MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — There was so much attention being paid to Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald’s return to the field Saturday that nobody paid much to running back Kylin Hill.

Certainly not the Kansas State defense. Not even himself, really.

After Hill ran for 211 yards and accounted for three scores, and after the No. 18 Bulldogs’ swarming defense shut down the Wildcats in a 31-10 rout, the sophomore running back acknowledged he wasn’t even sure how many yards he’d piled up during the game.

“I honestly don’t know,” Hill insisted. “Having Fitz back there helped because they were already watching him, so that opened up holes for me. He’s a great overall player — NFL-caliber.”

Yes, the senior quarterback had his share of highlights, too. He threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns, ran for another 159 yards , and paced an offense that piled up 538 yards total in giving the Bulldogs (2-0) their first Power Five road win since beating Baylor in September 1995.

Not bad considering it was also Fitzgerald’s first game since last November. He missed their bowl game after a serious foot injury against Ole Miss, and then was suspended for last week’s season opener.

“It’s always good to go out there and finally get to reap the rewards of all the hard work that you’ve put in with your teammates,” he said. “It was amazing to get out there.”

Pretty amazing watching his running back work, too.

“He works his butt off every day,” Fitzgerald said. “You knew he was going to have a big day. I never once thought he was going to get tackled behind the line of scrimmage, I think it happened once?”

Hill and Fitzgerald helped the Bulldogs to a 17-3 lead over the Wildcats (1-1), despite a sloppy, penalty-filled first half. But it was a 95-yard march in the third quarter that put the game away, when Hill ripped off a 52-yard run and Fitzgerald capped it with a touchdown toss.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ two-quarterback system of Skylar Thompson and Alex Delton struggled to get going. Thompson was 7 of 17 for 86 yards and a touchdown while running for 34 yards, and Delton was 2 of 4 for 14 yards with an interception that led to the Bulldogs’ TD late in the first half.

“Just disappointing,” Delton said. “We’re not where we should be when you look at our talent. We’ve scored what, two touchdowns in two games? That’s pitiful.”

The bright spot for Kansas State was bruising running back Alex Barnes, who finished with 75 yards rushing. But even he was held in check by a Mississippi State defense, led by tackle Jeffrey Simmons and end Montez Sweat, that had 17 tackles for loss in its opener.

In truth, they had their way with the Wildcats’ veteran offensive line, which coughed up four sacks and managed only 213 yards total offense. Kansas State’s only touchdown came in the third quarter, when Fitzgerald threw an interception that set up a short field.

“I wouldn’t take anything away from Mississippi State,” Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said, “but as I’ve said so many times it’s not about who you line up against. It’s about us. We just haven’t played as well as we’re capable of playing.”

THE TAKEWAY

Mississippi State: Fitzgerald and Hill made life miserable for the Wildcats’ with the read-option, essentially beating Kansas State at its own game. Fitzgerald was just 11 of 27 passing, though, which could be a byproduct of his rust. “He was a little amped up,” Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead said. “He made some good throws. He did some great things by improvisation.”

Kansas State: Despite returning all five starters on the offensive line, Kansas State struggled up front against the Bulldogs. Thompson and Delton were under constant duress, and Barnes often had to avoid first contact in the backfield. It made for a stagnant offense all afternoon.

TOSSED FOR TARGETING

Bulldogs safety Johnathan Abram was ejected after getting called for targeting early in the fourth quarter. Abram launched himself into a helmet-to-helmet blow on kick returner Duke Shelley.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Bulldogs haven’t done anything to hurt their poll positioning, acing their biggest test until they face Florida on Sept. 29. They have Louisiana and a trip to Kentucky the next two weeks.

UP NEXT

Mississippi State: Louisiana heads to Starkville to face the Bulldogs next Saturday night.

Kansas State: Texas-San Antonio visits Manhattan for the Wildcats’ final nonconference game.

— Associated Press —

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Saturday night’s game was not going the way most Kansas State fans, players and coaches had anticipated. Fans were booing the offense and making a quick exit, not just in fear of seeing a season-opening upset, but mostly in sheer disgust at the way things were going.

