With four minutes to go in the first half, Kansas State led Baylor by 19 after blitzing the Bears with turnovers and converted opportunities. And fifteen minutes later, the Wildcats still had a 16-point lead.
Then the final nine minutes descended on K-State like a meteor. A blocked shot by D.J. Johnson with one second left finally allowed K-State (16-7, 5-5) to escape Waco with a 56-54 win over the Bears.
What happened? With the game three-quarters over, Bruce Weber changed gears and the team started trying to kill the clock. An offense that was working for the most part suddenly disappeared — K-State scored only seven points over the final eleven minutes of the contest and, whereas earlier the offense and defense flowed together rather seamlessly, the defense became disjointed as well.