After Kansas State pulled off the overtime victory in the first round of the Sunflower Showdown, Kansas basketball left no room for concern in this winning, routing the Wildcats 90-68.
While it wasn’t necessarily close in the first half, Kansas basketball really pulled away in the second, outscoring the Wildcats 49-35. The Kansas seniors all showed out today, and after the home loss against BYU last week, Jayhawk fans have to feel confident that the team is back on track. Read below for three takeaways from this one.
Takeaway #1: Kevin McCullar Jr. is back and healthy
The main talking point around this Kansas basketball team has been the health of Kevin McCullar. He’s missed several games, and after the Oklahoma game, Bill Self said he was treating McCullar’s injury as if it could be season-ending.
Well, he’s back and showing no signs of rust. On Tuesday night, he went for 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals in 29 minutes. Playing that many minutes only means good things for the Jayhawks, and as Kansas enters tournament time, he will most likely only get 4-to 5 minutes of rest a game. Kansas’ ceiling soars when he is playing, so seeing him do what he did today is very encouraging.
Takeaway #2: Kansas State’s guards silenced
In Kansas State’s win, Tylor Perry and Cam Carter combined to score 45 points on 13-29 shooting and 7-17 from deep. Tonight, they were held to just 5 combined points on 1-13 shooting and 1-9 from deep. Kansas State will never win a game if both of them finish under ten points, let alone five. Kansas did a great job not allowing either to get any momentum and as a result cruised to this victory.
Takeaway #3: Jayhawks shoot the lights out from the line
Free throw shooting has definitely not been Kansas’ strong suit all season, and 19-31 performance against BYU was a key reason for the loss. Tonight, they were nearly perfect, going 28-31 from the line, an impressive 90.3%. Hunter Dickinson shot 6-15 from the line in that game. This time around, 5-6.
Games are won and lost at the line quite often, and how they shoot in March will be a determining factor in their success. Hopefully, for the Jayhawks, this is more of what we’ll see than the BYU game.
Also, shoutout to Dickinson. 15 points, 20 rebounds, and 5 blocks tonight. Truly a special performance on Senior Night for the senior.
Kansas will hope to pick up a quality resume win on Saturday when they travel to Houston. Kansas State hopes to get back on the right side of the bubble with a massive home game against Iowa State.
Next up for Kansas: at Houston (Sat., Mar. 9 at 4 p.m.)
Next up for Kansas State: at Iowa State (Sat., Mar. 9 at 2 p.m.)