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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KANSAS TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
Following decisive victories at Baylor on Wednesday and against Oklahoma State on Saturday, the Jayhawks are 10-2 in the conference and tied for first place with Missouri. It may be easy to forget about the nearby Wildcats, considering that they are just 6-6 in the conference and they lost 67-49 at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 4. Still, the Jayhawks would be wise to not overlook their in-state foes. Kansas State has lost three conference games by three points or less. Look for junior center Jeff Withey to keep up his aggressiveness by the basket. If he does so, the Jayhawks could walk out of Manhattan with an easy victory. If not, "The Octagon of Doom" could haunt them.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Elijah Johnson, guard
In six Big 12 road games, Johnson has made just five of 24 threepoint shots, or 20.8 percent. Coach Bill Self and his team don't really understand why
Johnson
the shots aren't falling. Self has always said that Johnson makes his shots in practice. Senior guard Conner Teahan, second to Johnson with 43 three-point shot attempts in the conference season, said he doesn't think Johnson is worrying about previous misses. Sometimes, as plain as it sounds, the shots just don't go in the hole. If Withey or Robinson get in foul trouble, an improvement in Johnson's three-point shooting could save the day. Johnson hit three of six three-pointers on Saturday, but Manhattan is a different place than Lawrence.
QUESTION MARK
Can Withey keep this up?
Withey responded to his scoreless game at Missouri by completely owning the inside and scoring 25 points at Baylor last Wednesday. Then he followed it with another dominant outing against Oklahoma State, talying 18 points, seven blocks and a career-high 20 rebounds. If you throw out Withey's goose egg in the Border Showdown, he has had eight consecutive games with a double-figure scoring total. In the first five games of that eight-game stretch, he averaged 11 points. In the last three (Oklahoma, at Baylor, Oklahoma State), he averaged 19.3 points. Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor talked about Withey as a necessary third scoring threat. At Kansas State, with the volume of the coliseum, Withey's numbers will depend on his energy.
HEAR YE, HEAR YE
"We always have tough games there. I lost last year there so I definitely want to go there and get a win."
senior guard Tyshawn Taylor on playing at Bramlage Coliseum
BIG JAY WILL CHEER IF...
Kansas keeps up the defensive pressure. The Jayhawks have given up less than 75 points in every game since Dec.19, a span in which they've gone 13-2. Kansas State has trouble scoring at times and an impressive game by Kansas defensively could equate to a big victory for the Jayhawks.
COUNTDOWN TO TIPOFF
Sunflower Showdown Wildcats' success depends on McGruder NO. 7 KANSAS VS. KANSAS STATE 8 P.M., BRAMLAGE COLISEUM, MANHATTAN KANSAS
KANSAS (20-5, 10-2) STARTERS
Taylor
TYSHAWN TAYLOR, GUARD
Finally, on Saturday, Taylor had an average game. It'd been a while, nine games to be exact, since he scored fewer than 15 points. But on Saturday, he missed all five of his three-point shots and scored 12 points, three in the last two minutes of the game. He still dished six assists and played solid defense in 37 minutes.
Johnson
ELIJAH JOHNSON, GUARD
Johnson has been one of Kansas' streakiest players throughout the season. He showed flashes of what he can do when he scored 23 points against UCLA in November's Maui Invitational. But in Big 12 play, he has scored in double-figures in back-to-back games just once. He scored 12 points on Saturday. Will he reach double figures tonight?
Spradling
The Overland Park, Kan. native is in his second year for the Wildcats and has started all 24 games for Frank Martin this season. He's averaging 10.4 points per game including a season-high 19 against Texas A&M earlier this month.
Releford
WILL SPRADLING, GUARD
TRAVIS RELEFORD, GUARD
KANSAS STATE (17-7,6-6) STARTERS
McGruder is the most dangerous offensively for the Wildcats, averaging 14.3 points per game this season. He and Spradling are the only two Wildcats to start every game this year and he also leads his team in a number of offensive categories including field goals and minutes played.
RODNEY MCGRUDER, GUARD
After the victory on Saturday, no member of the media mentioned his name. Self brought up Releford. Self said that even during the Jayhawks' awful second, when they were outscored by the Cowboys 42-30, Releford still kept hustling when his teammates had already lost their edge.
