Tony Gutierrez / AP

Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen (0) shoots over North Texas guard Shannon Shorter during the first half of the Wildcats’ 82-62 rout Thursday.

Coming off a disappointing loss to top-ranked Kansas in the Big 12 title game, Kansas State went back to its nobody-believes-in-us mantra, turning practices into battles that left Kelly proudly sporting two cuts on his lip.

Turns out, North Texas was ready, too.

Spinning the Wildcats’ game around on them, the Mean Green hounded Kansas State into one miss after another and had seven offensive rebounds in first nine minutes to stay within 18-13.

A surprise, but maybe not shocking.

The Mean Green set a school record for wins, won the Sun Belt Conference tournament and ended the season on an 11-game winning streak. They didn’t embarrass themselves in two games against Big 12 teams, either, losing by 14 to Oklahoma State and 10 to Texas A&M.

“There was a sense of toughness and just the level of competitiveness (with) which they play that I got off the (scouting) tape, and that obviously was exactly what took place,” Martin said.

The success didn’t last against Kansas State, though.

Led by defense, Kansas State got out on the break, hitting three straight layups — two by Pullen — to go up 30-16 with just over 5 minutes left. Clemente took over after that, hitting two late 3-pointers, and Kansas State held North Texas to 5-of-24 shooting to lead 41-25 at halftime.

Scare over.

North Texas made a brief run in the second half, cutting a 26-point lead to 14 with 5½ minutes left, only to see Kansas State score six points in the next 68 seconds.

“I thought we were right back in striking distance, but they came back and ran it back up to 20,” North Texas coach Johnny Jones said. “I think that’s the sign of a team that was poised. We made our run and they made the plays they needed to.”

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