The Big 12 tournament had plenty of hometown-vested interest as the semifinals took over downtown Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday.
To start, fans of both the top-seeded Kansas State Wildcats and No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones packed the Sprint Center.
The Wildcats shared the regular-season Big 12 title with No. 2 Texas Tech, who was upset by No. 10 West Virginia in the quarterfinals. Iowa State had the opportunity to ensure a new champion would be crowned in the tournament.
Kansas State and Iowa State had split their regular-season meetings with Iowa State winning most recently on Feb.