Kansas 87 - Oklahoma State 57

Four Factor Analysis

• SHOOTING - 62-38 eFG% advantage to Kansas.  A complete domination in the most important of the four factors.
• OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING - Advantage to OSU 25-20%.  Neither team rebounded much offensively, and KU was expected to do so easily.
• TURNOVERS - One of the biggest factors in the game was OSU's 27% TO rate (KU 17%).  They helped create fastbreaks and crowd energy.
• FREETHROW RATE - 32-24% to OSU's advantage.  OSU took a few more FT's, but this difference is large because OSU also took fewer FG's, and this calculation is FTM/FGA.

CONCLUSION - Shooting lights out and taking more shots than your opponent because they turned it over a lot is a recipe for a blowout against anybody.  Neither of the advantages in rebounding or freethrows for OSU made a dent in KU's dominance.

Player Performance Analysis

This game is one of those that illustrates how difficult it is to assign credit using boxscore stats.

No doubt that Kaun had excellent shooting (scoring 16 on 7-8 FG shooting), and he even made both of his FT's.  But how much of those plethora of dunks he made were because of his positioning versus good vision from the passer or a lapse from his defender?  My personal opinion is that you could say it was "luck" of sorts on one or two shots, but come on ... the guy was 7-8 no matter how you play it.  He deserves strong accolades, and don't forget his 3 blocks and 2 steals.  Monster game from Sasha, but some may feel he was outshone by other players who are true "creators."

Ratings in this game put Russell Robinson way ahead of Sherron Collins, but to many fans it probably looked as though Robinson was outplayed by his heir apparent.  Purely looking at the boxscore, one would have to admit that Robinson's numbers look more efficient and impressive (3-3 FG, 4 AST, 0 TO and 3 STL's to highlight a few).  Collins, meanwhile, shot near 70 eFG%, scoring 10 pts with 6 AST.  The drawback for Collins' stats are his 3 TO's, 0 STL, and 70 eFG% is lower than Robinson's 116 eFG% (that's right ... greater than 100%, because he made all shots and one of them was a 3FG).  Watching the game though, it felt like Collins was making things happen, driving and dishing, scoring inside and outside.  Robinson looked lost on a couple of fastbreak opportunities and missed some chances to find teammates.  The problem with arguing that Collins was clearly better is that you'd have to argue that he was superior in the intangibles (things not captured in the boxscore).  What would those be?  Robinson is still a better all-around defender.  And for every fastbreak opportunity that you think Collins did a better job than Robinson, there is probably a turnover by Collins that Robinson didn't commit.  It's easy to just feel annoyed at turnover, choosing instead to focus on the positives Collins contributed, but turnovers are literally points for the opposition usually.  I'm comfortable saying that it's debatable which had the better game, but I'm also comfortable saying that it's only a matter of time before Collins will be a clearly better player than Robinson.  I have nothing but respect for Robinson, which means I'll just be excited to have such a great player alongside him.

Brandon Rush played with some real fire this game.  The whole team did, but you could sense that Rush wanted to do well this night.  Other than his 3 TO's, he had a stellar game (4-8 FG, 1-1 3FG, amazing 9-10 FT, and 6 REB).  Those TO's were really weighed heavily this game though, as KU scored 1.14 pts/possession.  Thus, a wasted possession is a big deal.  This is a case where you have to decide how important it is that Rush had only 1 AST, 1 STL, and no offensive rebounds.  It was probably more important that he was busy flying in for an energy-boosting dunk in the lane, playing tough defense (no boxscore stat for it) and getting to the freethrow line like Karl Malone while calming sinking 90% there.

Julian Wright was more quiet this night, with 6 REB and 4 BLK being his main contributions to go with 7 points on 3-7 shooting.  It wasn't Darrell Arthur's night, and you could tell from how he slammed the ball on the floor after missing in the 2nd half.  He did have 2 AST and 2 STL, a bit unusual for him.  But he didn't do what he's better known for, namely blocks (1), rebounds (1), and high-percentage shooting (3-8 FG, 0-4 FT).  It's been some time since Arthur has dominated, so it's become more than a short slump.  It is most likely mental with him, so he'll learn in time to let the game come to him and let his talents take over the game.  In high school, he was known for playing well when he wanted/needed to and taking some of the rest of the time off.  Maybe that's what's happening a bit here?  Against top college talent, I certainly hope not.

One look at Boggan's line for OSU tells you everything about what went wrong in this game for the Cowboys.  Terrible shooting (4-16 FG) and lots of turnovers (5).  He didn't have a single rebound, assist, or block.  Probably one of his worst games ever, leading some OSU fans to speculate if there wasn't something wrong with him.  My guess is that it was excellent preparation and defense by KU that did him in along with just being off his game.  Curry was the other barometer, and he didn't go nuts enough to make a difference (12 pts, 4-7 FT, 5 reb, 3 ast, 3 TO).  The Cowboys just didn't have enough firepower or depth to overcome their two stars' lack of a stellar night.

Byron Eaton continued his poor play since Muenelo's absence, committing 5 TO's and shooting only 1-6 FG.  The lone bright spot was probably Marcus Dove, known mostly for his defensive prowess.  He chipped in 9 reb (4 offensive), made 1-2 on 3FG's, 2 STL, and 1 BLK.