Kansas State vs Kansas: Big 12 Tournament Recap

Any thoughts that Kansas would rest guys or maybe not care as much about the Big 12 tournament because they have the #1 overall seed wrapped up were put to bed early yesterday as the Jayhawks came out on fire early and often. When it was all said and done the Jayhawks finished by scoring 1.29 points per possession and while the defense could have been much better Kansas still allowed just .95 points per possession.

It is a bit worrisome that Kansas allowed the Wildcats to get into the lane fairly freely yesterday, but given that hasn't happened much down the stretch, I am willing to say that it was a matter of guys maybe going through the motions a bit more on that end than on the offensive end. They hit a blip in the second half on both ends of the floor, where K State was getting pretty good looks and Kansas was mostly aimlessly passing the ball around, but that certainly is going to happen to 18-22 year old kids when they're up by 20+ points.

Overall defensively the Jayhawks did a pretty good job, allowing K State to shoot just 41 percent from two and 33 percent from three while not allowing many attempts. If there is any nitpick it is on the glass and with the turnovers. Kansas rebounded to allow K State to grab just under 36 percent of its misses, but only forced turnovers on 16.7 percent of K State possessions. Kansas didn't need the help of easy baskets from turnovers, but it would benefit them to get out of more possessions while not allowing the other team to shoot. It's great that Kansas played good first shot defense, but that still opens you up to having a guy who shoots 33 percent from 3 going 5-7 in a game and it killing you. Fortunately it didn't kill Kansas yesterday. (then again it is much more important to have a good eFG against so what do I know).

Offensively Kansas was fantastic. It was helped by Bruce Weber going to a not very good zone, but shooting 69 percent on twos is nice no matter how you slice it. In a rarity, the Jayhawks could have even attempted fewer threes yesterday, but as it is they took 20 of their 56 shots from deep, which is probably about perfect for this team. They only shot 35 percent from three, but they missed numerous ones that were both open and in rhythm so I wouldn't be too worried.

Devonte Graham was just 1-5 from three, but was 4-5 on twos, and had 8 assists to just 1 turnover.

Frank Mason was 4-4 from two, 2-4 from three, and had 7 assists to 2 turnovers. Pretty pitiful considering Graham's assist to turnover rate in my opinion.

Perry Ellis fittingly had an incredible game in his final meeting with K State, going 8-10 inside the arc, 5-6 from the line, and he pulled down 6 rebounds as well.

Wayne Selden was 0-3 from deep, but didn't take any bad shots, and found ways to contribute elsewhere, with 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Obviously the team is better when he's shooting better because he can put the team on his back, but even when he isn't shooting it well teams have to pay attention to him, which has value.

Landen Lucas was good defensively again, but struggled a bit in other areas. He was 1-3 from the field with his lone make being a deep jumper, and he had 5 rebounds.

Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk provided good minutes off the bench against K State again. He was 2-2 from three, had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, just 1 turnover, and really locked it down defensively.

Jamari Traylor was 3-3 from the field, had 4 rebounds, had an awesome chase down block, had another awesome block that was called a foul for some reason, but did have 3 turnovers in just 14 minutes.

Carlton Bragg provided a spark off the bench, going 3-4 from two and 2-2 from three. He still can't play defense or rebound on the defensive end but he's going to be an incredible offensive player.

Brannen Greene missed a three again, but had 5 rebounds in just 10 minutes.

Hunter Mickelson played 6 minutes, had 2 points, 3 rebounds, and a block.

LaGerald Vick got 3 minutes of playing time but missed his usual 3-point attempt.

Tyler Self got a minute of playing time and missed a three.