MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Barry Brown missed a potential game-winner at Kansas last weekend, an off-balance shot he was never supposed to take, and spent the next couple days ruing the missed opportunity.
Kansas State’s gritty junior guard made up for it Tuesday night.
Brown poured in 24 points, locked down defensively on Oklahoma star Trae Young, and ultimately led the plucky, defensive-minded Wildcats to an 87-69 upset of the fourth-ranked Sooners.
“Barry did everything,” Kanas State coach Bruce Weber said. “He’s taken his game to another level.”
On this night, so did the rest of the Wildcats.
Dean Wade added 21 points, Cartier Diarra had 16 and Xavier Sneed finished with 13 as the Wildcats (13-5, 3-3 Big 12) won their sixth straight over the Sooners at Bramlage Coliseum.
“You have a heart-breaker at Kansas. They could have easily put their heads down. But they came back tonight and played at a really high level,” Weber said. “We did a lot of really good things.”
Young was held to 20 points on 8-of-21 shooting, his fewest since scoring 15 in his college debut. He also was 2 of 10 from the 3-point line and committed 12 turnovers against six assists.
“I didn’t do very well tonight. I played terrible,” the freshman guard said. “I blame a lot of the loss on me. All of the loss on me. I didn’t play very well tonight.”
Rashard Odomes had 16 points and Brady Manek had 12 for the Sooners (14-3, 4-2), but he was abused by Wade at the defensive end as his team tried to dig out of a massive second-half hole.
“They were very good,” said Sooners coach Lon Kruger, who’s had a tough time against his alma mater over the years. “They were executing very well and making shots. That’s a good combination.”
It was the Wildcats’ first win against a ranked team in four tries this season, and their first win over a top-5 team since beating the then-No. 1 Sooners two years ago.
The dominance was so complete that Weber had time to sub out his starters in the final minute, allowing an appreciative home crowd to give them a standing ovation.
“We knew we had another opportunity at another top team in our league, even the country,” Brown said. “We were ready to get over the hump of that last game, and bounce back. That’s all it was.”
Young was supposed to be the main attraction, but it was Brown who dominated on both ends in the first half.
On offense, the junior guard was able to slip past double-teams at the top of the key and pull up for mid-range jumpers, most of which splashed without hitting rim. He was 8 of 13 from the field and had piled up 16 points by the time the Wildcats took a 38-33 lead into the locker room.
On defense, Brown harassed Young into a miserable stat line: The nation’s top scorer was 3 of 10 from the field, 2 of 7 from the 3-point arc and had committed eight turnovers against four assists.
“I mean, he’s a good player. Every point guard in this league is a tough player,” Young said. “But it wasn’t just him. Wade played pretty well. Their whole team played pretty well.”
Young drew the Sooners within 52-47 with a flurry early in the second half, but Kansas State answered with another big run. Wade got things going with back-to-back baskets, Brown added a nifty tear-drop jumper and Sneed’s jam of an alley-oop pass made it 62-50 with 10 minutes to go.
The Sooners never made a dent as the Wildcats shot 73 percent from the field in the second half.
“They played great. They made us play bad,” Kruger said. “We didn’t feel good about really any aspect of the ballgame. Certainly that’s a credit to Kansas State.”
STATS AND STREAKS
Young had his Big 12-record streak of 14 straight games with at least 25 points end. … Wade had seven rebounds and seven assists. … Oklahoma had a 37-26 advantage on the boards. … The Wildcats shot 56 percent from the field and led for 36:12.
BIG PICTURE
Oklahoma was averaging 93.6 points, tops in the country, but turned the ball over 20 times against the Wildcats. Those numbers doomed the Sooners to another tough night at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats played without Kamau Stokes, one of their best players, who is out with a foot injury.
UP NEXT
Oklahoma visits Oklahoma State for the return edition of Bedlam on Saturday.
Kansas State wraps up back-to-back home games against No. 24 TCU on Saturday.
Photo credit – Orlin Wagner / Associated Press / Manhattan, KS
