Kansas
HISTORY MADE: ISU notches first-ever 10-win season by beating Kansas State, 29-21, on senior night
Iowa State fans rush to the field as Cyclones win 29-21 over Kansas State Wildcats in the NCAA football at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht took a wait-and-see approach. He said he might “peek” at his phone to see how No. 19 BYU was doing against Houston in an all-important Saturday nightcap after his 18th-ranked Cyclones’ 29-21 win over No. 24 Kansas State on senior night at a frost-framed Jack Trice Stadium.
But that’s it. His seniors deserved to be the center of attention after helping lead ISU (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) to its first 10-win season in program history — and fourth triumph over the Wildcats (8-4, 5-4) in the past five meetings.
“This team deserves what we did tonight,” the sophomore playcaller said. “The seniors deserve what we did tonight. People are gonna remember these seniors for a long time, because that 10-win season, it’s never been done, so this night’s for them.”
One of those seniors, wide receiver Jaylin Noel, appreciated the sentiment, but couldn’t resist the urge to scoreboard watch. Not when the stakes are this high. Not with what he and the relatively short list of seniors have enjoyed and endured during four (or more) seasons as a Cyclones.
“Oh, I’ll be watching it,” said Noel, who joined fellow senior Jayden Higgins in surpassing 1,000 receiving yards this season on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Becht in the second quarter. “It means a lot. Obviously it’s not guaranteed yet, but if it does happen and we get to go to the Big 12 championship it’s just going to show all the work this team’s put in throughout the year. Nobody’s given up. Nobody’s folded up their tents — even after the two losses in a row. To be able to bounce back and win three games in a row, and get to that 10-win threshold, it means a lot.”
It didn’t, as ISU head coach Matt Campbell routinely says, come easy. The Cyclones turned a pair of Kansas State fumbles in the first half into two touchdown drives that spanned 30 or fewer yards. ISU never trailed, but saw 10-point leads shaved to three-point edges twice before sealing the victory with a blocked field goal, a safety, and a final stand when the Wildcats’ Avery Johnson tried in vain to rally his team from deep in its own territory in the closing seconds.
“This is how you have to win at Iowa State,” said Campbell, whose team could play for a league title for the second time in his nine seasons at the helm. “You’ve gotta out tough people. You’ve gotta be the toughest mentally, and the toughest team that you can possibly be, and you’ve gotta be able to do the little things really well here. There’s never gonna be another way to do it, and if there is, God bless ‘em, whoever comes next, but the reality for us of being a tough, physical football team with a great mindset to go play as a team and for each other, I still believe that’s the way to win here.”
Becht completed just 13 of 35 passes for a career-low 137 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Noel and Higgins. He didn’t turn the ball over and also rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown while convert on four of five fourth down situations.
“Rocco is a great leader ands for him to really just want to celebrate the seniors, it means the world to me,” said Noel, who has combined with Higgins for 2,081 receiving yards and 15 touchdown catches this season. “All year, he’s been a brother by my side, making sure I’m OK along the way, and vice versa. … I wouldn’t want anybody else as my quarterback.”
Campbell wouldn’t want anybody other than Jon Heacock to be his defensive coordinator, either. The Cyclones’ defense held the Wildcats nine points below their scoring average and linebacker Jacob Ellis recorded a 22-yard sack of Johnson that turned into a safety because of an intentional grounding call in the end zone. It was the only sack of the game for ISU, which won the turnover battle three-to-zero.
Cornerback Darien Porter also recorded the fifth blocked kick of his career when Kansas State attempted a 21-yard field goal midway through the third quarter — another “little” play that made a big difference to extend the Cyclones’ historic run this season.
“Being able to do something that hadn’t been done here as a senior class, that’s something that we set out as our mission before the season started,” Porter said. “So being able to accomplish that, it’s been great.”
Kansas
Kansas City man sentenced for cocaine trafficking, possession of illegal firearm
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Kansas City man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy and possession of an illegal firearm.
According to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, 22-year-old Antoine R. Gillum was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.
His sentencing stems from a June 2024 incident in a metro gas station. KCPD investigators contacted Gillum inside and found that he had discarded a 9 mm pistol in an aisle between the merchandise. He also discarded a pill bottle containing multiple illegal substances: cocaine base, oxycodone/acetaminophen and oxycodone.
