Lawrence, KS– Same song different verse. In a game where K-State was looking to deliver a knockout punch to KU’s conference title hopes, they received a knock out punch themselves, over and over and over again.

KU came into Sunflower Showdown following a 3 game losing skid to OSU, TCU, and OU. They did all they did to prove why they were ranked No. 2 in the nation just a few short weeks ago, finishing off K-State 83-62 in front of a sold out Allen Field House.

The Cats got off to a decent start, only trailing KU by 3 points at the first media TO. But following foul trouble for both Henriquez and Gipson, KU went on a 21-6 run to blow the game wide open in the first half.

Kevin Young added the exclamation point with an easy dunk to end the half and send K-State into the half down big, 47-29.

Maybe it was the losing skid, maybe it was returning home, or maybe it was just because it was his birthday. Whatever the reason, KU star Fr. Ben Mclemore went off, finishing with 17 in the first half alone, and 30 overall.

“It happens, we’re still in first place, and if we win the rest of our games we win the league, we cant let one loss become two losses” Weber said after the game.

K-State tried to make a push in the second half, cutting the lead down to 15, but KU quickly responded with a run of their own to quickly finish off the Cats small hope at a comeback.

Three Wildcats finished in double figures including, McGruder with 20, Rodriguez with 17, and Spradling with 10.

But no one played great for K-State. K-State was outrebounded by KU 41-23. Coupled with 14 turnovers, K-State lacked the spirit and fight that made them so deadly in their past 4 victories.

In the end, its not the end of the world for K-State. KU arguably played their best game of the season, while K-State played its worse. K-State is still level on games with the Jayhawks and a share of the conference title is still within reach.

Maybe its the weather, or just bad luck but K-State does not play good in Allen Fieldhouse. Last season the Cats bounced back from a blowout in Lawrence, with a dominating victory over No. 6 Missouri. A bounce back victory over Baylor on Saturday and K-State can easily get back on track. Let this loss blossom into two and K-State can kiss their conference title hopes goodbye.

“I know my teammates were going to come in on Wednesday ready to fight and get ready  for Baylor on Saturday”, McGruder said in the post game, for K-States sake, he better be right.  

Manhattan, KS– “Why settle for second when first is available” former K-State Head Coach Bob Huggins said during his introductory press conference. Huggins is long gone, and so is his successor, Frank Martin. Yet here the Cats sit as the lone team atop the conference, 7-2 and one game ahead of Oklahoma State and arch rival Kansas. Tonight the Cats will look to stay atop the conference, standing in their way their toughest game of the season. Big Monday in Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas State vs. Kansas is just another game. A win over the Jayhawks is just another W in the win column, at least thats what the players said after beating Iowa State. But, to the Wildcat fan base, a win tonight against a reeling Jayhawk team will be a victory that will be remembered for a long time to come in Manhattan, KS.

In K-State 59-55 loss to Kansas earlier in the season, K-State was two missed threes away from a victory.

The Jayhawk defense left K-States shooters open on the perimeter on multiple occasions. The Cats were a mere 9-30 from beyond the arc. The majority of the misses were good open shots. Shots the Cats have been knocking down in recent games.

For K-State, the game will come down to three things, Rodney McGruder, continued lockdown defense, and the first 5 minutes.

Since K-State beat KU 59-55 in the 05/06 season, K-State has never been closer than 10 points at the 10 minute mark of the first half. Slow starts have done more than doom their chances in Lawrence. If K-State does not get off to a fast start, then we may very well see a repeat of K-States past blowouts.

No one seems more irritated about the KU game than Sr. Rodney McGruder. When asked about the KU game in Saturday’s post game press conference, McGruder responded and talked about how tired he was that the media was treating KU like it was a bigger game than all the others.

To McGruder it is just another game. But McGruder will have to put in a performance worthy of a star to bring a W. McGruder can not afford to get in early foul trouble like he has in games against Texas and OU.

If K-State wants to walk out of Lawrence victorious, McGruder will have to play more than 33 minutes and pour in a performance like he did Saturday against the Clones when the Sr. scored 22 points while adding 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.

If there’s one thing K-State and Bruce Weber have held over from Frank Martin’s tenure, its solid defense. K-State has evolved into arguably the best defense in the country. K-State held Kansas to its lowest scoring output of the season when the two teams last met in January. Another great defensive performance tonight and K-State has a very good shot of walking away with a win.

For as big of a win as this could be for K-State, a loss will be equally as devastating for Kansas. The Jayhawks are currently in the middle of a 3 game losing streak, and one could argue in a tailspin. All three losses were upsets at the hands of unranked teams, Oklahoma St, TCU, and Oklahoma.

If the loss to Oklahoma St. was a shock, the following loss to last placed TCU was a lightning bolt. TCU was winless in the big 12 at the time of the victory, and had not won a game since Dec. Ku followed up that embarrassing loss by putting in a better performance against OU in a game that still ended up as a 72-66 loss in Norman.

KU has not lost 4 in a row since 1988. The last time they lost back to back home games, also 1988, Kansas State 71-62 and Oklahoma 75-63.

The Jayhawks are aware of the pressure on them to win the game, and will likely come in firing on all cylinders.

For K-State it may simply be a matter of weathering the storm. No team in the Big 12 is playing better basketball than Kansas State. K-State has not had a game of this magnitude in a very long time. A win for the Cats would solidify their Big 12 title hopes and send the already exciting Cat fanbase into a frenzy, while a loss simply means game on in the title race.