Then Isiah Zuber’s late punt return changed everything, sparking a two-touchdown fourth quarter and a 27-24 Kansas State victory over South Dakota.

After struggling to gain any footing for a majority of the game, the Kansas State offense seemed to have hit rock bottom as South Dakota punted the ball away early in the fourth quarter to Zuber, who returned it 85 yards for a touchdown to pull the Wildcats to 24-19. The score woke up a sleepy and agitated Bill Snyder Family Stadium, which saw fans head toward the exits just minutes before Zuber’s punt return.

However, Zuber was not done making plays.

After Kansas State forced the Coyotes to another punt, Skylar Thompson connected with Zuber for a 10-yard touchdown pass and the game-winning score with 7:21 remaining.

Zuber led the Wildcats in receiving with five catches for 68 yards and one touchdown.

Although the Wildcats picked up their first victory of the season, Kansas State coach Bill Snyder was not happy afterward describing his emotions.

“Well I am, you know all of them,” Snyder said. Angered, disappointed, etc. But it goes back again, well, we can say all we want about anything but I just don’t have them prepared to play. If they were ready to play the way we wanted them to, which is my responsibility, we would have probably fared a little bit better than what we did.”

South Dakota, which had led for a majority of the game, was given new life with just 50 seconds left after forcing an Alex Barnes’ fumble deep in Coyote territory.

The Coyotes drove down the field and set up for what would have been a game-tying field goal, but Mason Lorber missed a 51-yard attempt as time expired.

“Unfortunately, we had the ball and with a little bit of a breeze we wanted to get it down around the 25-yard line and try to get a field goal attempts in the low forties,” Coyotes coach Bob Nielson said.

“We had a play call to run one of those hitch routes and take a timeout. Then we had the false start penalty and we were really on the far outside of the goal. He (Mason) has made them in practice, he obviously did not hit that one very good.”

South Dakota’s Austin Simmons was 24-of-56 passing for 257 yards and a touchdown.

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas State: With new coordinators on both sides of the ball, it would be expected the Wildcats would have some struggles, but the only positives on the night were out of kicker Blake Lynch and Zuber. Both Thompson and Alex Delton had ample opportunities to make their claim for the starting quarterback job, but neither could gain any ground by the end of the game.

South Dakota: The Coyotes were not able to come up with a win over an FBS opponent for the second straight season, but one solid takeaway is how well the Coyotes were in control for much of the game. They did a great job limiting the Kansas State offense for three quarters and had many Kansas State fans, players and coaches frustrated throughout the night.

TURNOVER WOES

One of the more surprising events of the evening was Kansas State running back Alex Barnes struggling to hold on to the football. He coughed it up three times, the last time while the Wildcats were attempting to ice the ballgame. Snyder said he had never seen Barnes fumble this many times.

BAD CATS

For the first time since 2016 against Florida Atlantic, the Wildcats went over 100 yards in penalties. Whether they be of the drive-killing variety on offense or saving a South Dakota drive, Kansas State was not their usually disciplined selves and that could loom troublesome with No. 18 Mississippi State coming into town next week.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kansas State’s calling card for years has been in the special teams and tonight was no exception. Four made field goals by Blake Lynch and a punt return for a touchdown by Isaiah Zuber were the difference against South Dakota.

Meanwhile, South Dakota missed two field goals, including the game winner, and also gave up a punt return for a touchdown.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

In his first career start, Kansas State kicker Blake Lynch netted four field goals from 22, 24, 38 and 44 yards as well as an extra point.

UP NEXT

Kansas State hosts Mississippi State on Saturday.

South Dakota hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State junior defensive end Reggie Walker was one of 36 players in the nation, and one of five in the Big 12, to be named to the watch list for the 2018 Ted Hendricks Award, the Ted Hendricks Foundation announced Monday.

Walker is a preseason candidate for the award that honors the top defensive end in college football for a second-straight year. He is the third Wildcat to be up for the award multiple times, joining Ian Campbell (2006-08) and Ryan Mueller (2013-14).

