Kansas State Wildcats Grill Texas Longhorns, 74-57

Feb 8, 2014; Manhattan, KS, USA; Kansas State Wildcats guard/forward Wesley Iwundu (25) dunks the ball against Texas Longhorns center Cameron Ridley (55) and forward Connor Lammert (21) during the Wildcats

Before Melvin Ejim and Marcus Smart stole the headlines on Saturday, the Kansas State Wildcats upset No. 15 Texas in Bramlage Coliseum. “Upset” almost infers that the game was close.

"“I think they beat us anyway you can get beat,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “I thought right from the beginning whether you want to talk loose balls of from turning the ball over, you are not going to win with turning the ball over 18 times. Some of it had to do with them, but a lot of it had to do with what we were doing too. The things that we talked about we did not do any of it. They played harder, with more energy, they were more physical and they beat us in every category.”"

When those words are said from an opposing coach, you know it was a pretty solid day. Barnes was visibly upset when entering the press conference. It could be due to the fact that his team didn’t even outscore K-State freshman Marcus Foster until there were 24 seconds left in the first half.

Foster’s game was outstanding. He put in 34 points, the most by a K-State true freshman since Michael Beasley went into “Beas mode” in every game that he was a Wildcat.  After K-State got scored on their first possession, Foster rattled off two straight threes and a layup for his team.

Foster’s shot selection was incredible on Saturday, by far the best of the season for him. He shot 13 of 16 from the field, and 5 of 8 from three-point land. That sort of efficiency is going lead to K-State beating pretty much anyone they play against. But now one is ever going to shoot 81% for an entire season.

"“When he first got here we were like man, he is pretty good in the summer workouts,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “We scrimmaged, and he was the leading scorer there against really good players. Now he is going to do it in the game. One of the coaches said that he is going to get 25-30 here soon. We knew it was going to happen. The thing that I like is that he has gotten a little better about being more patient, waiting for good shots. He is our go-to guy.”"

K-State also had a couple other great performances that didn’t deal with scoring. Wesley Iwundu put in eight points, but also had eight assists on the night. Impressive for a player like him to be able to pass so well. Thomas Gipson had just three points, but his stellar defense and 11 rebounds made up for that. K-State also had five players that scored eight or more points. Will Spradling had nine, all from beyond the arc.

To win on Monday, K-State must play like they did on Saturday–or better. But for now, Wildcat fans should enjoy the moment and revel in the success of their star freshman.