A victory for KU and its back to business as usual, while a loss will be the death blow to an already wounded team.

Manhattan, KS– Paced by 22 points from Rodney McGruder and a season-high 20 points from Angel Rodriguez, No. 13 K-State (19-4, 8-2 Big 12) took care of business with a 79-70 win over the Iowa State Cyclones (16-7, 6-4 Big 12) in front of a sell-out crowd at Bramlage Coliseum.

A three pointer from McGruder at the top of the key capped an 11-2 K-State run during which the Wildcats turned a 50-50 ballgame with 11:57 remaining into a 61-52 Wildcat lead just three minutes later.

The win, coupled with Oklahoma’s 72-66 win over Kansas, left the Wildcats all alone in first place in the Big 12 standings.

After jumping out to an early lead the Wildcats had to battle back to gain a 33-32 halftime advantage. Iowa State went on 26 to 11 run, that covered over nine minutes of the first half, and saw the Cyclones build a 22-28 lead with 5:28 until halftime.

K-State used 17 second-chance points in the second half to pull away for the victory.  Thomas Gipson was key, scoring 11 of his 16 points during the second half and adding a team-high 7 rebounds.

K-State held Iowa State leading scorer Will Clyburn, who had 24 points and 10 rebounds in Iowa State’s 73-67 win over K-State in Ames, Iowa, to just 6 points and 2 boards in today’s contest.

K-State heads next about 90 miles east down I-70 to face the reeling Kansas Jayhawks on Monday night.  It will likely be the first time that the Wildcats be the higher-ranked team going into a Sunflower Showdown in Lawrence since 1982.

Manhattan, KS– Angel Rodriguez is clutch. With just over 5 seconds remaining in Saturdays tilt against Oklahoma, Rodriguez went to the line with a chance to give K-State a lead over the Oklahoma Sooners. Cool, calm, and collected Rodriguez buried both. The 52-50 victory over Oklahoma, coupled with KU’s upset at home, has breathed new life into the K-State Wildcats. Here are 5 things we learned from Saturday’s victory.

1.) More than just McGruder- In what has now been a theme in the past 2 games, K-State has proven they can win games without the scoring of Rodney McGruder. Against Texas and Oklahoma, McGruder picked up 2 early fouls that benched him for the majority of the first half. Jr. Will Spradling also picked up 2 early fouls and was out for the majority of the 1st half. Even without the Cats 2 main scoring options, they were able to score and maintain a lead over Oklahoma. Martavious Irving was the main spark plug coming off the bench. Irving poured in 10 points, including 2 3 pointers to supply K-State with some key bench scoring.

2.) Defense, Defense, Defense- If we learned anything from Saturday’s performance, it was what the Cats sometimes lack in offense, they make up for in defense. For the 2nd team in as many weeks, K-State held a team to its lowest offensive output of the season. Even more impressive, with Spradling and McGruder benched, K-State held Oklahoma scoreless for a 10 minute stretch from the 6:27 mark of the first half, to the 15:43 mark of the second half. 10 minutes with 0 points from the Sooners, that is impressive. If K-State can put in more defensive performances like that for the rest of the season, they will become one of the deadliest defenses in college basketball.

3.) Angel Rodriguez is a True Point Guard- While Bill Self threw his senior ball handler under the bus following their loss to Oklahoma State, Kansas State is sitting pretty with one of their best point guards in the past decade. While Rodriguez is just a So. he leads the Big 12 in assist to turnover ratio, and gives K-State that something special when he is on the court. Still prone to taking bad shots, Rodriguez has eliminated a lot of the Fr. mistakes he was known for last year. He came to K-State as a so called “clone” of Denis Clemente, but might leave with a reputation that would far overshadow Clemente.

4.) Warrior Spradling- With McGruder struggling, it was in fact Will Spradling that stepped up big for Kansas State. With his 12 points, Spradling lead K-State in scoring, but it was the timing of his points that were most impressive. Midway through the second half, Isaiah Cousins buried a top of the arc three, to pull within one of K-State. On the ensuing possession Spradling buried a cold blooded corner three after K-State drained the shot clock down to 6 seconds. Later in the half Spradling tipped in a Southwell 3 pointer to extend K-States lead to 8. Considering Spradling supposedly broke his nose against Texas and was benched for the majority of the first half, Spradling is turning into one of K-State’s biggest warriors.

5.) Back in the Title Race……….For Now- With K-States win, and KU’s loss the Cats are now just a game back of the Jayhawks in the race for first. Throw in a Baylor loss at Iowa State, and K-State are in sole possession of second. With 10 games remaining on the Big 12 slate, it is a longshot but K-State is now locked in a battle for the Big 12 crown. If K-State can take down Texas Tech and Iowa State in its next 2 games, they will go into Lawrence a game behind the Jayhawks. And if, K-State can shake its game woes to the Jayhawks K-State could find themselves halfway through the Big 12 slate tied for first in the conference.

While half of the season is yet to be played, K-State has found themselves exactly where they wanted to be at this point in the conference slate. 2nd in the conference with a chance, while it is a small chance, to unseat the Jayhawks at the top of the conference. If you haven’t already, buckle up cause the rest of the K-State season could be the most exciting in a very long time.