A Second Team All-Big 12 performer by the league’s coaches in 2017, Walker started 12 games as a sophomore, recording 36 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. He played his best toward the end of the season when he logged 12 tackles, 4.0 TFLs and his two sacks in a two-game span against Kansas and Texas Tech.

A native of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Walker was the 2016 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year after totaling 11.5 TFLs and 6.5 sacks.

The Wildcats open the 2018 campaign on Saturday, September 1, when they host South Dakota at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

— K-State Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State junior running back Alex Barnes was one of 62 players in the nation and six from the Big 12 to earn a spot on the watch list for the 2018 Doak Walker Award, which honors the nation’s premier running back, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum announced Wednesday.

Barnes is on the watch list for a second-straight year, while it is the 16th time since 1992 a Wildcat has been up for the award. Darren Sproles was one of three finalists for the award in 2003, while Daniel Thomas was a semifinalist in 2010.

It is the second watch list inclusion this week for Barnes as he was named a candidate for the Maxwell Award on Monday. The Pittsburg, Kansas, native is coming off a sophomore campaign in which he rushed for 819 yards and seven touchdowns on 146 carries. His 5.61-yard average ranked fifth in school history, while his total was fourth among sophomores.

Barnes, a Preseason All-Big 12 selection by Athlon and Phil Steele, topped the career 1,000-yard barrier last year as he enters his junior year with 1,261 yards. He hit the 1,000-yard mark on his 152nd carry, just five behind Sproles for the fastest in school history.

Kansas State opens the 2018 season on Saturday, September 1, when the Wildcats host South Dakota. The game, which kicks off at 6:10 p.m., inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium, serves as the 10th-annual K-State Family Reunion and will be shown world-wide on ESPN3.

— K-State Atheltics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Pete Hughes, a proven program builder who has accumulated more than 650 victories in 21 seasons as a head coach, was named the 21st head baseball coach at Kansas State, Director of Athletics Gene Taylor announced Friday.

Hughes, who will be formally introduced at a press conference at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 12 in the Vanier Complex’s Steel & Pipe Team Theater, agreed to a five-year contract approved by the K-State Athletics, Inc., Board of Directors and President Richard B. Myers. Hughes was selected after a national search headed by K-State’s Taylor, Executive Associate Athletics Director Casey Scott and Ventura Partners and will be paid $375,000 in the first year of the deal with $10,000 annual increases each year remaining on the contract.

“My wife Debby and I could not be more elated to be bringing our family to one of the nation’s finest college communities,” said Hughes. “I am honored that President Myers and Director of Athletics Gene Taylor have given us this opportunity to become a member of a university and department that are integrity-driven, deeply rooted in core values and that represent all that is good in college athletics.

“I am beyond excited to continue the winning tradition of Kansas State baseball that Coach Hill tirelessly created over the past 15 years. It will be a privilege to wear the Purple and White.”

“We are excited to welcome Pete, Debby and the Hughes family to K-State,” Taylor said. “When we set out to hire our next baseball coach, we concentrated on finding someone with a proven track record of building and developing a successful program at the Power Five level. That is our need at this time – rebuilding a competitive program. Everyone that we talked to throughout this process emphasized the gritty determination of Pete’s teams, his emphasis on preparation and fielding fundamentally sound teams, his relentless approach to recruiting, his focus on identifying and developing the hard-working, blue collar-type of player that will bleed purple, his commitment to community service and his devotion to his family. His record of success is impressive, and he operates his program the right way. Combine all these factors and we felt we had the right man to help lead our program back to the level of success we want to achieve at K-State. Pete and his family will fit right in at K-State, and we look forward to them joining the Wildcat family.”

Hughes, who has a proven track record of setting new standards of excellence, has compiled a career record of 652-492-3 (.570) in 21 seasons as a head coach, serving as head coach at Trinity University (1997-98), Boston College (1999-2006), Virginia Tech (2007-13) and Oklahoma (2014-17).

