UC Irvine stuns Kansas State

SAN JOSE – Turns out the crowd of experts that picked UC Irvine to upset Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament were right.

K-state’s season came to an end with a 70-64 loss to the No. 13 seed Anteaters on Friday at SAP Center.

It was a disappointing ending to an otherwise exciting season for the fourth-seeded Wildcats. They won 25 games and claimed a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship, but they couldn’t follow up on that with any NCAA Tournament wins.

This game in some ways mirrored K-state’s 2013 loss to La Salle in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, when the Wildcats coincidentally last won a conference title.

Barry Brown had a particularly off game for the Wildcats. The senior guard has been the driving force of the team all season, but he only scored five points on nine shots in this one. He picked up two early fouls and spent the majority of the first half on the bench. You can’t help but

wonder how much that threw off his game.

Kamau Stokes led the Wildcats with 18 points and Makol Mawien had 14 points and 12 rebounds. It just wasn’t enough to hold off the upset-minded Anteaters.

Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard both scored 19 points for UC Irvine. They were at their best in the second half, hitting several big 3-pointers to guide the Anteaters past the Wildcats.

K-state players walked off the court in a somber mood, with coach Bruce Weber shaking their hands on their way into the locker room. In seven seasons under Weber, Kstate has lost in the first round four times and reached the Elite Eight once in five NCAA Tournament appearances since 2013.

They seemed like they were in danger of losing this one from the start without star forward Dean Wade.

The first half was a back-and-forth series of runs that ended in a 30-30 tie.

At times, K-state was using a lineup that featured starting point guard Kamau Stokes and four reserves.

There simply wasn’t enough fire power on the court to make shots once UC Irvine switched to a zone, and it showed.

K-state failed to sustain a large enough lead and UC Irvine won in the end.

The Washington Post UC Irvine’s Evan Leonard and Jonathan Galloway celebrate after closing out a first round upset vs. Kansas State on Friday at the SAP Center in San Jose.

The Los Angeles Times/tns UC Irvine’s Evan Leonard high fives Max Hazzard after the Anteaters iced the game against Kansas State on Friday in San Jose.