LAWRENCE - Tonight was not the night for Kansas State.
It felt as if this trip to Lawrence could be the one where K-State not only knocked off KU in Allen Fieldhouse, but also a game that could have essentially ended the Jayhawks' run of 14 straight Big 12 Championships.
It didn't happen this evening, as Kansas (21-7, 10-5 Big 12) beat the Wildcats (21-7, 11-4) 64-49 inside of one of college basketball's toughest venues, a place KU still hasn't lost this year despite plenty of struggles away from home.
No, tonight wasn't the night, but the Wildcats still control their own destiny in the Big 12 and will look to ultimately make a bigger statement by locking up the conference crown down the stretch.
Tonight, however, Kansas was the better team and earned a season split with the Wildcats.
Let's break it down in The Post Game.
THE KSO-WARD FOR PLAYER OF THE GAME GOES TO...
Bluntly put, K-State did not get big games from its two senior stars in Dean Wade and Barry Brown.
The two preseason All-Big 12 picks combined for 12 points on 3-of-15 shooting from the field, really eliminating any chance the Wildcats had to win this game on the road.
Wade and Brown have been huge for K-State and are a big reason why the Wildcats are still in position to win the league, but they were not difference makers on this night.
K-State's third senior, Kam Stokes, did enough to keep the Wildcats involved without getting a ton of help elsewhere.
Stokes scored five of his team-high 12 points in a 40-second span late in the first half to keep K-State in the game, and he also finished with four assists against just one turnover in 35 minutes
It wasn't enough to beat Kansas, but it's enough to win K-State's Player of the Game honors in this one.
NELSON'S NOTES
K-State went to West Virginia last Monday night and ran very little offense during the first half and was able to get away with it. Being able to do so in Allen Fieldhouse is a completely different story. KU switched almost everything on the perimeter, and K-State’s answer was to stop moving away from the ball, which led to the basketball being pounded into the floor for most of possessions. Even though their movement got better at times in the second half, they still took far too many bad shots. Their commitment to playing good basketball on that end of the floor gave them no chance to win this game.
Unlike the first game, KU hurt K-State coming out of timeouts and on in bounds plays. At a time KU was struggling to score the basketball, their first six points came after two Kansas timeouts. The first being an and one for Dedric Lawson after he beat Dean Wade in the post and the second an open look from three for Grimes. The issues continued into the second half, as the Wildcats gave up a wide open layup to Grimes off an in-bounds play.
Levi Stockard gave K-State some decent minutes in the first half. In addition to hitting an elbow jumper, he took a charge and cut off a couple of other drives into the lane. His recognition on the defense end also took away a couple of KU’s sets. One of KU’s favorite plays is a big to big ball screen for Lawson at the elbow and Stockard took it away by switching the screen. On another play, he took away a high-low look to Lawson by playing off David McCormack.
This senior class had a chance to put a firm stamp on their legacy tonight and was unable to do so. The loss is not entirely on them, as all the players and coaching staff share in the blame, but to win a game of this magnitude in that environment, it was going to have to be the three seniors to lead the way. The most discouraging thing to me in this game was that K-State was soft on both ends of the court. There is no excuse to be out-toughed the way the Wildcats were, and that tone was set in the first half and carried into the second. A big part of the battle of playing Kansas in Lawrence is mental.
That was not something I thought would be an issue with this team, but I’m not sure that wasn’t the case.
The good news is this team still controls its own destiny to win a Big 12 Championship. If they can play the tough minded and physically tough style of basketball they have played the majority of the conference season, the goal of a winning a conference crown is very attainable.
KSO PHOTOS
WHAT DOES IN MEAN?
It's a frustrating loss for K-State, as it seemed like a game in which the Wildcats had a legitimate chance to sweep their in-state rivals - and K-State simply has to be unhappy with how it played - but ultimately the Wildcats remain in full control of their own Big 12 fate.
The loss leaves the Wildcats a half game ahead of Texas Tech and still a full game ahead of the Jayhawks.
Win out, and K-State claims - at worst - a share of the Big 12 title.
An opportunity lost on this night, for sure, but another one very much still on the table.
WHAT'S NEXT?
K-State returns home Saturday to kick off a final three-game stretch of Big 12 games that will decide whether or not the Wildcats will be a very good basketball team or a Big 12 Champion. Baylor will provide the opposition this weekend in Bramlage Coliseum.