Cincinnati’s Jizzle James netted a season-high 24 points, and the Bearcats recorded their first road win in seven attempts by pounding Kansas State 91-62 on Wednesday in Manhattan, Kan.
James sank 9 of 14 shots, including 6 of 8 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Coming off a 20-point home thumping of UCF on Sunday, the Bearcats (13-12, 5-7 Big 12) won by jump-shooting their way to another double-digit win. Cincinnati made 50% of its field-goal attempts and 16 of 28 (57.1%) from long range.
Jalen Celestine had 18 points and five rebounds for the Bearcats, while Baba Miller totaled 16 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocks. Day Day Thomas notched 10 points, seven assists and two steals.
The Wildcats (10-14, 1-10) lost their fifth straight contest and have dropped 10 of the past 11 outings. They shot 40.3% from the floor but were just 6 of 25 (24%) from 3-point range.
Kansas State’s P.J. Haggerty, the nation’s second-leading scorer at 23.3 points per game, put up 24 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Taj Manning had nine rebounds and four assists.
The visitors took off behind some excellent 3-point shooting inside the game’s first six minutes, canning 4 of 6 attempts. Celestine hit a pair from deep while Miller and James nailed one each for a 17-7 advantage.
The sizzling shooting continued as Miller and James each drained another triple for a 25-11 lead at 12:51, and the margin grew to 28 points as the torrid sharpshooting rocketed the Bearcats away from the Wildcats.
Cincinnati made seven consecutive field-goal attempts at one stretch of the opening half.
Kansas State got a boost at the halftime buzzer on Manning’s layup to make it 53-31 at the break.
Celestine’s 16 first-half points paced the Bearcats, who sank 57.1% from the floor. Haggerty had 11 points for the home side, which made 36.7% of its shots before intermission.
Kansas State slashed the deficit to 18 early in the second half, but Cincinnati quickly rebuilt the margin on a 10-0 run, led by as many as 32 and breezed to the win.
