We recap all of Tuesday night's Kansas State vs. Kansas match-up from Lawrence in The Final at K-StateOnline.

Most of the action, unfortunately, took place after the game was decided.

Kansas State turned in easily its most impressive effort of the season last Saturday in Manhattan, blowing out then No. 12 West Virginia 84-68 in Bramlage Coliseum.

The Wildcats, however, found things significantly more difficult on the road against No. 3 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday night.

K-State attempted to compete early on, but a first-half Kansas run created a quick 17-point-margin, and KU would cruise to a 81-60 win over its in-state rivals in the Sunflower Showdown.

K-State did get on the board first in Lawrence and went into the under-16 timeout tied at 7-7, but a classic Kansas spurt - spearheaded by freshman and former K-State recruiting target Christian Braun - had Kansas up 16-7 by the 12:29 mark of the first half. Bruce Weber would call a timeout, at that point, with Kansas on a 9-0 run and in control.

Weber had to call another timeout just two minutes later, as Kansas continued absolutely blitzing K-State and had created a massive advantage at 26-9 with more than 10 minutes still left in the half. The Wildcats would settle down a bit beyond that point, but KU would certainly maintain control throughout the first half and went to the break leading 39-23.

Braun made sure K-State wouldn't get any momentum out of the locker room, knocking down another triple - off balance and three feet behind the arc - with KU scrambling at the end of the shot clock to go up 42-23 just one possession in to the second half. Just two minutes into the half a Devon Dotson three-point play put Kansas up 47-23, easily its biggest lead of the night at that point.

The Wildcats wouldn't quit at that point, to their credit. K-State immediately answered with an 8-0 spurt, sparked by David Sloan, to get back within 16. A DaJuan Gordon triple with 14:03 left made it an 11-2 run, and the Wildcats trailed just 49-36 with 14:03 left to play. Bill Self would call a timeout at that point, however, and Kansas would slowly re-build its lead.

The game would end in a massive brawl, with Kansas' Silvio De Sousa taunting D. Gordon at the buzzer, and he'd eventually pick up a chair as part of a brawl that featured multiple Jayhawks attacking a downed, and injured, James Love.

Antonio Gordon

A. Gordon was the third of the freshman to hit the floor, entering with 11:25 left and K-State already trailing 21-9. The Oklahoma native had his pocket picked at the top of the key on his first offensive touch, leading to a run out and lay-in to extend the Kansas lead to 13 early on. A. Gordon would quickly head back to the bench and only played two minutes in the first half.

DaJuan Gordon

D. Gordon entered for the first time at the 14:53 mark of the first half, and on his first offensive possession he dribbled out an expiring shot clock with the Wildcats trailing 12-7. He would leave the arena floor with an injury to face with 10:29 still left in the first half and the Cats already trailing by 17. He would re-enter before the first half came to an end and did lay-out to break up a Kansas' pass attempt out of bounds with the Wildcats trailing 33-19 at the two-minute mark.

The former Chicago Player of the Year didn't take his first shot until six minutes into the second half, but that make was a deep three to slice what was at one-point a 24-point second-half deficit to just 13 six minutes into the second half. Gordon only took two threes, and he made them both. The second game with less than a minute to play and the game well out of reach.

Montavious Murphy

Murphy didn't start for the second consecutive game, but he was the first freshman on the floor and had replaced Levi Stockard prior to the under-16 timeout in the first half. Murphy did score his first hoop at the 12-minute mark to snap a 9-0 Kansas run, a physical finish inside among the Kansas trees.

Traditional/regular statistics provided by the University of Kansas

After a decent start led to a 7-7 tie, the Wildcats quit playing basketball coming out of the first media timeout.

K-State ran a high pick and roll on its first possession and got the switch they wanted when Udoka Azubike switched onto David Sloan. Sloan did not attack hard enough to force any help to come and forced a pass that wasn’t there because all the defenders were able to stay home. On KU’s next possession the Wildcats doubled Azubuike on the catch, but no one rotated to cover an open Christian Braun at the top of the key.

KU was off and running from there due to K-State’s issues on both ends of the court. The Wildcats had very little movement on their next possession, which forced Xavier Sneed to go one-on-one and pull up with a long two-point jumper. K-State did not communicate or help on a ball screen, which allowed Ochai Agbaji to take open elbow jumper. He missed it, but none of the three Wildcats around the basket put a body on him, and he was able to lay in his own miss. K-State committed a shot clock violation on their next possession and, again, did not communicate defensively, which led to a layup for Devon Dotson off a guard to guard dribble hand off.

It was not a surprise to see K-State struggle mightily on the offensive end, but the amount of easy looks the Wildcats gave up because they simply were not doing what they are supposed to do during that stretch was disappointing. A couple of possessions defensively around the three-minute mark illustrated the mental focus and the type of effort K-State needed to play with the entire night. KU ran a guard to guard ball screen followed by a guard to guard handoff. Unlike earlier, K-State communicated and switched appropriately, which forced Agbaji to take a tough, contested step back three.

On the next possession after a K-State turnover, DaJuan Gordon gave great effort to tip the ball away from Dotson in transition. Kansas is a good team with good players that can execute offensively. They are going to get some easy looks over the course of a game. You cannot compound that by either not being completely dialed in mentally or giving max effort.

A YMCA game broke out to start the second half with very little defense played on either end. To K-State’s credit, the Wildcats made some nice individual plays during that stretch and made some shots. Sneed crossed over and hit a pull up jumper going to his left off a ball screen. Sloan out ran everyone in the open court for a layup. He struggled in the first half, but played much better in the second half. He still has his issues defensively with not always being the right spot, but the effort was there. His decision in the pick and roll game was also better. He made a nice pocket pass to Makol Mawien, and later - when KU took away the roll - he read it correctly and threw it back to Sneed on the weak side.

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