Quick Hitters: Kansas State (Round Two)

The Kansas Jayhawks took on the Kansas State Wildcats last night in their second matchup of the conference season. With Marcus Foster leading the way, Kansas State played a hard fought game and toughed out an 85-82 overtime win against Kansas. Let’s take a look at why Kansas lost in Manhattan:

1. Does KSU score more than 60 points? K-State may have one of the weakest offenses in the league, but that wasn’t the case last night. The Wildcats shot 49% from the field and an incredible 52% from three point range. While Kansas is a much bigger team than K-State, with Jamari Traylor out and Joel Embiid playing limited minutes, the Wildcats were able to capitalize inside as they scored 11 layups in the second half. The lack of defense from Kansas along with K-State’s tremendous showing on offense was the reason the Wildcats were able to snag a win against the Jayhawks for the first time since 2011.

2. Can Foster redeem himself? In the first Sunflower Showdown, Foster had only 7 points against the Jayhawks on 25% shooting. Unfortunately, the freshman was able to redeem himself in Manhattan last night as he was by far the best player on the Wildcats roster. Foster had his way against the KU defense, driving the lane for some quick two’s and hitting four of five shots from behind the arc.

3. Can KU get the calls? To just about everyone’s surprise, Kansas came up with a lot of the calls last night in Bramlage. While the refs missed a couple of no calls and whistled K-State for a couple of cheap ones to start the game, the Jayhawks actually shot eight more free throws than the Wildcats. While typically getting to the line more than the other team is an advantage, Kansas shot just 67% from the stripe, hitting 23 of their 34 free throw attempts. The Wildcats didn’t shoot it well from the free throw line either as they shot just 65% going 17-26 overall. So, while Kansas managed to get to the line more than K-State, free throw shooting wasn’t much of a factor as both teams couldn’t capitalize.