Kansas State out worked Boston College en route to a 72-54 win in the first game of the Barclays Center Classic.
Freshman Xavier Sneed had 16 points and eight rebounds, Dean Wade had 11 points and eight rebounds and Barry Brown scored 11 points and was the defensive stopper on BC guard Jerome Robinson as the Wildcats improved to 5-0.
“It was a good win for our guys,” coach Bruce Weber said after the game.
“When you go away from home, you don’t know what’s going to happen. One thing I said was, ‘Do the same things you do at home.’ You have to bring your own energy and I thought our guys had great energy. We were really good defensively both halves, especially the first half.”
Boston College (3-2) shot only 33 percent in the game, going 17 of 51. Ky Bowman led the Golden Eagles with 13 points and Robinson scored 11 — eight less than his average against Brown’s tough defense — as the two guards combined to shoot 7-for-25. Kansas State can take great pride on their defense performance. Boston College had to work for every shot they took. Boston College committed 21 turnovers in all for the game.
As well as Kansas State on defense, they didn’t shot the ball all that well either. K-State was 0 of 10 behind the 3-point line in the first half and shot 10 of 29 overall. Other than the 3 point shots not falling , the Wildcats did manage to finish the game shooting at 45 percent.
The Wildcats will battle the Maryland Terps in the finals of the Barclays Center Classic on Saturday night.