OKLAHOMA CITY -- Minutes after Kansas State had just bounced BYU from the NCAA tournament to advance to the school's first Sweet 16 since 1988, Kansas State coach Frank Martin peeked at his cell phone.Among the incoming text messages pouring into his cell phone was one from a good friend from his hometown in Miami:
"Never seen so many people at Hooters in Miami chanting your name."
They also were roaring for Martin inside the Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City after Martin's No. 2-seeded Wildcats shut down No. 7 seed BYU and sharp-shooter Jimmer Fredette, 84-72.
"When I saw my family up in the stands, my wife, my mom, my kids, my uncle, one of my best friends in life that's in town -- as soon as that game ended, I realized that those are the people that believed in me from day on that have stuck with me when I was a young coach that wanted to pursue this as a career and it was a great feeling," Martin said. "A great feeling."
And it can still get much better.
The Wildcats (28-7) have been dominating in their opening wins against North Texas and BYU. While a number of high seeded teams -- especially hated rival Kansas just hours earlier on the same floor -- have already been eliminated from March's madness, the Wildcats roar on.
"They got the best of us," BYU sophomore guard Michael Loyd Jr. said. "They had the juice going."
K-State junior guard Jacob Pullen had a career-high 34 points in only 29 minutes, hitting seven of 12 3-pointers, along with four steals. Twenty of his points came after halftime.
"It's an amazing feeling, a childhood dream," Pullen said. "You watching basketball. ... I've watched all the NCAA tournaments since I was a kid. For me to be able to be in this position, I thank frank all the time.
"It's an amazing things that he was able to give me the opportunity."
Like so many other NCAA tournament heroes, Pullen was not highly recruited out of Chicago Proviso East High School. Heck, he was barely lightly recruited.
"I didn't have a million schools knocking on my door," Pullen said. "I had some mid-major schools and then Frank walked into my door and told me I can play.
"I took the opportunity and he gave me the opportunity. All my teammates -- I'm glad that we're here together and I'm glad that we get a chance to go to the Sweet 16 together."
Denis Clemente had 19 points for K-State, while Curtis Kelly had 10 points and seven rebounds. Wally Judge came off the bench and contributed eight points and eight rebounds.
All night the Wildcats handcuffed Fredette, BYU's scoring machine that had scored at least 30 points in three consecutive games.
Fredette, who honed his game by playing against inmates in a couple of New York prisons a few years ago, was battered and beaten by the physical Wildcats. He absorbed shots to his head on at least three occasions and grabbed his nose, checking for blood after a collision with Clemente.
"They're an aggressive team defensively," said Fredette, who finished with 21 points, 10 coming from the free throw line. "We knew they were going to get up in us and they started double-teaming me even in the backcourt.
"And as soon as I got over half court, I was just trying to get it up to the teammates and trying to have them be aggressive as well. They did a good job, were aggressive and sometimes that happens. They had a good game plan and executed it pretty well and played good defense."
Kansas State advances to Salt Lake City for the Sweet 16 where the Wildcats will meet the winner of Sunday's game between Pittsburgh and Xavier.
"The way they compete, the way that they go out and believe in each other and have grown – whether it's a freshman like Wally from day one to where he's at now or Jacob, who is year three and he's worked so hard to lead our basketball team and our program to new heights, I'm excited for them," Martin said. "I'm excited for K-Staters.
"All the credit and recognition belongs on these kid's shoulders. They've earned it. I talk to them all the time about earning the right. Well, they earned the right to be sitting here today as a Sweet 16 team."
Contact FanHouse senior writer Brett McMurphy at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com
