Back to the grind

Good morning! Hope you had a smooth Monday, especially if you had to return to work.

And I hope it was much smoother than what Gonzaga dealt with during its trip to Los Angeles over the weekend. The Zags’ charter flight reportedly almost hit another plane while taxiing on the runway at LAX.

Let’s get to the rest of Monday’s news.

1. Did Kansas State finally figure things out?

It hasn’t been an ideal start to the season for Jerome Tang and Kansas State. But on Monday, the Wildcats avoided a fourth-straight loss and earned their biggest win of the season with a 70-67 victory against No. 16 Cincinnati.

Cincinnati made the Cats work for it, though. In the closing moments senior guard Max Jones hit a turnaround jumper to put K-State up 65-61. Cincinnati closed the gap back to two, but Jones grabbed a key offensive rebound off a missed free throw by senior forward Coleman Hawkins to basically ice the game for the Wildcats.

Hawkins and junior guard Dug McDaniel combined for 37 points, and as mentioned on After Dark, Hawkins looked like his former Illinois self. This was Hawkins’ second double-double and his highest point total (20) of the season.

McDaniel hadn’t started a game since LSU on Nov. 14, and Tang said he had no intentions of starting McDaniel in his postgame press conference. However, God told him to do it and he thought the guard brought “swag” on Monday.

K-State (7-5, 1-0) still has a lot of work to do to be in the tournament field after not securing a single marquee non-conference victory. Coming into the game, the Wildcats were one of the 10 worst power teams in the NET and KenPom. But this win over the Bearcats is a good place to start a run. Jerome Tang is now 10-2 vs. AP Top 25 opponents at home since taking over the Wildcats in 2022.

For Cincinnati (10-2, 0-1), this isn’t a terrible loss. But it won’t have much time to rest. It will look to get back in the win column at home vs. Arizona on Jan. 4.

2. Iowa State squeaks by Buffs, and more from the Big 12

Iowa State’s already beaten Colorado once this season (at the Maui Invitational), but Monday mattered a little bit more given it was Big 12 play. And it was the Cyclones (11-1, 1-0) who walked away with a 79-69 victory.

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