+5
The No. 3 Missouri Tigers have now only lost three times this season, and two of those have come to Frank Martin's K-State team.
The third Top 10 team in three games was the charm for Kansas State (19-8, 8-7 Big 12), as the Wildcats ended a brutal stretch of Big 12 play with a massive upset of No. 3 ranked Missouri (25-3, 12-3 Big 12), 78-68 in Columbia. Junior guard Rodney McGruder had 24 points for Kansas State, who completed the season sweep of the Tigers and improved their NCAA Tournament resume dramatically.
The Wildcats opened the game on a 14-3 run and managed to keep pace with the Tigers' scorers throughout the game. While Missouri's defense allowed McGruder and forward Thomas Gipson (13 points) to explode, K State held Mizzou's vaunted four-guard attack to just 38 points (Marcus Denmon led the Tigers with 19 points).
For Kansas State news and updates, check out Bring On The Cats. For Missouri news, head over to Rock M Nation. For NCAA basketball updates from around the country, visit SB Nation's college basketball page.
After the first half of play, the Kansas State Wildcats lead the Missouri Tigers on the road by a score of 40-30. The Wildcats came into the game as 10-point underdogs against the No. 3 Tigers, but when the two teams met earlier in January, they defeated the (then No. 6) Tigers by a score of 75-59. This is considered a much bigger game for the Tigers, who could make a huge impact on their chances of making it into the NCAA tournament with a win over Baylor and Missouri in two games in a row.
The Wildcats were led by junior guard Rodney McGruder, who scored 14 points against he Tigers in the first half. Jamar Samuels added eight and Thomas Gipson came off the bench to score seven for Kansas State. Missouri was led by senior guard Marcus Denmon, who scored eight in the first half. Phil Pressey added six and Michael Dixon came off the bench to score eight as well.
This will be a big second half for both teams as the Tigers are looking to head into the tournament with a No. 1 seed and the Wildcats just want to play basketball in March.
For more on the Wildcats, head to Bring On The Cats, and for more on the Tigers, head to Rock M Nation.
The Missouri Tigers only have two losses on the entire season to go with 25 wins and tonight they face one of those two schools to have taken down the No. 3 program in the country. Frank Haith will go for revenge tonighti as the Tigers aim for win No. 26 and hope to put the Kansas State Wildcats in their place.
The Cats meanwhile have to be flying high after taking out Baylor on the road in their last game. Frank Martin’s team has shown they can play with anyone on any night, although the consistency has not been there for them this season. However, when they come together, they have beaten some solid teams in 2011-12.
The Tigers are favored tonight by 9.5 according to Jeff Mattingly. He writes, “Bettors will likely back the Tigers due to the home team being 13-3-1 ATS in the last 17 meetings, while the Wildcats are 1-8 ATS versus winning teams.”
Fans can catch the game tonight on ESPN2.
The Kansas State Wildcats and the third-ranked Missouri Tigers are set to face each other in Columbia tonight at 7 p.m. (ET) and while the Tigers are set to head into the NCAA tournament as one of the top seeds, the Wildcats are on the bubble to make it in. They helped themselves with a win over the No. 10 Baylor Bears on Saturday but, according to SB Nation's Mike Rutherford, the Wildcats can make a huge statement against Missouri.
K-State notched a huge win over Baylor on Saturday to improve its league record to an even 7-7 and bump its RPI all the way up to 47. They'll look to take their resume to the next level against a third-ranked Missouri team they defeated by 16 on Jan. 7. The Wildcats' potential upset recipe should be the same as it was in Manhattan: bully the Tigers in the paint, limit penetration and dominate the offensive glass.
Rutherford pointed out that Kansas State and Missouri have faced each other 234 times before tonight's game and that each team has won 117. If the Wildcats can upset another Big 12 team tonight by beating the Tigers for the 118th time, they could prove themselves worthy of playing basketball in March.
For more on the Wildcats, head to Bring On The Cats, and for more on the Tigers, go to Rock M Nation.
