Kansas-Kansas State: How and Why the Jayhawks Beat the Wildcats

As if there was ever a doubt.

After all, in the time I’ve been on this earth, it’s been statistically more likely that Kansas would win the national championship than lose a game in Manhattan.

Need proof? Since 1984, Kansas has:

- Won two national titles
- Lost once in Manhattan

There are many more stats just like that, most of which are equally hilarious. But you knew all that.

What you didn’t know was that this particular Kansas team has grown its proverbial balls.

For the first 15 games or so, we were letting Sherron Collins' do most of the heavy hanging—and his aren’t going anywhere—but as we’ve gotten into league play, we’ve had several others get in on the act.

That’s why we’re sitting with a two-game lead in the Big 12. Well, that and Texas’ inability to run a competent offense. But I digress.

Speaking of Texas, colleague Trips Right nails it when he points out that Cole Aldrich was the biggest difference, just as he has been the last couple weeks—and as I’ve said all year, as he (with the help of the twins) will need to be if we’re to accomplish what we all want.

Aldrich opens up so much for everyone else on the offensive end and has the ability to completely seal off the basket on the defensive end. Sherron is our unquestioned leader and crunch time guy, but no one means more for 40 minutes than Aldrich. Glad to have ya back, big fella.

As for his help down low, the Morris twins really have come a long way. Markieff’s 0-of-4 from the strip was disappointing, to say the least, but his defense, rebounding, and passing should not go unnoticed.

A former foul machine, he has officially learned to play D with his feet and not his hands, and it’s been huge in his development and ours. He’s probably as good a passer as anyone outside of Sherron and Brady Morningstar, and his per minute rebounding is likely as good as anyone on the team.

As for his brother, once we teach him how to finish a layup, we’ll really have a player on our hands. Marcus finished with 13 points (on 5-of-11 shooting) and 10 boards, so obviously we’re happy, but if you watched, you know it could have easily been 20.

I’ll give him a pass on the laughable offensive foul early (which he scored on), but the three missed layups could have cost us dearly. Put him on the block and he’s smooth as silk. Put him point-blank and he looks like a fish out of water. Think that guy has a guard mentality?

Regardless, he’s got the face up game, the turnaround, and he can take most bigs off the dribble. It helps to play alongside Cole and the attention he commands, but Marcus’ offensive diversity is an enormous asset.

Before we move to the guards, I should mention how surprised I was that Jeff Withey got the call over Thomas Robinson. Such a physical game—especially knowing that K-State’s best offense is a missed shot—seems like a perfect game to unleash Thomas.

Since I have to think Bill Self feels the same way, I think our only inference at this point is that Thomas’ turnovers have caused Bill to lose whatever trust he had in him. That won’t be earned back easily.

While we’re on that, I think we all saw exactly what he thinks of Xavier Henry right now. Effort is not the problem, and it hasn’t been. He’s taken leaps and bounds on the defensive side, and his rebounding continues to improve. But the fact of the matter is, he: A) can’t go right, and B) isn’t strong with the ball.

Big-time kudos for the two shots he hit late when forced into action, but it’s pretty clear Bill doesn’t trust him in a big-time game right now.

There’s nothing I wanted to be more wrong about, but unfortunately I saw this one coming a while back. I’ve been spouting off since November that once teams started to key on him—and more importantly, his weaknesses—he was going to have trouble making the adjustment.

Right now, he’s looking for other ways to contribute but hasn’t been able to get his mojo back offensively. A couple weeks ago, I didn’t think we could get where we want to go without it, but Marcus has since become that third scorer. If we get early season offensive X back (or anything close), we’ll obviously be much better for it, but we’re not f*cked if we don’t.

Another part of the reason for that is Brady Morningstar. All Sleeves did last night was play 39 minutes of mostly great defense and chip in 14 points on all of five shots, to go along with a couple assists, three steals, and the one board he got credit for. He’s comfortable handling the ball, he feeds the big men, and he hits the open shot. There’s a reason Self gushes over him during just about every post-game presser.

His replacements off the bench did some nice things for us as well. Tyshawn Taylor gave us 30 minutes—and also played mostly good D—kept the ball moving on O, and attacked the rim when he could.

He didn’t convert a ton from the field (2-of-4), but he drew the foul and converted at the stripe (8-of-9). The late steal from Denis Clemente was beautiful, and the subsequent throwaway to Rodney McGruder was just horrendous, but mostly we got a nice lift from Tyshawn.

Oddly, Tyrel Reed didn’t get much floor time last night (nine minutes), and the box score reflects it: 1-of-1 shooting for two points, to go along with an assist. But as you may recall, he was the one who chased down Dom Sutton and poked the ball loose as he was driving toward the win after Sherron’s TO.

Speaking of, gotta love that guy. He’s still good for a bonehead shot or two most games, and I couldn’t believe that late game stumble (though apparently he cramped and fell), but he brings it when we need him to. The late game heroics have been well documented, but just as importantly, let’s talk about the middle of the second half.

The Cats had just turned our eight-point lead into a four-point lead of their own with a 15-3 run. What happens next? Sherron brings it up and buries a three. Brady steals it from Curtis Kelly and dishes ahead to Sherron, who converts at the rim, and just like that, we’re back ahead.

He’ll make you wince every once in a while, but no one has the ability to seize the moment quite like Sherron, whether or not the clock says it’s time.

And so here we sit, 6-0 with a two-game lead. You can’t win the league in January, but we’re in as good a position as our schedule provided. We’ve still got five roadies left—four of them extremely tough (UT, MU, OSU, A&M)—as well as a visit from the Wildcats on Senior Night, so this thing is far from over. But we won’t play in a tougher atmosphere all year long, and we passed it with flying colors.

Don’t get me wrong. We weren’t perfect last night—far from it, actually. But that’s what made it so satisfying to watch. We fought, we grinded, and we made the plays when they mattered the most. We’re 21 games in, and I’ve never felt better about our chances to cut the nets in Indy.

Thoughts?

This article was written by Hiphopopotamus at Oread Boom Kings.

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