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Wednesday, January 23, 2013
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KANSAS 59, KANSAS STATE 55
L AWRENCE J OURNAL -W ORLD
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photos
KANSAS GUARD BEN MCLEMORE (23) GOES IN FOR A BUCKET between Kansas State defenders Jordan Henriquez (21) and Rodney McGruder during the second half. Also pictured are Kansas center Jeff Withey (5) and Kansas State guard Shane Southwell. KU beat K-State, 59-55, Tuesday in Manhattan.
Wildcats try, but die, by the three By Jesse Newell jnewell@ljworld.com
MANHATTAN — The 30 three-pointers attempted were not a fluke. Kansas State’s offensive strategy coming into Tuesday’s men’s basketball game was to avoid Kansas University shotblocker Jeff Withey by trying to shoot open shots on the outside. It nearly worked in the Wildcats’ 59-55 loss to the Jayhawks. “It’s something they give you,” KSU coach Bruce Weber said. “That is why Iowa State had a chance to beat them at their place. You’ve just got to hit the open (threes), then you’d make them defend you a little bit different. But we didn’t do that.” Weber said his coaches have a saying: “Closer is not better. Open is better.”
KANSAS STATE FANS WATCH WITH DISMAY as time expires. The Wildcats — a 35-percent three-point shooting team coming in — made nine of 30 threepointers (30 percent), getting 49 percent of their points from behind the arc. They also held Withey without a block for the first time this year. “(Coaches) told us that they were going to be
packed in, and they get not really lost on defense when you drive them, but they sink into the ball because they’re a great defensive team, and they’re so athletic that they swarm,” said KSU junior forward Shane Southwell, who hit five of 11 treys. “Out of our 30 three-point shots, I felt like 20 of them
Kansas CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
KANSAS CENTER JEFF WITHEY DUNKS over Kansas State forward Jordan Henriquez.
score 22 tonight. Travis did a great job on him, got to him. You’ve got to give at least half the credit (for the win) to Travis.” Releford — he also hit two big threes in three tries — gave himself a passing grade for his work on McGruder. “The first half, I did real well making him uncomfortable and not let him get easy looks at the rim,” Releford said. McGruder scored two points the first half off 1-of-4 shooting (Releford had eight points) as KU led, 31-27, at the break. “The second half, my teammates continued to help me by letting me get through down screens,” Releford said. “I just continued to do whatever the team needed me to do, because we knew he would be the guy they were going to go to on offense. We tried to put a lot of pressure on their guards.” Southwell scored a career-high 19 points off 7-of-16 shooting (5-for-11 from three). “I think he would get my vote for most improved player in the league,” Self said, “because if you remember, last year we played a triangle-and-two,
were open shots or shots that we usually make.” KU coach Bill Self admitted afterward that his defensive strategy was to try to keep KSU out of the lane. The Wildcats certainly noticed, countering by taking 53 percent of their field goals from threepoint range (30 of 57).
“They weren’t coming out,” KSU sophomore guard Angel Rodriguez said. “I think pretty much their game plan was to just let us shoot threes. I feel like everybody was in the paint. I guess (we needed) to just make shots.” This isn’t the first time opponents have tried to beat KU’s tough interior defense from the outside. Coming into the game, according to Ken Pomeroy’s website, 34.5 percent of the points scored against KU’s defense had come from three-point range — the 11th-highest split nationally. Iowa State scored the most points per possession against KU — 1.10 — when it made 14 of 38 threes in a 97-89 overtime loss on Jan. 9. With its season-high 30 three-point attempts Tuesday, KSU put up 0.93 points per possession ac-
cording to StatSheet.com, the fifth-highest total against KU’s defense this year. Weber was asked about KU’s grind-it-out victories in the Big 12 following a dominant nonconference stretch. “If you study basketball … to beat Belmont, Colorado and Richmond — those are good teams — and they were not just beating them, they were killing them, destroying them,” Weber said. “I think all of us in the league were like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ I think you guys and people around the state are like, ‘There’s no way you can compete with them.’ “I think they got into the league ... people scout. They know things that you can do to attack them. People take care of the basketball better. I think that’s a big key against them.”
