
SEASON RECORD UPDATE
- K-State 4-0 (0-0 Big 12)
- Northern Arizona 0-4 (0-0 Big Sky)
IN THEIR WORDS
K-State Head Coach Bruce Weber
On the game…
“They were 0-and-3. We won it 80-58. We missed some layups and some free throws. I think we can be better than that. We just have to move forward and get ready for Arizona State. The problem is we do not have much practice time. We had 19 steals and we turned them over 31 times. Both of those are close to school records. Barry [Brown] had 6 steals and Dean [Wade] had a good stat line with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals. But we were not as sharp as I would like us to be. I think more than anything, the older guys were consistent. The younger guys were not as good as we need them to be. That is going to be a key for our team.”
TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics