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GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN — Kansas State raced to a 14-2 lead and never looked back en route to beating Rhode Island, 77-57, Monday night in the Cayman Islands Classic, marking the first meeting ever between the schools.

The Wildcats moved to 4-0 under first-year coach Jerome Tang. Kansas State will play Nevada in Tuesday's semifinal round at 7:30 p.m. eastern time.  Earlier Tuesday LSU (4-0) plays Akron (3-1) in the other semifinal round game.

Rhode Island, which fell to 1-3, faces Tulane (3-1) in the consolation round Tuesday. 

“It was great to get a win in our first game,” said Tang. “It’s the hardest game to win in a tournament because all the teams have a few days to prepare. Now we need to have a quick turnaround.”

Kansas State hit a season high 52.8 percent from the floor, while limiting Rhode island to just 32.7 percent shooting. 

Nae'Qwan Tomlin paced a balanced scoring attack with Kansas State by scoring 15 points, while Keyonate Johnson scored 14 and David N'Guessan added 12 points and seven rebounds. Nine players scored for Kansas State.

Kansas State senior point guard Markquis Nowell, enjoying his ninth career double-figure assist game, dished out a season-high 12 assists. Kansas State had 20 assists on 28 baskets.

“Markquis played a terrific game as the floor general,” Tang said. “He had the most assists in a game by a Kansas State player since 1989. It was a great effort. I also thought Nae’Qwan and David set the tone early with their running. I thought our size and speed made a difference.”

Rhode Island was led by guard Ishmael Leggett who scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds.

Johnson scored five points and N'Guessan added four points to trigger the early outburst by Kansas State in the opening 4:11 of the game as the Wildcats made five of their first seven shots.