On Wednesday evening in Kansas City, Missouri, two Big 12 teams clashed in a game that got out of hand quickly.
Jerome Tang and the Kansas State Wildcats faced off against Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears in the third match of the second round of the 2025 Big 12 Tournament. The game went back and forth in the first half until the final minutes before Baylor uncorked an impressive scoring run. From that moment on, they dominated the Wildcats, earning a blowout win. They advance to take on Texas Tech on Thursday.
With that, here are the top three takeaways from Baylor’s 70-56 win over the Wildcats.
Two Stars
Baylor’s backcourt duo of Jayden Nunn and VJ Edgecombe were virtually unstoppable against Kansas State, putting up some dazzling numbers. The pair combined for 37 points, going a combined 14-25 from the field and 5-11 from three-point land.
For Edgecombe specifically, he must really like the Wildcats’ defense as the freshman phenom is now averaging 24.5 points per game against Kansas State. In the first matchup, Edgecombe led all scorers with 30 points scored, and in the Big 12 Tournament, he nearly did the same with 19 points on the day (David N’Guessan finished with 20).
A Complete Failure
There’s no other way to put it. The product that Kansas State Basketball provided under Jerome Tang this year was a complete and utter failure.
When major reporters like the Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman are bragging about K-State having a Top Five NIL package in the country, the casual fan would expect some results. Instead of an NCAA Tournament run, K-State fans were rewarded with a season that saw Coleman Hawkins fracture his tibia, Dug McDaniel coming off the bench throughout the non-conference slate, and Achor Achor get kicked off the team after a handful of games.
Now, Tang heads into 2025-26 with back-to-back seasons missing out on the Big Dance after his debut season saw Kansas State cruise to the Elite Eight on the backs of Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell.
Excitement Ahead
With Kansas State out of the way, Baylor now takes on one of the Big 12’s best teams, the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Big 12 fans are rewarded with a matchup that features two of the league’s best big men, JT Toppin and Norchad Omier, two of the best freshmen in the country, VJ Edgecombe and Christian Anderson, and two elite coaches that just so happen to be former co-workers.
Lock in Big 12 fans, Thursday night’s game could be a great one!
