Kansas State 84 - Kansas 75

Comments and Observations

As a fan, when it feels like basically every player on your team is having a bad game, that's when you have to tip your hat to the opponent and give them all the credit.  When it seems like every 50-50 loose ball ends up in the hands of the opponents, it's not just luck.  K-State played an incredible game last night and did what they had to do for the biggest showdown in the conference so far this season.  A lot of people like to point out that the Wildcats shot the 3FG much better than they had all season.  You can use that as an excuse against weak teams, but KSU's results this year suggest they are a major force to be reckoned with.  In big games, you often have to step it up in areas of your game where you are weak, and that's what KSU did.  Some KU fans were upset at some no-calls on KU drives to the basket, but that's not the reason KU lost.  KSU played like they wanted it more, and they probably did.  They deserved this victory, and all their fans should be on Cloud Nine.  They could certainly make an impact on the national landscape as the season marches closer to an end.

Offensive and Defensive Performance

Using the outcome of the game and the adjusted offensive and defensive efficiencies for each team, performance indicates (in PTS per 100 Possessions) how each team would have fared against an average team.  That is, KU's offensive performance is how many points per 100 possessions KU would have scored against an average defense.  This provides a standard performance we can compare across teams.

Four Factor Analysis

(Actual statistics moved to Game Projections table below)

Player Performance Analysis

Everyone expected Michael Beasley to have a strong game, or at least they agreed that it should be expected of him.  So, his game-high impact rating is no surprise.  The player who surprised most of all has to be KSU's Jacob Pullen.  The little freshman fella who was largely a non-factor on offense coming into the game finished with 20 PTS on 56 eFG% shooting, and added 4 AST against just 1 TO.  He had one of the poorer TO Rates coming in, too.  Although it's easy to point to his 10-of-10 performance at the FT line as an aberration, one has to ask KU why they put him on the line 10 times, where he was sure to make 7 or 8 of them.  Pullen's performance is just symbolic on a night where things really came together for KSU, with nearly everything they could potentially do right going right.

Beasley's 25 PTS were right on his average, so it might seem at first that he just played his usual game against KU.  But he made 4-of-4 from 3FG and only 5-of-14 from 2FG.  And he utilized the FT line about as poorly as he has all season.  In effect, he made his biggest impact with the three-pointer.  Any other game this season that Beasley made at least two 3FG's, his 2FG shooting was at least 50%.  So, this was really the first time his only effective impact came from behind the arc.  Great timing, some might say.  Great job of stepping up other aspects of his game to take what the offense gave him is what probably should be said.  Remember, Beasley started things off with an airball, and he did have 4 TO, so it's not as though he wasn't feeling the pressure of the game.  He just came through in a huge way.

Stewart and Walker both had great games for the Wildcats.  Stewart scored 11 PTS and 5 REB (3 OREB) on 80 eFG% shooting (2-of-3 on 3FG).  Walker managed only 3-of-10 from behind the line, but he used his threat of perimeter shooting to score from inside with 22 PTS and 5 REB (3 OREB) on 58 eFG% shooting.  He did hurt himself with 4 TO though.

Blake Young had a solid night, too.  With a casual glance of the boxscore, it doesn't appear that way, but in 27 MIN, he shot 50 eFG% (1-of-3 from 3FG) and had 5 AST with 0 TO.  It was his (and his teammates') ability to keep the ball out of the hands of KU's vaunted backcourt thieves that prevented the Jayhawks from getting easy baskets.  He and Pullen combined for just 1 TO in 55 MIN!

Kansas really couldn't get on track most of the game.  It really hurt that the most efficient player on the night, Darrell Arthur, could only manage 17 MIN due to foul trouble.  In those sparse minutes, Arthur only shot 42 eFG% but pulled down 5 OREB (7 REB total) and had 3 BLK.  Maybe he's learned his lesson enough not to get into foul trouble in the rematch in Allen Fieldhouse.

Brandon Rush did have a terrific first half but really seemed to disappear in the second half.  His numbers look very good, shooting 75 eFG% (3-of-7 from 3FG) to score 15 PTS, 7 REB (0 OREB), 4 AST, 1 STL and 2 TO.  My view on the timing of his scoring is that it doesn't matter all that much.  If not for Rush's great first half, KU might not have been in the game the second half.  But it was disappointing that he couldn't be counted upon to score as the game progressed.  One of his 3FG's was essentially meaningless in the closing seconds.

Watching the game, it felt like Mario Chalmers was perhaps the one Jayhawk who was doing things right.  But upon further analysis, we see that his scoring was the only real positive.  He did shoot 67 eFG% (2-of-4 from 3FG) as well as 7-of-8 from the FT line (any part of the rim his shots didn't touch?).  But in his 30 MIN, he had only 1 REB, just 2 AST against 3 TO.  And the one telling stat for Chalmers ... 0 STL.  Pretty unusual for him not to swipe at least once, and this was his second straight game with the donut in that category.

Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun both had mostly neutral impacts on the game.  Jackson made both his FG's and 3-of-4 FT, but he pulled down a mere 4 REB (0 OREB) with 2 TO in 30 MIN.  This looked much more like last season's DJ than this season's.  Kaun also made 100% of his shots, but it was just one shot.  He managed only 3 REB (1 OREB) in 20 MIN to go with his 2 BLK and 2 TO.  Jackson and Kaun's rebounding performance was rather weak, which contributed to KSU's ability to score efficiently.

Sherron Collins was a shadow of the player who showed up last year in Manhattan.  At least he shot 50 eFG% (1-of-3 from 3FG), but he did barely anything else in his 29 MIN, with just 2 AST and 1 TO.  Russell Robinson was frustrated all night, feeling that wasn't getting calls on his drives to the basket.  Robinson was an abysmal 1-of-8 from the floor (0-of-3 from 3FG) and finished with 6 PTS, 2 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL and 2 TO.  He did make all four of his FT's.  Too bad he didn't get more chances by getting fouled on his drives.