Kansas State entered Saturday's game against No. 12 West Virginia looking for its first Big 12 Conference win of the season.

One typically wouldn't expect a team to snap a four-game league slide against the best squad its played all year, but that's exactly what the Wildcats did with a 84-68 win over Bob Huggins' Mountaineers.

Let's recap the Wildcats' impressive performance in The Final at K-StateOnline.

Bruce Weber made a key decision to put Xavier Sneed back into the lineup with two fouls and nearly six minutes still left to play in the first half, and the senior made sure it paid off for his head coach.

Sneed knocked in a triple immediately upon returning to the lineup. It gave the Wildcats a 24-17 lead, at that point their biggest of the contest, and Sneed would re-extend the lead to seven K-State's next trip with a pair of free-throws. The Wildcats would soon after build a nine-point first half edge on two more Sneed freebies with 3:24 to go before the break.

A massive Wildcat spurt followed - featuring Sneed on and off the floor - and K-State would go in to halftime holding a commanding 42-25 lead.

That sequence didn't end the game, however.

WVU's pressure would create some nervous moments in the second half, as Huggins' team used a 15-0 run over a 2:03 stretch to slice K-State's one-time huge lead to just 57-49 with more than nine minutes still left left.

It likely helped WVU, at that point, to have been called for just three fouls while pressing the first 10 minutes of the half against nine whistles on a K-State defense not playing an aggressive style.

The crowd in Bramlage Coliseum, and Weber's sideline, certainly voiced their displeasure.

Cartier Diarra, who already had five second-half turnovers to help WVU get back in the game, was also the one to stop the bleeding for the Wildcats with a one-on-one 3-pointer to put K-State up 60-49. WVU would not go away, though, getting it back to just a six-point game with a three of its own going into the under-eight media timeout.

At that point, the Mountaineers were on a 20-3 run over a 4:10 span.

Diarra would make two key free throws, with K-State still in the one-and-one, to extend the Cats' lead back out to eight. Sneed also made two (the Wildcats' final one-and-one trip) with 6:26 to make it a double-digit margin, again, at 64-54. A Diarra three immediately after would put the Cats back up 13. Sloan hit two freebies the following possession - as the fouls did even up for both squads - to make it a 15-point game with K-State again in full control.

Makol Mawien only had two baskets before fouling out - and he certainly had his struggles - but he played with energy and emotion throughout the contest. Mawien's final points, a two-handed slam with four minutes to play, kept WVU down 14 and felt like it signaled the end of the Mountaineers' hopes.

ANTONIO GORDON

A. Gordon was quiet early, but he made plenty of noise - literally - before the first half ended.

The Oklahoma native sent Bramlage into a frenzy with a drive and dunk at the 2:20 mark. It was his first basket of the game, but it gave K-State an 11-point first half edge, at that time the Wildcats' biggest lead of the contest. It was part of a run that put K-State up 42-25 at halftime.

A. Gordon didn't score again until the 15-minute mark, but it came on another jam to give the Wildcats a 50-27 edge over the 12th ranked team in college basketball. He didn't wait as long for his next hoop, a three on K-State's next trip that made it 53-29 Wildcats.

DaJUAN GORDON

D. Gordon didn't earn his second consecutive start in this contest, but he did find a way to make his presence felt much, much sooner than he did when he started against Texas Tech.

The Chicago product hit a three to put K-State up 14-11 with 12 minutes left in the first half. He hit another less than two minutes later to put K-State up six, then another minute later he had an offensive put-back to put K-State back up six, 19-13, with nine minutes left before halftime. He then had a truly fantastic finish at the rim with 2:20 left in the half for a nine point lead before hitting his third triple of the first half to give K-State a 39-25 lead.

By halftime D. Gordon had 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field (3-of-3 from deep) in 14 minutes of action.

D. Gordon was quiet in the second half, but he threw down one more hoop - a breakaway dunk - with 2:30 remaining to put K-State up 76-60.

MONTAVIOUS MURPHY

Murphy found himself out of the starting lineup in this one, but he still earned 18 first-half minutes.

Murphy's first truly noticeable contribution came when he took a charge with 10:12 left and K-State leading by six, arguably creating the loudest reaction heard in Bramlage in quite some time. If that wasn't the loudest reaction, it may have came on Murphy's driving lay-up to put K-State up 28-21 with four minutes left in the first half.

K-State finally got an elusive win against a quality team this season, taking down the No. 4 Kenpom team West Virginia.

This game highlights the value of hitting shots. K-State made 64.5% of its twos and 50% of its threes today against the No. 1 eFG% defense in the country. The Cats have been tracking to be one of the worst shooting teams in Manhattan in the 3PT era, and this afternoon was a nice change from that trend.

The Cats did struggle with turnovers, especially for a stretch in the second half, as WVU made their comeback, but they still won the TO rate battle (22.8% to 25.7%) and more importantly took advantage of those by outscoring WVU 28 to 17 in points off of turnovers.

