Pullen’s 34 rally Kansas State past BYU
March 20, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—Jacob Pullen got knocked to the floor, his hip aching andhis Kansas State team stuck in an early hole on the same floor where the NCAAtournament’s biggest upset had just taken place.
When he refused to stay down, so did his Wildcats.
Pullen scored 20 of his career-high 34 points in the first half to helprally No. 2 seed Kansas State back from an early 10-point deficit, and theWildcats turned away Jimmer Fredette and BYU 84-72 on Saturday night in thesecond round of the NCAA tournament.
“I just couldn’t sit there and watch us play,” Pullen said. “Unlesssomething was broken (or) I couldn’t walk, man, I would have gotten back up andtried to play.”
Behind Pullen’s standout effort on both ends of the floor, the Wildcats(28-7) are doing something they didn’t do even when No. 2 NBA draft pick MichaelBeasley was on the team two years ago—moving into the third round of theNCAAs.
K-State coach Frank Martin and his athletic team will face the winner ofSunday’s game between No. 3 seed Pittsburgh and sixth-seeded Xavier next weekendin Salt Lake City. The last time the school made it that far came in 1988, whenMitch Richmond was completing his college career before moving on to the NBA.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Pullen said. “It’s a childhood dream. I’vewatched basketball my whole life. I watched all of the NCAA tournaments since Iwas a kid, so for me to be able to be in this position, I thank Frank all thetime. It’s an amazing thing that he was able to give me the opportunity.
“My recruitment wasn’t crazy. I didn’t have a million schools knocking onmy door. I had some mid-major schools and then I had Frank walking through mydoor and telling me I could play.”
Martin, the Wildcats’ fire-breathing coach, recalled how Pullen had beenlargely responsible for the Wildcats’ early exit from the tournament inBeasley’s only year at K-State. He was charged with stopping Wisconsin’s TrevonHughes, who matched his career high with 25 points in a 72-55 rout.
But Pullen came back and accepted Martin’s discipline and structure, andcommitted to working hard to make the Wildcats better. Pullen called it his wayof paying Martin back for believing in him.
“You live for the moment where you get around guys like him,” Martin said.
Pullen came alive with a scoring flurry shortly after he and Fredette gottangled up in transition in the first half, scoring Kansas State’s final 11points of the first half to build 41-31 lead after the Wildcats had fallenbehind 10-0 to start the game. BYU never got closer than five in the secondhalf.
Pullen ended up surpassing 30 points for the third time in his career whilematching a career best with seven 3-pointers. Equally as important was hisphysical defense against Fredette, who had scored 37 points to get theseventh-seeded Cougars (30-6) past Florida in double overtime in the firstround.
Fredette finished with 21 points on 4-of-13 shooting, breaking his string ofthree straight games with at least 30 points.
Pullen said he had studied Fredette’s crossover move and his favoritetendencies, and he executed Martin’s plan to keep Fredette out of the middle ofthe floor.
“I just tried to remember all of the those little things to make sure thatI kept him at arm’s distance,” Pullen said. “He’s a good player, though. Hestill found ways to score the ball. I give him a lot of credit because he’s anamazing scorer. He finds a way to score the ball, regardless of the defensivepresence.”
When he wasn’t being hounded by Pullen, Fredette faced the kind of physicalplay he’d prepared for by playing a handful of games against inmates at upstateNew York prisons.
Fredette took shots to his face and head at least three times in the game,including a midcourt run-in with Denis Clemente that left him grabbing at hisnose to check for blood. Fredette also got smacked in the face in transitionafter a K-State steal in the first half and had his head dinged under the basketjust after halftime.
“They did a good job, were aggressive and sometimes that happens,” saidFredette, who added that he hadn’t made up his mind about whether to enter theNBA draft. “They had a good game plan, executed it pretty well and played gooddefense.”
Fredette put his stamp on March Madness with a combination of tricky scoopshots and clutch 3-pointers as he matched BYU’s NCAA tournament scoring recordin the opening game.
But then he ran into Pullen—literally.
The two got tangled up after Pullen knocked the ball away from Fredette withjust under 7 minutes left in the first half and Pullen remained on the court fora few moments grasping his left hip. He stayed in the game and hit a 3-pointerfrom the right wing that gave K-State its first lead with 4:21 left beforehalftime.
“They turned it up a notch and put a lot of pressure on us,” said JacksonEmery, who hit two 3-pointers in BYU’s opening 10-0 spurt. “It wasn’t apressure that we haven’t seen before … but it took us a little while torespond to their pressure and to just counter that. By the time we did that, wewere already in a hole.”