Kansas State basketball puts on show in win over Mississippi State
Kansas State beat reporter Wyatt Wheeler breaks down the highlights from the Wildcats’ 98-77 win over Mississippi State in Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, MO — When PJ Haggerty was removed from Kansas State basketball’s narrow win over Tulsa, the Golden Hurricane went on a run that the Wildcats had to overcome in the final minute. Wildcats coach Jerome Tang admitted afterward that removing his best player from the game wasn’t a good decision.
So when Haggerty was dealing with some cramps late in the Wildcats’ semifinal game at the Hall of Fame Classic against Mississippi State, Tang didn’t move a muscle when Haggerty ran by him, not even acknowledging the coach, en route to checking himself back in.
“I told y’all that I was an idiot for checking him out the last time,” Tang laughed. “Come on. Y’all didn’t want to see him off the court, did you?”
Tang’s right. No one, except Mississippi State, wanted to see Haggerty on the bench. It turned out that the only thing that would slow Haggerty down was the cramps, en route to 37 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds in Kansas State’s 98-77 win over the Bulldogs.
Haggerty continued his sensational start to his Kansas State career.
“I think he’s the best point guard in America, and he might be the best player in America,” Tang said. “I wouldn’t want anybody else.”
The second-best scoring performance of Haggerty’s career followed a game in which he scored 31 points and 10 rebounds in the Wildcats’ come-from-behind win over Tulsa. He became the second player in the program’s history to score 20-plus points in their first five games to open a season, joining Michael Beasley, who was also the most recent player to achieve a 30-point, 10-rebound double-double.
The effortless scoring ability, combined with the added layer of getting his teammates involved, has Haggerty maintaining his All-American level and proving to be worth every cent the Wildcats invested in his services this offseason.
“Wins and losses; that’s all that matters for him,” Tang said. “For us to win, I think he’ll do it. If he needs to score 50, for us to win, then I think he’ll do it. “If he needs to get 10 rebounds, he will do it. If he needs to get 20 assists, I think he will do it. I think he’ll do whatever it takes for us to win.”
So far, Haggerty has done just that, as Kansas State sits at 5-0 and will play in a Hall of Fame Classic championship game against Nebraska on Friday, Nov. 21, at 8:30 p.m. in Kansas City.
Through his first five games, Haggerty is averaging 28.2 points per game and has achieved two of his top four assist performances of his 77-game career. He’s taken over games, notably scoring 27 of his 31 points against Tulsa in the second half to lift the Wildcats to a two-point win. When the Wildcats’ offense got off to a slow start on Thursday, he took over by driving to the basket.
And then he got his teammates involved, leading to 14 makes from 3-point range as a team and 17 points in transition. Haggerty helped create, dishing out pretty passes on the run, while Nate Johnson was typically on the receiving end before finishing at the basket.
Another step forward, Haggerty only turned the ball over once, when his previous low was three.
It would be difficult to find anyone in all of college basketball playing at a higher level than Haggerty has this early in the season.
“I don’t really keep up with things like that,” Haggerty said. “I just try to play my game within the offense and just try to win.”
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com
