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MANHATTAN, Kan. – Junior Arthur Kaluma paced five Wildcats in double figures with a career-best 28 points to go with a game-high 10 rebounds, as Kansas State snapped a 3-game losing streak with a wire-to-wire 84-74 win over No. 25/21 BYU on Saturday afternoon before 9,117 fans at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State (16-11, 6-8 Big 12) put together its best offensive performance of the Big 12 season, as the Wildcats connected on 56.3 percent (27-of-48) from the field, including 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from 3-point range, with assists on 20 of their 27 made field goals. The team also took advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line, knocking down 23 of 31 attempts (74.2 percent).

The 84 points were the fourth-most in a game this season, including the most in a regulation game since scoring 100 points vs. Central Arkansas on Nov. 22, 2023. The point total was also the most in any Big 12 game this season, surpassing the 81 scored at West Virginia on Jan. 9.

The defense was also stellar in the win, holding BYU (19-8, 7-7 Big 12) to 40.8 percent (29-of-71) shooting, including 19.4 percent (6-of-31) from 3-point range. The Cougars boast one of the top offenses in the country, averaging 83.2 points on 46.9 percent shooting with 11.6 3-pointers per game.

The victory was the third of the season vs. a Top 25 opponent, all coming at home. The Wildcats improved to 13-3 at home this season, including 12-3 at Bramlage Coliseum.

Five Wildcats scored in double figures for the first time this season in Big 12 play led by Kaluma, who collected his first 25-point, 10-rebound performance of his career. He scored his career-high 28 points on 8-of-11 field goals, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and 10-of-12 free throws to go with his game-high 10 rebounds in 39 minutes. It marked his eighth career double-double, including his team-leading fifth this season. His previous high of 27 points also came against BYU while playing at Creighton in 2022.

Kaluma was joined in double figures by 16 points from senior Tylor Perry, 12 points each from junior Cam Carter and senior David N’Guessan and 11 points from senior Will McNair Jr. N’Guessan has scored in double figures in 3 consecutive Big 12 games for the first time in his career.

The Cougars were led by 15 points from senior Jaxson Robinson, while fellow seniors Noah Waterman and Spencer Johnson each added 12 points.

K-State got off to a great start, scoring the game’s first 8 points en route to take its first double-digit lead at 12-2, prompting a timeout by BYU head Mark Pope at the 16:39 mark. The lead grew to 16-4 after a 4-point play from Perry, but the Cougars rattled off 10 straight to close the deficit to 16-14 and force a timeout by head coach Jerome Tang with nearly 14 minutes to play in the first half.

K-State held the lead until a mini 4-0 run by BYU tied the game at 28-all at the 6:35 mark. A jumper by N’Guessan gave the Wildcats the lead as they finished off the half with 8 of the last 13 points for a 36-33 lead at the half break. Kaluma had 16 points in the first half.

Much like the opening half, K-State was able to seize the momentum to open the second half with 5 straight points in the first 42 seconds to push ahead 47-38. The Wildcats remained ahead, building a 65-49 lead after a pair of free throws by McNair with 11 minutes remaining.

K-State kept a double-digit lead for most of the rest of the half before BYU got to within 81-74 with 30.2 seconds remaining. However, the Wildcats answered back with a layup from Carter on a long inbounds pass from Kaluma out of a timeout. Perry scored the first point from the free throw line.

The teams split their season series with a win on their home court, as K-State now leads the series, 5-4, against BYU, including 2-0 at home. This was the first meeting in Manhattan since 1973.

HOW IT HAPPENED

K-State got off to a strong start, scoring the first 8 points, including a pair of 3-pointers from senior Tylor Perry, en route to taking a 12-2 lead and forcing an early timeout by BYU head coach Mark Pope at the 16:39 mark. Perry and junior Arthur Kaluma combined for 10 of the team’s first 12 points.

The Wildcat lead grew to 16-4 after a 4-point play by Perry, but the Cougars responded with 10 straight points to close the deficit to 16-14 and force a timeout by K-State head coach Jerome Tang with 13:57 to play. A free throw by senior David N’Guessan and a 3-pointer by Kaluma gave K-State some separation at 20-16 and the Wildcats kept a 4-point lead at 28-24, as the teams traded baskets before the third media timeout with 7:18 remaining.