Twice named both the New England Coach of the Year and BIG EAST Coach of the Year, as well as the 2000 American Baseball Coaches Association Northeast Region Coach of the Year, Hughes owns a well-deserved reputation as a relentless worker, tireless recruiter and charismatic leader.

Hughes has made a name for himself within the community throughout his career, starting with his 19 Ways Foundation. During his time in Norman, his teams raised over $80,000 to fight childhood cancer through the Vs. Cancer Foundation and the OU Children’s hospital. The Sooners also put on an annual ALS Awareness Halloween Game to benefit the ALS Foundation at the conclusion of each fall season.

Hughes comes to Manhattan after spending the 2018 season at the volunteer assistant coach at Georgia, where he helped the Bulldogs earn a national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Primarily working with the team’s infielders, Hughes elevated UGA’s defense from the bottom of the SEC in 2017 to 10th-best in the nation in his one season in Athens.

In 2017, the Sooners registered a 35-24 mark and advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed in the Louisville Regional. Hughes collected a 128-107-1 (.544) record in four seasons at the helm of the Sooners.

In his final season as the OU skipper, Hughes tutored 10 players that were honored with Big 12 annual awards – the most in program history – including Brylie Ware who was named the Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team along with outfielder Steele Walker.

Inheriting a Virginia Tech club in 2007 that had not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2000, Hughes went on to lead the Hokies to five straight 30-win seasons, including a pair of 40-win seasons that culminated with berths in the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2013, the latter marking the school’s first-ever selection as a regional host site. Hughes compiled a 222-174 (.561) record in seven seasons at Virginia Tech.

Hughes produced an even more remarkable turnaround at Boston College, as he took over a program that had averaged just 13 wins a year over the previous 35 seasons. The Golden Eagles finished 17-23-1 the year prior to his arrival in 1998 and, two seasons later, the team registered an 18-game improvement as it finished 35-20 and qualified for the program’s second-ever appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament. In 2005, he guided BC to a school-record 37 victories.

Averaging 31 wins a season while at Boston College, Hughes owned a career mark of 250-181-2 (.580) as the Eagles’ skipper. He coached 37 all-conference selections while at Boston College, including Jared McGuire who was named 2005 BIG EAST Player of the Year.

In 21 seasons as a head coach, Hughes’ teams have finished .500 or better 19 times while he has overseen 74 former student-athletes selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, including 15 taken in the first 10 rounds.

Hughes is a 1990 graduate of Davidson College where he played third base on the baseball team and quarterback for the Wildcats’ football team. He was captain of the baseball team as a senior and graduated that year with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology/anthropology.

Hughes began his coaching career at Hamilton College in New York in 1990-91, serving as an assistant in football and was the top assistant and recruiting coordinator for baseball. He continued in that dual role at Northeastern University in Boston from the fall of 1991 until the spring of 1996 when he landed the head baseball coaching position at Trinity.

A native of Brockton, Massachusetts, Hughes and his wife Debby have five children: Thomas, Hal, Dominic, Grace and P.J. Thomas is a rising senior infielder at Oklahoma while Hal, also an infielder, just completed his freshman season at LSU.

THE PETE HUGHES FILE
Born: January 11, 1968 in Brockton, Mass.
High School: Boston College High School, Boston, Mass.
College: Davidson College, B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology, 1990
Family: Wife: Debby; Children: Thomas, Hal, Dominic, Grace, P.J.

Playing Career
Davidson College, 1986-90, Baseball and Football

Coaching Career
Asst. Baseball Coach/Asst. Football Coach, Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.) 1990-91
Asst. Baseball Coach/Asst. Football Coach, Northeastern Univ. (Boston, Mass.) 1991-96
Head Baseball Coach, Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) 1997-98
Head Baseball Coach, Boston College, 1999-2006
Head Baseball Coach, Virginia Tech, 2007-13
Head Baseball Coach, Oklahoma, 2013-17
Volunteer Coach, Georgia, 2017-2018
Head Baseball Coach, K-State, 2018-pres.

