BOULDER, Colo.—For a half, Michael Beasley looked like a frustrated freshman. The Kansas State first-year player didn’t have a field goal and watched most of the period from the bench.
That changed early after the break with the quickness of a steal and a two-fisted dunk by the highly touted freshman.
“The coach gave us some unpleasant words that we didn’t really want to hear,” Beasley said. “So I just decided to come out and turn it up.”
Beasley scored 26 of his game-high 29 points in the second half and had 13 rebounds, leading Kansas State to a 72-56 victory over Colorado Wednesday night.
“He decided to compete a little bit and do what we asked him to do,” Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. “He decided to post up and that’s what we talked about going into the game.”
Beasley was 9-for-15 shooting in the second half. Bill Walker added 18 points for Kansas State (13-4, 3-0 Big 12) which won for the fourth straight time.
Beasley couldn’t find an answer for his slow start.
“I ask myself that question every night,” Beasley said. “If I could put two halves together that would be amazing but, it’s just not happening.”
The Wildcats beat Colorado for the fourth consecutive time. They hadn’t started out 3-0 in conference play since the 1987-88 season.
Richard Roby matched a season high with 27 points. Cory Higgins had 10 for Colorado (9-9, 1-3), which hurt itself by hitting only 17-of-31 free throws.
“You can’t win a lot of games when you allow 17 offensive rebounds, have 17 turnovers and miss 14 free throws,” Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “It’s just not going to happen.”
The Buffaloes got within 34-30 after scoring the first six points of the second half. But Beasley gave Kansas State some breathing room, 37-30, with his first field goal of the game on a two-fisted jam off a steal with 16:20 remaining.
The Wildcats led 45-33 after baskets by Walker and Beasley and 53-38 after Beasley’s two free throws. Higgins’ layup and a 3-pointer by Xavier Silas cut it to 53-43 with 8:08 to play, but Kansas State went up 64-47 as Beasley scored nine of his team’s next 11 points.
Foul trouble limited Beasley to 10 minutes and three points in the first half, but he contributed three free throws in a 15-0 run that put Kansas State up 27-13 with 8:54 left.
“They applied some pressure and we got rattled and let them have easy baskets,” Roby said of the Wildcats’ run.
Roby had eight points the rest of the half as Colorado reduced the gap to 34-26 at halftime.
“The difference was Beasley played in the second half,” Bzdelik said. “He out-hustled us and that is something that bothers me.”
The Wildcats also shut down Marcus Hall, Colorado’s second leading scorer. Hall, who averages slightly more than 12 points a game, was held to four points on 2-for-4 shooting.
“We just played that zone that kept guys on him,” Walker said. “He’s a rhythm player so we tried not to let him get into a rhythm.”