BYU tied the game up at 28-all after a pair of free throws and a layup, but an 8-2 spurt by K-State, including 3-pointers from freshman Dai Dai Ames and Kaluma, pushed the Wildcats back ahead at 36-30. The Cougars answered the Kaluma triple with one of their own to close to within 36-33 at the final media timeout with 3:14 to play.

K-State responded with 6 of the half’s final 10 points to push out ahead 42-38 at the break. The Wildcats shot 50 percent (14-of-28) from the field, including 60 percent (6-of-10) from 3-point range, while the Cougars connected on 45.2 percent (14-of-31), including 25 percent (4-of-16) from 3. Kaluma led all scorers with 16 points on 4-of-6 field goals and 6-of-6 free throws.

The Wildcats again started the half strong, scoring 5 straight points, including a 3-point play from Kaluma to extend their lead to 47-38 just 42 seconds into the second half. BYU got to within 49-43 right before the first media timeout, but K-State responded with 6 of the next 8 points to go ahead by double digits for the first time at 55-45 with 14:38 remaining.

Following a jumper by the Cougars, the Wildcats got 6 straight points, including another 3-pointer from Perry, to push ahead 61-49 right before the second media timeout with 12 to play. The lead grew to 16 twice behind the play of Kaluma, but BYU was able to get some momentum with a 7-2 run that closed the deficit to 69-58 and forced a timeout by Tang with 6:41 remaining.

K-State responded with a layup by N’Guessan out of the timeout, as the Wildcats scored 6 of the next 11 points to pull ahead 75-63 with 4:24 left. The Cougars got back-to-back buckets to close to within 75-67 at the final media timeout at the 2:21 mark.

The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes before BYU was able to get to within 81-74 with 30.2 seconds. However, K-State answered with a layup from junior Cam Carter on a long in-bounds pass from Kaluma before Perry finished off the scoring with a free throw, 84-74.

HEAD COACH JEROME TANG

On the game…

“First of all, I want to give all glory to God for the win today, and as we are trying to learn to, regardless of the results, understand that we’re blessed to be able to do what we do. And things may not always turn out the way we want, but we can continue to improve, and I thought we made really good strides. I thought the staff did a great job this week identifying just small areas that we can improve in and the team did a great job of buying into it. And so, we’re blessed, what a huge win. Top 25 team on your home court, and now we got to put it in a box and move on to the next one.”

On Arthur Kaluma’s 28-point scoring performance…

“[Arthur] was really efficient. He took the shots that we wanted him to take. And it says 11 shots, but those free throws, those were all him being aggressive and going downhill and it doesn’t count as a shot, but it counts as points, and that’s what we need. We need that from the whole team, but Art [Arthur Kaluma] was really good today. We had a colonel come in and talk to us, and he talked about when you’re going on a mission, or any time that you’re going to accomplish something, you got to have purpose. You got to know what your purpose is, you got to have passion, and you got to have relentless violence. And I thought Arthur had relentless violence today.”

On the team’s shooting performance today…

“I think shots will fall when we shoot the right shots, and today we shot the right ones. But it’s a make-or-miss game. I mean, we held Texas, it was a great defensive effort, and shots didn’t go in. So, making shots is important, and when we shoot the right ones we can be really good.”

On the importance of starting off strong in this game…

“A good start was a focus. We took the type of shots we talked about in practice taking, and it gave us that opportunity. But you know, they’re a great team. Those dudes can score, and they can score in a variety of ways. So, we knew it was gonna be a game of runs. We just happened to have more runs and they did and once we got the lead, we were able to keep them at bay for the most part.”

On David N’Guessan’s contributions off the bench from the last few games…

“First of all, I don’t know that it’s a starting lineup. It’s more of a like a rotation, right? We got seven dudes that are gonna play a lot. So, it doesn’t really matter who started the game. It [matters] who finishes the game. He was winning tips for us, and once he had the injury, he couldn’t jump the ball and so it gives us a better chance to have somebody else in there to win that tip. But Dave’s maturity is what’s allowed him to do what he’s doing, that he doesn’t really care if his name’s called and he just wants to do whatever it takes for the team to win, because he understands that winning is going to get everybody what they want.”

