The Wildcats got their third crack at the No. 2 team in the country
during the semi-finals of the Big 12 Championship, and they were no
match for the Jayhawks as Kansas won 67-61 Saturday here at the Ford
Center.
Sophomore Mario Chalmers always seems to play well against K-State, and
this game was no different as he scored a team-high 16 points.
Sophomore Julian Wright had 12 points and eight rebounds, while
freshman Sherron Collins had 10 and six assists.
In the two previous meetings that were both won by Kansas, K-State's
two leading scorers, senior Cartier Martin and junior David Hoskins,
went a combined 13-46 from the field.
Even though the Wildcats donned their black jerseys (they are now 0-3
when wearing the new "special jerseys" this season) for this one, the
result stayed the same. Martin led all scorers with 17 and Hoskins had
eight, but it took a combined 9-for-23 effort from the field to score
those points. Hoskins also turned the ball over eight times and made
only two of his four free throw attempts.
"Definitely they are an athletic team," Martin said. "They have some
young guys that can do a lot of things and they are a very versatile
team. In order for us to beat those guys, we have to do the little
things to win the games, but we just haven't been able to get it done."
Hoskins has never played well against the Jayhawks because of Wright.
He matches up defensively with Hoskins almost every time down the
court, and Hoskins has never been able to find an answer for the
taller, longer, quicker and more athletic Wright.
Those few times
Hoskins did get around Wright, another one of KU's big men (juniors
Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson and freshman Darrell Arthur) were
waiting in the paint to make sure Hoskins never got an open look at the
basket. He struggled all game and the frustration was obvious on his
face.
Senior Lance Harris had arguably the best game for K-State. He started
off the game 4-for-4 from 3-point range, but he missed his final four
3's and finished 5-for-10 from the field with 16 points and five
rebounds.
"We just wanted to step up and put the team on our back and play hard,"
Harris said. "We just didn't do it enough today, so maybe next time."
There probably won't be a next time for Harris against the Jayhawks,
and there also won't be a next time for senior Akeem Wright, who scored
12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
The game started off as good as K-State could have imagined. The
Wildcats got out to an early 6-2 lead off 3-pointers from Harris and
Martin.
They grew their lead to 16-9 before the Jayhawks began making their
comeback.
Kansas started a 26-10 run that started at the 12:52 mark of the first
half and went all the way to halftime. The Jayhawks entered the break
with a 35-28 advantage.
The lead grew in the second half to as many as 14 points.
K-State trailed 56-45 with more than six minutes to play but went on an
8-0 run to get within four at 56-52 with just over four minutes
remaining in the game. Sloppy play followed and the Wildcats committed
fouls that gave Kansas free throws, and the Wildcats were never able to
make a serious run at the Jayhawks.
"I thought it was a hard-fought game," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I
thought K-State was great early, but I thought we were great late in
the second half and later in the game."
NCAA TOURNAMENT HOPEFULS
K-State could have punched its ticket into the NCAA Tournament field
with a win over the Kansas, but the loss means the Wildcats will have
to sweat out Selection Sunday, which begins at 6 tonight.
They are trying to become the first Wildcat team since 1996 to reach
the NCAA Tournament, and have made an interesting argument for their
acceptance into the field of 65.
The team has quality wins over Southern California and at Texas, but
bad losses to California, Colorado State,
Since starting 0-2 in Big 12 play, the Wildcats have gone 11-5 to close
out the season. Three of those five losses have come at the hands of
the Jayhawks, and the other two came on the road against Oklahoma State
and Nebraska.
K-State did lose to Texas Tech (another "bubble" team) earlier in the
year, but beat the Red Raiders 66-45 during the quarterfinals of the
Big 12 Championship.
Team officials have said the players and Huggins will be watching the
announcement of the brackets together, but at an undisclosed site. If
some people outside the NCAA selection committee had it their way,
K-State wouldn't have anything to worry about come tonight.
"They have a squad that's really tough. They have three guys that are
really capable of scoring," Kansas' Wright said. "We know every time we
are going to play them it will be a tough game. Hopefully they do make
the tournament. I know playing in the Big 12, they'll be ready."
"They absolutely deserve a bid," Self said. "I'm not an expert, but
after studying it pretty hard, I feel like you got three teams in our
league that are going to get a top 4 seed, and then to have the team
that finishes fourth in your league to be considered a bubble team, I
think that is ridiculous. The other leagues across America aren't
considered that way at all. I think they're in."
The Wildcats also weighed in on their tournament hopes.
"You know, it is hard to understand how far these guys have come and
really how good they are today by just crunching numbers," K-State
coach Bob Huggins said. "You look up there and they say New Mexico was
a bad loss. Well, then why isn't it a good win when we turn around and
whack them about a month later?
"We lost to New Mexico and we lost to Colorado State, but there isn't
anybody in their right mind that thinks we would lose to those people
now. We have gotten so much better, and we are a tournament-caliber
team."