McGrduer
MARTAVIOUS IRVING. GUARD
Robinson
Irving played just five minutes against Texas on Saturday and his minutes per game have slipped since Jan. 28 loss to Oklahoma. He's averaging 6.2 points per game and has been quiet for most of the Big 12 season. He had seven points and three steals in the first meeting with Kansas.
THOMAS ROBINSON FORWARD
Withey shined on Saturday, so somehow Robinson posted a quiet 24 points and 14 rebounds. It's plain silly how easy it looks for Robinson when he soars in the air and pulls rebounds down with one hand or turns around off a pass and dunks with defenders watching.
Irving
JAMAR SAMUELS, FORWARD
Samuels leads the team in rebounding with 6.1 per game. He's also the third leading scorer with 9.1 points per game but is a bigger threat on the glass. In the first meeting with Kansas on Jan. 4 Samuels finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds.
JEFF WITHEY, CENTER
Withey
Samuels
The Baylor Bears were ranked No. 6, but their interior defense has been suspect in both their losses against Kansas. Oklahoma State had no player taller than six-foot-eight guarding him consistently. If Withey beats up on Kansas State's post players in Manhattan, you'll start to ponder possibilities in March.
★★★☆★
THOMAS GIPSON,
FORWARD
A true freshman, Gipson has started 21 games for Frank Martin this season. He's a big body down low at 6-foot-7,275 pounds but has been rather inconsistent in conference play and has struggled to see the floor at times, getting just 20 minutes of action once in the last five games.
★★☆☆★
Max Rothman
Gipson
— Tyshawn Taylor
Kory Carpenter
Prediction:
Kansas 71, Kansas State 59
AT A GLANCE
Sitting at 6-6 in the Big 12, Kansas State finds itself tied for fifth with Texas in the Big 12 as it welcomes Kansas to Bramlage Coliseum tonight. Coach Bill Self believes the Wildcats could easily be 9-3 in the league instead, and he's probably right. Three of the Wildcats' six conference losses have been by three points or less. At 17-7 overall, the NCAA tournament is anything but a lock at this point with six regular season games and the conference tournament to go before selection Sunday. A marquee win over a top 10 opponent would do wonders for their tournament resume, and the Wildcats will certainly get their chances over the next week and a half with games against Mizzou and Baylor immediately following Monday night's tilt with Kansas.
PLAYER TO WATCH
McGruder
Rodney McGruder guard
McGruder has slowed down a bit recently but has the potential for a great night
offensively nearly every time out. He'll most likely need a great night too, if an upset is in order tonight. In Kansas' loss to Iowa State, Cyclone forward Royce White had 16 points and 10 assists in the victory. Against Mizzou, Kansas allowed guard Marcus Denmont to go off for 29 points and nine rebounds. If Kansas State wants a similar outcome tonight, McGruder will need to have a similar performance offensively. He's had 19 points or more on five occasions including two 30-point plus games against Baylor and Texas.
QUESTION MARK
Where Is the offense?
In the first meeting between these schools on Jan. 4 in Allen Fieldhouse, the Wildcats were held to a staggering 49 points for the game. For reference, the Jayhawks have scored more than 50 points in one half on five different occasions this season. Kansas State's 72.4 points per game are just 79th in the country and they have been held under 70 points seven times in Big 12 play. Their conference victories have usually been grind-it-out affairs and it looks to be the only recipe for an upset tonight as well. The Wildcat offense doesn't have the weapons to outscore Kansas, but they'll have a chance if they can slow down the Jayhawks and get timely scoring.
HEAR YE, HEAR YE
"It was a complete mismatch.
— Kansas State coach Frank Martin after his team's 67-49 defeat at Kansas Jan. 4.
BABY JAY WILL WEEP IF...
Kansas is rattled by the hostile crowd. At worst, Bramlage Coliseum will be the second toughest crowd the Jayhawks will face all season. They failed to finish Missouri off in the hornets nest that was Mizzou Arena, and Bramlage will be no different tonight.