COACHING HIGHLIGHTS:
2017 NCAA Regional (Oklahoma)
2013 NCAA Regional, Host (Virginia Tech)
2010 NCAA Regional (Virginia Tech)
2005 New England Coach of the Year
2002 BIG EAST Coach of the Year
2000 New England Coach of the Year
2000 BIG EAST Coach of the Year
2000 ABCA Northeast Coach of the Year

— K-State Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State’s 2018 season opener against South Dakota on Saturday, September 1, will kick off at 6:10 p.m., and be televised by ESPN3, K-State Athletics officials announced Wednesday.

The 10^th-Annual K-State Family Reunion game will be the seventh time in the last eight years that the Wildcats’ home opener will be a night kickoff.

The Wildcats and Coyotes are meeting for the fifth time in series history with K-State holding a 4-0 advantage. Kansas State earned a 34-0 shutout in the 2015 season opener, while the Wildcats also won home meetings over USD in 1980, 1981 and 1982.

Following the matchup against South Dakota, K-State will host Mississippi State on September 8, in an 11 a.m., game that will be shown on ESPN. The Wildcats then host UTSA at 3 p.m., on September 15 in a game televised by FSN prior to a road contest at West Virginia on September 22, to open Big 12 play.

Season tickets are still available for the 2018 season starting at just $199 for the mobile Flex Season Ticket. Single-game tickets for the 2018 season go on sale online only for Ahearn Fund members on Monday, July 9, and for the entire public online on Thursday, July 12. Group and single-game tickets are available by phone at 1-800-221-CATS beginning Friday, July 13.

K-State’s Kick Times/TV Selections for First Three Games

Date              Opponent                   Time              TV

Sept. 1          South Dakota             6:10 p.m.     ESPN3

Sept. 8          Mississippi State       11 a.m.         ESPN

Sept. 15        UTSA                             3 p.m.           FSN

— K-State Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State’s September 8 matchup against Mississippi State will kick off at 11 a.m., on ESPN, while its September 15 contest against UTSA will start at 3 p.m., on FSN as the Big 12 Conference and its television partners have announced game times and TV designations for the first three weeks of the season.

The Wildcats’ season opener against South Dakota on September 1 – which will serve as the 10th-Annual K-State Family Reunion – will be shown world-wide on ESPN3 at a time to be determined.

K-State and Mississippi State will be meeting on the gridiron for a third time as the series is tied, 1-1, following two close matchups in the 1970s. The Wildcats were downed by MSU, 21-16, in Starkville in 1974. In 1977, the Bulldogs earned a 24-21 win on the field, but the game was later forfeited due to the use of an ineligible player.

The Wildcats won their only previous meeting against the Roadrunners, a 30-3 victory at the Alamodome in 2015. This year marks the fifth-straight year K-State will play a member of Conference USA with four of those contests being played in Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

As in years past, all remaining Big 12 game times and television information will be selected on a 12- or six-day basis throughout the season.

Fan-favorite Harley Day is scheduled for the Mississippi State matchup, when 100-plus Harley Davidson motorcycles will make a thunderous lap inside the stadium just prior to the Wildcats taking the field. The game is also a Stripe Out. For just the second-time in stadium history, fans will wear purple or white shirts depending on their seat location. Information on the official Stripe Out shirt will be announced tomorrow.

The game against UTSA will serve as the annual Fort Riley Day.

— KSU Athletics —

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head baseball coach Brad Hill, the program’s all-time winningest coach and two-time Big 12 Coach of the Year, will step down at the end of the 2018 season, K-State Director of Athletics Gene Taylor announced Tuesday.

“With the best interest of the program in mind, I have decided to step aside after 15 seasons,” Hill said. “It’s come time for the program to move in a new direction and regain the energy it once had, and with the new facility on the horizon, now is the perfect time. My family and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a special place and we now look forward to the next chapter in our lives.”