Rebounding was a concern, and WVU did end up rebounding 40% of their misses. However, the Mountaineers only outscored K-State 9-8 on second chances. Finally, the Cats were able to make FTs, especially in knocking down 10-of-13 (76.9%) in the second half while getting their 25 times.

Big games by multiple players always make offense look great.

Diarra was huge scoring and hitting some key shots with an efficiency of 1.05 while being involved in 32% of K-State's possessions, despite a stretch of turnovers in the second half. DaJuan Gordon ended with a crazy efficiency of 2.13 points per possession in scoring 15 on seven shots, while Sneed wasn't far behind at 1.43 while scoring 16 on six shots. David Sloan also had one of his best games as a Cat playing alongside Diarra most of the night with a really nice five assist to one turnover game. The Cats also got solid play from Antonio Gordon and Murphy. Stockard and Mawien both battled foul trouble and only combined for 23 minutes, but the positive was that both seemed to play with more energy than we've seen in a while.

Xavier Sneed set the tone early for K-State with four points and three deflections on the defensive end in the first two minutes of the game. One of those deflections led to a steal and lay in for Sneed. The rest of the Wildcats fed off that early energy and fought like crazy. Even when K-State made mistakes offensively, the Wildcats did not let West Virginia turn those in to easy baskets on the other end, which has been an issue for this team.

David Sloan, who gave K-State good minutes, made a bad read on a pick and roll by throwing it to the roller instead of an open Montavious Murphy, in the corner, hustled back to contest the layup and force free throws. Later Makol Mawien turned it over, but again K-State sprinted back and blocked the layup attempt. West Virginia ended up getting an open corner three out of the scramble but air balled it, and Sloan finished the possession with a box out on the weak side.

Not only did K-State compete extremely hard, the Wildcats also did a lot of little things well. On a missed shot from West Virginia it looked like the Mountaineers were going to come up with the offensive rebound, but Sloan dug down from the wing and stole the rebound away. Sloan ended up on his back with the ball and found Antonio Gordon. Gordon initially took off down the floor but recognized he was in traffic and picked up his dribble. Those may seem like two very small things in a very short sequence of basketball, but they are two plays and decisions this team hasn’t always been making. Another good decision from A. Gordon came on a two-on-one fast break. He gave the ball up early to DaJuan Gordon, who rewarded him with a return pass for a dunk.

D. Gordon’s first half reminded me of Barry Brown’s game two years ago at home against Oklahoma State. Brown poured in 30-plus that night but also had six steals and seemed to be everywhere on the court defensively. Similarly, Gordon was relentless in his pursuit of the basketball, as he came up with four first-half steals.

On one possession where K-State was in a zone, Gordon had to rotate out to the wing on a ball reversal. On the wing to corner pass, Gordon managed to sprint to the ball, contest the shot, and force a miss. It was a great effort play that didn’t show up on the stat sheet.

The best way I can describe K-State’s offensive performance in the first 30 minutes of this game is the Cats just played basketball.

On one play Sloan drove in the lane and almost got caught in the air. However, he was able to find D. Gordon, who was cutting along the baseline to the basket. When Gordon got cut off he pitched the ball to A. Gordon in the opposite corner. A. Gordon did not settle for the three, but instead put the ball on the floor, drew help, and left a pass for Stockard for a short jumper right before the shot clock expired. The possession wasn’t an example of K-State executing a well-designed set, but it was guys making basketball plays.

When a team ratchets up the pressure like West Virginia team, it becomes even more important for guys to make hard, crisp passes, players off the ball to make hard cuts and then to come meet the pass, and for passes to be on time. For example, on the possession where Sneed was called for the travel after it appeared he fell over a WVU defender, Sneed was open down the opposite sideline long before Diarra made the pass. Instead, he waited until the last second to make the pass and then threw a low pass. Yes, Sneed still should have caught the pass, but the pass not being on time made it a more difficult play.

With K-State leading by eight with around nine minutes to play, West Virginia missed a wide open three after making one the previous possession. On K-State’s subsequent possession, Diarra hit a tough three to calm the storm. It was a huge exchange that took what could have been a five-point game if West Virginia had made their three and made it an 11-point lead.

Murphy once again showed flashes of his ability to put the ball on the floor. In the first half he finished at the rim after driving from outside the three point line in the corner. After catching on a pick and pop he put the ball on the deck, which drew a help defender and led to an open D. Gordon three. In the second half, Murphy brought the ball up against a guard. Another way K-State could take advantage of this ability is to set some ball screens for Murphy when he is at the four with whoever is playing the five. Or, when K-State is playing small with Murphy at the five, they could isolate him on the perimeter against the opposing team’s five man and let him attack off the dribble.

***Subscribe to K-StateOnline by clicking here***

Talk K-State football and basketball in the largest, most active K-State message board community anywhere, The Foundation.