On if there were any adjustments that were made before this game…

“I think we identified some things that we are capable of correcting and the guys bought into it.”

TEAM NOTES

• K-State (16-11, 6-8 Big 12) snapped a 3-game losing streak with a wire-to-wire 84-74 win over No. 25/21 BYU on Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.
• K-State is now 3-6 vs. Top 25 teams this season, including 3-1 at home.
• K-State improved to 13-3 at home this season, including 12-3 at Bramlage Coliseum… Tang is now 27-4 at Bramlage Coliseum, including 13-3 in home Big 12 games.
• K-State now leads the series, 5-4, against BYU, including 2-0 at home… This was the first meeting between the schools in Manhattan since a 95-85 win on Dec. 15, 1973.
• K-State scored its high in Big 12 play with 84 points on 56.3 percent (27-of-48) shooting, including 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from 3-point range, and 74.2 percent (23-of-31) from the free throw line… It marked the fifth time this season shooting 50 percent or better from the field and the 14^th time under head coach Jerome Tang.
• K-State had 20 assists on 27 made field goals… It marked the fourth 20-assist game of the year.
• Five Wildcats scored in double figures for the first time in Big 12 play.
• K-State held BYU to nearly 10 points under its scoring average on just 40.8 percent (29-opf-71) shooting, including 19.4 percent (6-of-31) from 3-point range.
• BYU held a 38-33 rebounding advantage, including 19 offensive boards… Those 19 offensive rebounds only led to a 14-10 edge in second-chance points.
• K-State turned the ball over 13 times, resulting in 22 points for BYU.
• BYU held advantages in points off turnovers (22-9), points in the paint (40-34), second-chance points (14-10) and bench points (42-23).
• K-State used a starting lineup of senior Tylor Perry, freshman Dai Dai Ames, junior Cam Carter, junior Arthur Kaluma and redshirt sophomore Jerrell Colbert… It marked the sixth straight game using this lineup and just the fifth different lineup this season… Carter has now started all 63 games in his K-State career… Carter and Perry have started all 27 games… Kaluma earned his 25th start… It was the ninth start for Ames and the sixth career start for Colbert.

PLAYER NOTES

• Five players scored in double figures for the first time in Big 12 play this season led by a career-best and game-high 28 points from junior Arthur Kaluma… He also registered a game-high 10 rebounds to collect his eighth career double-double, including his fifth this season… It marked his ninth career 20-point game, including his team-leading fifth this season.
• Kaluma was joined in double figures by senior Tylor Perry (16 points), junior Cam Carter (12 points), senior David N’Guessan (12 points) and senior Will McNair Jr. (11 points).
• Kaluma’s 28 points came on 8-of-11 field goals, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and 10-of-12 free throws… It was ninth career 20-point game, including his team-leading fifth this season…

He has now scored in double figures in 63 career games, including a team-best 23 this season.

• Perry scored his 16 points on 4-of-8 field goals, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, and 4-of-5 free throws to go with a team-high 5 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal in nearly 37 minutes… He now has 77 career double-digit scoring games, including 20 this season.
• Carter scored his 12 points on 4-of-9 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws to go with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal in 32 minutes… He has now scored in double figures in 32 career games, including 22 this season.
• N’Guessan scored his 12 points on 5-of-9 field goals and 2-of-4 free throws to go with 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal in 24 minutes… He has now scored in double figures in 21 career games, including 10 this season.
• McNair scored his 11 points on 4-of-5 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws to go with 3 rebounds and 2 assists in nearly 20 minutes… He now has double figures in 23 career games, including 9 times this season.
• K-State is now 8-1 when McNair scores in double figures.

UP NEXT

K-State makes a quick turnaround to play host to West Virginia (9-18, 4-10 Big 12) on Monday night at 6 p.m., CT on ESPN2. Tickets are still available at kstatesports.com/tickets.