“Coach Hill has provided an unwavering commitment to our baseball program for 15 years and advanced it to an unprecedented level with our first-ever conference championship and multiple NCAA Regional appearances,” Taylor said. “He has given so much to K-State, building our program to a championship level in a first-class manner with the utmost integrity. I admire and appreciate all he and his family have done for K-State and wish them nothing but the best. We look forward to honoring him the remainder of the season and finishing strong starting this weekend against the Jayhawks.”

In 2017, Hill became the Wildcats’ all-time wins leader with his 436th victory on April 22 against West Virginia at Tointon Family Stadium, passing longtime head coach Mike Clark. He currently has 463 victories at K-State.

“I can’t thank enough the great people of K-State and Manhattan who gave us a chance to be successful here, notably Tim Weiser (former Athletics Director) and Casey Scott (Executive Associate Athletics Director) who hired me and placed their trust in me to lead this program,” added Hill. “My deepest gratitude goes out to all the tremendous coaches and support staff who worked tirelessly, in particular Sean McCann, Tom Myers and Scott Bird who started with me in 2004 and helped establish our program.

“And I especially want to thank all the players who contributed to the rise of this program with their commitment and hard work, guys that built the foundation in my first seasons here, to those that took it to new heights that included a Big 12 title and a Super Regional and to the present players. So many guys have their fingerprints on this program, there are too many to name. K-State is a special place, and I look forward to seeing the program get back to where it needs to be under new leadership.”

In 15 seasons as the K-State skipper, Hill has guided the Wildcats from the depths of the league to four NCAA Regional appearances, a Super Regional berth and the first conference championship since 1933. The success reached an all-time high in 2013, as the Cats won the Big 12 title and reached their first-ever Super Regional.

Hill inherited a program in 2004 that had just one winning season from 1998 to 2003. Seven of his first eight seasons in charge saw the Cats at or above .500, including a trip to the Big 12 Championship in his fourth season (2007).

Predicted to finish ninth in the conference in 2009, Hill guided K-State to a then-school record 43-win season and its first-ever NCAA Regional appearance. Hill, who also garnered ABCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2009, helped the Cats earn their first top-10 ranking and finished the season in the national polls for the first time in school history.

Hill went on to lead the Wildcats to four regional berths in five seasons, capped by reaching the Corvallis Super Regional in 2013 and were a game away from reaching the College World Series. 2013 saw the Cats win a program-record 45 games.

With an ability to develop talent, Hill has groomed 58 players that were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, including 46 Wildcats with at last one selected in every season while at K-State.

Under Hill’s watch, he has seen 18 All-Americans, 55 All-Big 12 selections, 84 Academic All-Big 12 honorees, eight freshman All-Americans, three academic All-Americans and three Big 12 players of pitchers of the year.

Prior to his time in Manhattan, Hill guided Central Missouri State to a national championship in 2003 and boasted a career winning percentage of .821 (418-91) over his nine seasons coaching the Mules.

A native of Galva, Kansas, Hill has more than 30 years of service as a head coach or assistant at the collegiate level, including stints at Hutchinson Community College and Kansas prior to his time at CMSU and K-State.

He owns an overall head coaching record 964-530-3 including at the NCAA Division I, II and junior college levels.

Friday will begin Hill’s final home series, as the Kansas Jayhawks visit Tointon Family Stadium for a three-game series. Friday’s and Saturday’s games will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the Sunday finale set for 12 p.m.

A national search for K-State’s 21st head baseball coach will begin immediately.

— K-State Athletics —

ATLANTA (AP) — Porter Moser stood in front of the scarf-clad Loyola cheering section, a bit dazed but beaming from ear to ear.

“Are you kidding me! Are you kidding me,” the Ramblers coach screamed over and over.

No kidding.

Loyola is headed to the Final Four .

An improbable NCAA Tournament took its craziest turn yet Saturday night, when Ben Richardson scored a career-high 23 points and the 11th-seeded Ramblers romped to a 78-62 victory over Kansas State to cap off a stunning run through the bracket-busting South Regional.

The Ramblers (32-5) matched the lowest-seeded team ever to reach the Final Four, joining LSU (1986), George Mason (2006) and VCU (2011). Those other three all lost in the national semifinals.

