GREENSBORO, N.C. — Markquis Nowell scored 23 of his 27 points after halftime, and Kansas State hit a couple of clutch 3-pointers to beat the Kentucky Wildcats 75-69 in Sunday's second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 5-foot-8 Nowell, played a fearless floor game that included two memorable plays right before halftime: a behind-the-back transition pass to Keyontae Johnson for a jam, and then a look-away alley-oop to Nae'Qwan Tomlin on the baseline to end the half.
He then hit three 3s, the first came over Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe and another with his left foot on the “March Madness” midcourt logo.
But things didn't look so good early on for Kansas State, as they got off to a horrid start, missing their first 13 3-pointers and were 2 for 17 before the outside shots started falling.
Nowell buried a step-back 3 against Cason Wallace to cut Kentucky's lead to 60-59, then Ismael Massoud followed with a trey from the right wing to give Kansas State a 64-62 lead with 2:21 left.
Johnson rifled in another from in front of the Kansas State bench, making it 67-62 with 1:23 left and creating what seemed like a massive lead considering the largest lead of the second half either team held was no more than four points.
Tshiebwe finished with 25 points and 18 rebounds for sixth-seeded Kentucky (22-12), which led by eight early in the second half. But the Wildcats could never quite extend their lead further nor make their own big outside shots.
Wallace had 15 of his 21 points after halftime, including many instances when the freshman used his 6-4 frame against Nowell inside.
Kentucky's No. 2 scorer Antonio Reeves, who averaged 14.6 points per game, was held to five points on 1-for-15 shooting, including 1-for-10 on 3s. His only made basket came with 8 seconds left.
Kansas State (25-9) will be making their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2018 as they face No. 7 seed Michigan State in the East Region semifinals on Thursday.
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