Officers searched the vehicle Gillum had arrived in and found approximately 32 grams of cocaine base.
On May 6, 2025, Gillum pleaded guilty to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Jennings. It’s a part of ‘Operation Take Back America,’ a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
No further information has been released.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
Kansas
Deadly 4-car crash kills 2 people, injures others in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A crash near a busy highway killed two people and injured two others.
Emergency crews responded to the crash at U.S. 71 Highway and Meyer Boulevard around 12:40 p.m. on Monday, March 2.
When crews arrived they determined four cars were involved in the crash.
Police are investigating how the crash happened.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
Kansas
Homegrown Jayhawk stars ready to shine at Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KCTV) – As Kansas women’s basketball prepares to enter the postseason at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, they’ll be led by two Overland Park natives who have been two of the most electrifying players to watch in the country this year.
Junior guard S’Mya Nichols and freshman forward Jaliya Davis have played integral roles in the recent growth of the program. Both cite the desire to help grow the Jayhawks into something special as reasons for committing there.
“Where we wanted to take Kansas women’s basketball, I wanted to be a part of that growing evolution,” Nichols told KCTV5.
“We [my family] were also really big Jayhawk fans. We came to a lot of games,” Davis said about her childhood.
The two were both 5-star recruits in high school, and their commitments marked historic recruiting victories for the KU women’s basketball program.
First came Nichols in the Class of 2023, picking KU over Tennessee and Oklahoma.
“I genuinely wanted to go to Kansas,” she said.
Then Davis became the highest-rated player to ever commit to KU as part of the Class of 2025.
“When you go back to S’Mya Nichols being a local, Kansas City, Overland Park product, a nationally respected player, Jaliya was really the next one that was very important for the Jayhawks to keep home,” said head coach Brandon Schneider.
Now as a junior, Nichols has established herself as one of the most consistent scorers and physical guards in the nation.
But it’s the Shawnee Mission West’s alum’s leadership that defines her legacy in Lawrence.
“The team leader, the quarterback,” Coach Schneider described Nichols. “I think oftentimes the player that everybody looks up to off the court.”
“I mean it means everything. Knowing that I’m important to the team, and that they see me as that as well,” said Nichols with a smile.
Both Nichols and Davis were recruited by the Jayhawks for years, going all the way back to seventh grade.
“Well, we offered her in middle school,’ Coach Schneider said with a laugh about Davis.
“Oh he put in a lot of work,” laughed Davis. “I mean, obviously, seventh grade, that’s a long time.”
It was that dedication from Coach Schneider that led her to choose the Jayhawks over Texas, South Carolina, Baylor, and Oklahoma – where he dad played ball.
“I think it really was the relationship we had and grew. He was always there, every single one of my games,” Davis said about Schneider.
After just one practice as teammates, Nichols voiced a big belief about Davis into existence – and it’s probably going to come true.
“I saw her first practice, and I sent her a text, and I’m like ‘I think you can win Freshman of the Year’, and I still stand by that,”
Davis is averaging 21.0 points per game, and has been named the Big 12 Freshman of the Week for eight weeks in a row. That sets a power conference all-time record.
“I think it’s really cool. I mean obviously it’s a team effort, they’re always looking for me,” Davis said about her historic accomplishment.
“Just a phenomenal stretch of basketball for her, and so well deserving,” said Coach Schneider.
Now these two homegrown stars are at the forefront of a late-season push to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Right now, CBS Sports bracketology has them as a ‘First Four Out’ team.
But a few wins in the Big 12 Tournament could certainly help seal their invite to the big dance.
“Obviously we’re not in the position that we were hoping to be in, but I think we can make the most out of it, and get to where we want to be,” Davis said about the opportunity at hand in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
The Overland Park kids are especially fired up about starting the postseason in their own backyard.
“I have a big support system. So I bet my family will take a big chunk of that area during that tournament,” Davis laughed.
“I remember being younger, and the College Basketball Experience is right next door. So I felt like at one moment that was the big stage, when I got to play my little AAU tournaments in there. And then all of a sudden I’m literally in T-Mobile Center on the actual big stage, so it’s pretty cool,” said Nichols.
The Jayhawks are the 11-seed in the Big 12 Tournament, and will face 14-seed UCF in the first round on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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