No. 9 K-State rolls past Oklahoma State
March 12, 2010
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—Kansas State had lost two tough games to Oklahoma Statethe past two years, the worst one coming at its home gym earlier this season.
Given the chance at a rematch, the Wildcats made it no contest.
Riding Jamar Samuels’ huge first half and career night, No. 9 Kansas Stateoverwhelmed Oklahoma State early and never let up on the way to an 83-64 routThursday in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.
“We had (the loss) on our mind,” Samuels said. “It was somewhat of arevenge game.”
Kansas State (25-6) had been waiting to play Oklahoma State again sincelosing at home in January. The Wildcats opened this game with a big run andclosed the first half with an even bigger one, leaving no doubt while tying aschool single-season record for wins.
Samuels provided the early lift, scoring 21 of his career-high 27 points inthe first half, and added 10 rebounds. Denis Clemente was steady at the point,finishing with 12 points and 10 assists. Jacob Pullen rebounded from an offnight the previous game against Oklahoma State to score 19 points, and KansasState had a 43-27 advantage in rebounds.
That two-game losing streak to end the season and their three-game losingstreak in the Big 12 tournament? Clearly behind the Wildcats. They’re alreadylooking toward Friday’s semifinal against No. 21 Baylor, which held off Texas inanother quarterfinal.
“That’s one down. We can’t get overly excited, because right away we haveanother hard game tomorrow night,” Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. “I’mhappy because for the first time in my career I get to use a second suit at theBig 12 tournament.”
Oklahoma State (22-10) shot poorly, defended even worse and was plagued byearly foul trouble to follow up an impressive win over rival Oklahoma with aclunker.
The Cowboys will still likely get into the NCAA tournament, but theirseeding is sure to drop. Big 12 player of the year James Anderson had 27 pointson 8-of-21 shooting to lead Oklahoma State after scoring 30 the previous gameagainst K-State.
“A bad combination for us: They played extremely well and we didn’t playparticularly well,” Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. “It was just one ofthose nights.”
One that Kansas State had been hoping for.
The Wildcats were riding an emotional high into the first meeting on Jan. 23after knocking Texas from the top spot in the polls earlier that week. OklahomaState put a quick end to the euphoria, beating Kansas State 73-69 in the LittleApple for its 12th win in 14 games against the Wildcats since the inception ofthe Big 12.
The Cowboys won that game by packing into a zone and daring K-State’s guardsto shoot over them. Clemente and Pullen went a combined 8 of 29, including 6 for21 from 3-point range, and Oklahoma State ended the Wildcats’ BramlageColiseum-record 14-game winning streak.
Charged up by what felt like a home crowd at the Sprint Center, the Wildcatsgot off to a good start when the Cowboys opened in man-to-man and kept rollingwhen they switched to zone, working the ball around for open shots to outscoreOklahoma State 23-8 in the first 8 minutes.
Kansas State wasn’t bad on defense, either. Oklahoma State had seventurnovers and just six shot attempts in that span.
“We wanted to come out and be physical and do the things we did (before),”said Pullen, who was 2 for 15 from the floor in their first meeting. “Itstarted on the defensive end.”
The Cowboys tried to make a game of it. Behind two 3-pointers by Keiton Pageand one from Anderson, Oklahoma State reeled off a 15-4 run to get within 27-23.
All that seemed to do was make the Wildcats angry.
Led by Samuels, Kansas State closed the half with a 24-3 run, scoring thefinal 16 points as Oklahoma State missed its final eight shots. Samuels matchedhis career high with 21 points and had nine rebounds—one more than OklahomaState—by halftime, scoring on jumpers and flying putbacks, and adding hissecond 3-pointer just before the buzzer to put Kansas State up 51-26.
The Wildcats made sure Oklahoma State never stood a chance after that,pushing the lead to as much as 33 in the second half.
“Honestly, we just got out-toughed,” Oklahoma State’s Matt Pilgrim said.“We were a bit sluggish, but that’s not an excuse. The numbers speak forthemselves.”