Three-and-Oh: Jayhawks sweep 'Cats
3/18/2013
Three-and-Oh: Jayhawks sweep 'Cats
Though KU led by eight at the half, K-State quickly trimmed it to three on an Angel Rodriguez 3-pointer and Shane Southwell's steal and layup to open the second period. The Wildcats got no closer.
After Thomas Gipson's tip-in cut it to 28-25 with 17:05 left, Young scored in the lane, Withey made a free throw and a basket and it was back to eight. Tharpe answered a Rodney McGruder 3-pointer with one of his own that started a seven-point Jayhawk spurt.
"Our overall defense the first five minutes and the whole (first) half was pretty good, and that was the whole focus," Rodriguez said. "In the second half we kind of let it slip.
"We started scoring a little bit more in the second half, but then the defense wasn't as good as the first half, and it never was a balance."
K-State cut the deficit to single digits, 50-41, on McGruder's fast-break layup with 8:35 left, but instead of getting a defensive stop allowed Ellis to seal his defender inside for a three-point play. KU maintained the lead the rest of the way.
For K-State, which shot 35 percent from the field — just 22.2 in the first half — McGruder had 18 points and Rodriguez 10. Gipson led the Wildcats in rebounding with six.
KU shot 49.1 percent, including 55.2 in the second half, outscored K-State 36-24 in the paint and outrebounded the Wildcats, 38-31.
K-State used a seven-point run in the first half to lead briefly, 11-8, on Martavious Irving's 3-pointer with 11:47 left. But the Wildcats managed just one field goal — a three from Rodriguez at the 1:28 mark — and two free throws the rest of the period.
KU reeled off eight straight points to go back in front for good, including 3-pointers from Johnson and Tharpe.