BOX SCORE KANSAS (59)
MIN FG FT REB PF TP m-a m-a o-t Kevin Young 30 1-6 1-2 2-6 1 3 Jeff Withey 31 3-6 5-6 3-10 3 11 Elijah Johnson 35 3-10 1-2 1-4 3 8 Ben McLemore 28 4-7 2-3 1-5 3 11 Travis Releford 36 5-6 0-0 0-1 0 12 Naadir Tharpe 18 2-7 2-2 0-1 1 6 Perry Ellis 18 3-4 2-6 1-4 0 8 Rio Adams 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 Jamari Traylor 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 team 2-4 Totals 21-46 13-21 10-35 11 59 Three-point goals: 4-13 (Releford 2-3, McLemore 1-2, Johnson 1-3, Young 0-1, Tharpe 0-4). Assists: 12 (Johnson 4, Releford 3, Young 2, Tharpe 2, McLemore). Turnovers: 13 (Johnson 5, Withey 3, McLemore 3, Young, Tharpe). Blocked shots: 3 (McLemore 2, Ellis). Steals: 6 (Johnson 2, Young, McLemore, Releford, Tharpe). KANSAS STATE (55) MIN FG FT REB PF TP m-a m-a o-t Thomas Gipson 14 2-5 1-1 3-4 4 5 Shane Southwell 32 7-16 0-0 2-7 1 19 Angel Rodriguez 36 4-10 3-4 1-5 1 12 Rodney McGruder 38 4-12 2-2 1-3 1 13 Will Spradling 26 0-5 0-0 0-2 2 0 Jordan Henriquez 24 2-4 0-0 3-5 4 4 Martavious Irving 18 1-4 0-0 0-1 2 2 Nino Williams 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 Adrian Diaz 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 Omari Lawrence 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 Totals 20-57 6-7 10-28 15 55 Three-point goals: 9-30 (Southwell 5-11, McGruder 3-9, Rodriquez 1-5, Spradling 0-5). Assists: 12 (Rodriguez 8, Southwell 2, Spradling 2). Turnovers: 10 (Gipson 2, Rodriguez 2, McGruder 2, Southwell, Spradling, Irving, Henriquez). Blocked shots: 5 (Henriquez 3, Gipson, Southwell). Steals: 6 (Rodriguez 2, Spradling 2, Southwell, Williams). Kansas 31 28 — 59 Kansas State 27 28 — 55 Officials: Mark Whithead, Rick Hartzell, Doug Simons. Attendance: 12,528.
and the guy we did not guard was Shane, and he did not even look at the basket. He was probably their best offensive threat tonight.” KU’s Jeff Withey (11 points, 10 rebounds) scored four points, Releford two and McLemore (11 points) two in an 8-0
KANSAS STATE GUARD SHANE SOUTHWELL (1) SIGNALS “THREE” after hitting one over Kansas forward Kevin Young during the first half. run that gave KU a 39-30 lead at 16:16. McLemore scored five straight points to increase a 48-43 lead to 53-43 at 6:51. The Wildcats were able to slice the gap to 56-53 with 38 seconds left. That’s when Naadir Tharpe swished two free throws at :22.6 to keep KU in command by five. McGruder hit two free throws at 5.5 seconds to cut the gap to 58-55. Johnson made a free throw at 3.6 seconds, then missed the second as the clock ran out on KU’s victory. “Both teams are very good offensively,” Self said. “It just came down to making some plays and having some key moments. We made it hard on ourselves not converting at the free-throw line (13-of-21 to KSU’s 6-of-7).”
Self and the Jayhawks were pleased with a defensive effort that held KSU to 35.1 percent shooting to KU’s 45.7 mark. “Our game is to not let a team get into the paint, and I think we did a good job of that,” Withey said. “That is what forced them to shoot a lot of threes. “Whenever you can get a win on the road, it is good. It’s still early,” Withey added of the conference race. “They are still going to win games. They are going to come to Allen Fieldhouse, so they have a chance to win there. It matters to the people of Kansas, but as for the league, it’s so early that it does not matter that much.” KU will play host to Oklahoma at 3 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.