Choklahoma @ K-State Recap
Another solid win for Kansas State. Things are moving upward and for the first time all year K-State has a .500 conference record. That wasn’t something anyone thought would be an issue in December. Beating OU was good but not unexpected. This coming week/weekend brings some bigger challenges as NU is better than normal, Mizzou is always tough, and Texas is still a top 5 team. Continue reading for what went good, bad, and ugly against Oklahoma.
Good
The Runs… Normally having the runs is a horrible experience loathed by all but when they come in the context of K-State basketball they are welcome with open arms! Saturday the team had three runs that carried them to a victory. Here they are:
13-0 from 11:09 – 7:46 in the 1st half.
9-0 from 2:00 – 0:00 in the first half. This included a great timeout and set 3pt play with 7 seconds remaining. Kudos to Frank for taking over a situation that could have easily been nothing.
14-0 from 5:51 – 3:00 in 2nd half. This run was a flurry of points and a great stretch of entertaining basketball… for K-State fans. Included was 3 pointer by Pullen after a foul that probably shouldn’t have counted but provided the final dagger to OU.
Totals: 36-0 over about 7:30 minutes
Considering that OU didn’t score for over 7 minutes of game time and watched K-State put up 36 during that same period, it’s surprising that the game wasn’t a 25+ point blowout. Either way, a win is a win and K-State seems to be rolling right along.
McGruder… McGruder was a spark for the team and hit big shots all day long. Every time it was needed, he showed up finishing with 20 points going 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. How exciting is it to know McGruders is going to be around for a long time?!
Pullen… 2 games, 65 points, one dead jayhawk. Big 12 Player of the Week? Better be.
Winning big… K-State has struggled quite a bit after a big victory so seeing them play to a victory by 15 points is a good sign. I thought that any final with anything less than a double digit win would be underachieving. K-State handled this game from start to finish and while they allowed OU to creep back here and there, fans should be happy with the outcome.
Bad
2nd Half… After taking a big lead into halftime, K-State came out looking like they were overconfident and had already sealed the win despite 20 minutes remaining on the clock. You would hope by now they know they can’t take anytime off but that’s exactly what happened. OU cut the lead and had opportunity to tie it which should not have been the case. A game that should have been over at halftime instead wasn’t put away until the last crazy 14-0 run with 5 minutes left.
Ugly
Passing… The passing by K-State in this game was horrible. Call it lazy, soft, stupid, whatever. That has to stop. We had simple 3 foot passes that got stolen, inbound passes that were off, and entry passes that had no business being thrown. Against a better team it might have really killed K-State.