Kansas State falls to rival Kansas 86-62

PJ Haggerty jumping with the ball one handed for a layup.

A ref looking at a KU and K-State basketball player on the court.

PJ Haggerty dribbles the ball in his right hand as a KU defendor stops him before the goal.

The Kansas State Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks met up on Saturday night at Bramlage Coliseum for the 304^th edition of the Sunflower Showdown, and Kansas was able to run away late and win by a final score of 86-62. 

It was a close game at first as neither team was able to jump out to a multi-possession lead until the Jayhawks took an 11-6 lead after the first five minutes. Kansas would hold onto that lead for the next 10 minutes when the Wildcats hit back-to-back three-pointers from Taj Manning and David Castillo to go up 28-26 with 5:54 remaining in the first half. 

After Kansas retook the lead and went into the halftime break up 37-35, they would hold onto that lead for the remainder of the contest. Kansas State was able to get within four on multiple occasions, but the Jayhawks outscored the Wildcats 49-27 in the second half, which included a 27-7 run in the final eight minutes to secure their 204^th all-time victory in the rivalry’s history. 

PJ Haggerty finished as Kansas State’s leading scorer once again as he had 23 points, and he was also joined in double figures with Andre Kostic with 12 points off the bench. Another notable stat was Dorin Buca pulling down a season-high 11 rebounds. 

The Jayhawks saw four of their starters reach double figures with Flory Bidunga leading the way with 21 points, as well as 10 rebounds to give himself a double-double. Melvin Council Jr. also recorded a double-double, getting 17 points and accounting for 12 of Kansas’s 19 assists. Bryson Tiller finished with 16 points and Tre White had 13, and Elmarko Jackson scored 19 points off the bench. Those five players were the only ones to score for the Jayhawks. 

Kansas improves to 15-5 and 5-2 in Big 12 play. They will be back in action on Saturday when they welcome #13 BYU to Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas State is now 10-10 and 1-6 in Big 12 play. The Wildcats will head to Morgantown on Tuesday for a matchup with West Virginia. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff and will be broadcast on FS1.