With a short turnaround off a tough road win and several players fighting nagging injuries, Frank Martin decided to try an experiment.

Instead of relentlessly pushing his team through practice a he almost always does, the Kansas State coach took it easy on them.

Martin won't do that again. Not after the way the Wildcats had to claw their way past a winless opponent.

Jacob Pullen had 18 points, Dominique Sutton added 14 and No. 12 Kansas State responded to its highest ranking in 36 years with an uneven 90-76 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday night.

"I'm like everyone else," Martin said. "I make decisions. When they work out, I understand. When they don't, I take notes and move forward. I kind of prepare my mind for the next time we have a quick turnaround."

It wasn't just Martin's trial balloon. The Wildcats had plenty of reasons for a letdown: one day off after a hard-fought win over Alabama, facing a winless opponent after a tough four-game stretch, the excitement of a high ranking, a trip home for Christmas in the morning.

Kansas State (11-1) battled through the distractions, using balanced scoring and a swarming defense to wear down Pine Bluff after four resume-building wins over bigger programs. Curtis Kelly had 13 points and eight rebounds, Denis Clemente and Jamar Samuels added 12 points each and the Wildcats shot 50 percent for their eighth consecutive win.

"Everyone probably expected us to come out and destroy them, but it was a tough game for us," Pullen said.

Not surprisingly, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-10) didn't make it easy on Kansas State.

The Golden Lions had gone through a gauntlet of tough games before arriving in Manhattan and weren't in awe of the atmosphere of playing in a Big 12 arena against a ranked opponent.

UAPB scrapped to keep it close early, made a gritty run late to cut a 24-point lead in half and never let up, even as the win climbed out of reach. Tyree Glass had 18 points and Savalance Townsend added 16 for the Golden Lions, who lost another road game despite shooting 52 percent.

"It's hard to get down to a team like K-State and try to dig yourself out of that hole," UAPB coach George Ivory said. "I'm just proud of the guys. They never quit and they competed all the way to the end."

This game was never supposed to be close.

Off to its best start in five years, Kansas State moved into the Top 25 last week and jumped five spots to No. 12 on Monday, its highest ranking since 1973 and highest pre-conference since 1965. The Wildcats have the nation's best RPI rating, second-best strength of schedule and have beaten two ranked nonconference teams in the same season for the first time since 1958-59.