Don’t bet against Loyola, which emerged from a regional that produced a staggering array of upsets. The South became the first regional in tournament history to have the top four seeds — including overall No. 1 Virginia — knocked out on the opening weekend.

In the end, it was the Ramblers cutting down the nets.

After three close calls, this one was downright easy.

“We believed that we could do something like this — do something really special- because we knew we had such good chemistry and we’ve got such a good group,” said Richardson, who was named MVP of the regional. “Everyone would say we were crazy. If we said this was going to happen, people would call us crazy, but you’ve just got to believe.”

No one believes more than their 98-year-old team chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt , who led a prayer in the locker room before the game. Later, she was pushed onto the court in her wheelchair to join the celebration when it was done.

Sister Jean donned a Final Four cap — she even turned it around backward, just to show she’s hip to the kids — and gave a gleeful thumbs-up.

She’s already looking forward to a bigger game next weekend.

“I’m going to San Antonio,” she said. “That’s going to be great.”

Also joining the celebration were several players from the Ramblers’ 1963 national championship team , which played one of the most socially significant games in college basketball history on its way to the title. It was known as the “Game of Change,” matching the Ramblers and their mostly black roster against an all-white Mississippi State team at the height of the civil rights movement, setting up an even more noteworthy contest three years later. Texas Western, with five African-American starters, defeated Kentucky in the national championship game.

Les Hunter, a member of that ’63 team, said these Ramblers are capable of bringing home another title.

“I think they’re the best right now,” Hunter said. “They work so well together. They can play with anybody — anybody — right now.”

Even with a title on its resume, this Loyola performance came out of nowhere. The Ramblers had not made the tournament since 1985 until they broke the drought by winning the Missouri Valley Conference.

Then, as if benefiting from some sort of divine intervention, the Ramblers won their first three tournament games by a total of four points .

Finally, with the Final Four on the line, they turned in a thoroughly dominating performance against the ninth-seeded Wildcats (25-12), the other half of the first 9-vs.-11 matchup in tournament history.

Not the least bit intimidated, Loyola came out in attack mode right from the start against a Kansas State team that rode a stifling defense to the regional final. Moving the ball just as you’d expect from a veteran squad with two seniors and two fourth-year juniors in the starting lineup, the Ramblers kept getting open looks and bolted to a 36-24 lead.

“They jumped out to that big lead and it was tough for us to come back,” said Xavier Sneed, who led Kansas State with 16 points. “They kept their foot on the gas.”

The Ramblers shot 57 percent against a team that is used to shutting opponents down, including 9 of 18 from 3-point range.

Kansas State hit just 35 percent from the field — 6 of 26 from beyond the arc.

Early on the second half, Richardson swished a 3-pointer as he was fouled by Kamau Stokes , winding up flat on his back, flashing a huge smile with his arms raised above his head. He knocked down the free throw to complete the four-point play, stretching the lead to 44-29.

Loyola led by as many as 23.

“We’re just a bunch of guys that everybody laughed at … when we thought we were going to play Division I basketball,” Clayton Custer said. “Nobody thought we could do any of this.”

They do now.

BIG PICTURE

Loyola: While Richardson was the top scorer, the Ramblers got contributions from everyone. Marques Townes (13 points) and Donte Ingram (12) were also in double figures, while burly freshman center Cameron Krutwig came up big on the inside (nine points, seven rebounds).

Kansas State: The Wildcats were surrendering an average of 53.3 points per game in the NCAA Tournament and had not allowed more than 59 in their first three games. Loyola went by that with more than 9 minutes to go, which was more than enough to hold off the Wildcats even when things got a little sloppy in the closing minutes.

UP NEXT

Loyola: The Ramblers will meet the winner of the West Regional final between Florida State and Michigan next Saturday in San Antonio. They will try to become the lowest-seeded team to win a national championship, a distinction held by No. 8 seed Villanova in 1985.

Kansas State: After their impressive run in the tournament, the Wildcats will face heightened expectations next season. All five starters, plus ailing forward Dean Wade, can return next season.

— Associated Press —