The Kansas St. Wildcats and No. 3 Missouri Tigers are preparing for a Big 12 showdown on Tuesday night.The Wildcats are coming off an upset over Baylor and looking to improve upon their 7-7 record in the conference as they head into the final stretch of games in the regular season.
The Tigers will carry a seven-game winning streak into the game to go along with their sparking 12-2 Big 12 record and 25-2 overall record. MIzzou will need Kansas or Syracuse to lose at least one more game if they hope to climb above the No. 3 ranking, but a win over the Wildcats certainly would not hurt them any.
Tuesday night's game will tip off at 7:00 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN2. You can also stream the game online via ESPN3.
For all news and information regarding the Kansas State Wildcats, please visit Bring On the Cats. For updates and information regarding the Missouri Tigers, head on over to Rock M Nation.
Kansas State Proves Itself Ready For NCAA Tournament After Beating Missouri
Late in the year, it was starting to look like only four Big 12 teams would be solid picks for the NCAA Tournament, but with two big road wins in the last week, Kansas State has played themselves off the bubble and onto a lot of "sleeper" lists for the NCAA Tournament.
After beating Baylor in Waco (which admittedly hasn't been as hard to do as it was earlier in the year), Kansas State traveled to Columbia, Mo. last night to take on the No. 3 Missouri Tigers.
Kansas State forced Missouri to play its worst game of the season in the first matchup between these teams in Manhattan, Kan., but the Wildcats still weren't expected to come into one of the toughest college environments and steal another win from the Tigers.
They did just that, frustrating Missouri's defense and getting a number of easy looks because of their size inside.
After a stretch of the season in which they lost four of six games (including games against subpar Oklahoma and Texas teams), the Wildcats have responded with these two big road wins and are looking as tough and well-coached as any team in the nation.
With three winnable games left on the schedule, the Wildcats are likely to finish the year at 22-8 (11-7) which would make them a complete lock for the tournament and would put them on a roll going into the tournament. This team has a lot of tools that will be useful in the field of 68.
Rodney McGruder has proved himself to be a dynamic scorer a lot of the time this season and could be the team's primetime player in a tournament setting.
Jamar Samuels is an elite rebounder for his size and he controls things in the middle of the team's great size and strength.
The Wildcats also have a good pair of distributers in Will Spradling and Angel Rodriguez. Both players are quick and provide matchup problems on both sides of the ball.
Over the last few games, we have figured out that Kansas State is a great rebounding team, but can also stay with quick guards such as Missouri's Phil Pressey as well as playing great defense against almost any type of opponent. Coach Frank Martin said that he thought this team was one of the best defensive teams he's had in his time at KSU, which is saying something because there have been some big defenses during his reign.
As you can see, these characteristics make for a dangerous team in a tournament setting, especially because they have experienced adversity during this season and gotten through it tougher on the other side.
As for the angle from the Missouri side of things, I haven't come across too many people concerned with the team's second loss to Kansas State this season. Most analysts are intelligent enough to see that the Wildcats are a tough physical matchup for the Tigers and see that Kansas State is more well-coached and familiar with Missouri than most teams (other than Kansas).
Some people will comment that Missouri is not going to be a good tournament pick because Kansas State has exposed their only weakness twice this season, but can you find a team not named Syracuse that rebounds better, is coached better and is more talented defensively than Kansas State is?
It's obvious that Missouri has this weakness. Everyone has seen it this year. But still the Tigers have a 25-3 record and are 12-3 in the Big 12. That is no fluke. Missouri has a great team with flaws, but let's be honest, no college team is perfect.
Frank Haith's staff will learn from this game and react to it just like they did with their first two losses of the year. The team is experienced and focused and should still be a big player when the tournament rolls around in a couple of weeks.
A big road tests awaits the Tigers that will determine who will claim the conference championship of 2011-2012 as Missouri travels to Lawrence to take Kansas on for the final time in a regular season setting.
For more on the Tigers, visit our great blog Rock M Nation and for more on the Wildcats, go over to Bring On The Cats.
Feb 22 9:58a by Jason Brynsvold