Oh how sweet it is! With an 84-72 victory over BYU, the Kansas State Wildcats have advanced in the NCAA Tournament to the Sweet 16 to face off against the Xavier Musketeers. BYU was a team that matched up very well against K-State. They are a very solid free-throw shooting team (KSU fouls a lot) and they hit a lot of threes (KSU can as well but mostly tries to get the ball to the rim). Because of this, many experts predicted a Kansas State loss. Kansas State was determined to prove the critics wrong, however, and beat BYU at their own game. Jacob Pullen, who played the game of his career, knocked down seven three-pointers and the Wildcats as a team shot a season-best 27-of-30 from the free-throw line.
NCAA Tournament Notes
The last time Kansas State made it this far in the NCAA tournament was 1988 when they advanced to the Elite 8 to face the University of Kansas. Many people speculated a fourth match-up this year between Kansas and Kansas State in the Final Four. One thing is certain now and that is that the Wildcats will not be facing the Jayhawks in the Final Four as the Jayhawks were upended by Missouri Valley Conference champion Northern Iowa. This upset took the entire country by surprise as 42 percent of the country picked KU to win the national title in their bracket this year. Think about that for just a second. 42% of the 6 million plus brackets filled out this year were all torched in the blink of an eye.
A Look at the Atlantic 10 Conference
The Atlantic 10 has been one of the strongest conferences in the country this season. They had 7 teams (Temple, Xavier, Richmond, Saint Louis, Charlotte, Rhode Island, and Dayton) in the conversation of an NCAA Tournament berth this year. Of those, Temple, Xavier, and Richmond were selected to play in the Big Dance. Of the seven teams in the conversation for an NCAA Tournament berth this year, six had 20 or more wins this season. Four of the teams had 25 or more wins. Temple (29-6) won the regular-season and conference tournament titles but was upset by Cornell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Richmond (26-9) was upset by Saint Mary’s in the first round of the tournament as well. Both Cornell and Saint Mary’s have advanced to play in the Sweet 16.
A look at Xavier
Xavier advanced to their third consecutive Sweet 16 with a 71-68 upset of the third-seeded Pittsburg Panthers after defeating Tubby Smith’s tenth-seeded Minnesota Gophers, 65-54, in the first round. Xavier played one of the strongest schedules in the country this year. They had eight loses, but had no bad losses. They lost to three Sweet 16 teams (at Baylor, at Kansas State and Butler) and four other NCAA Tournament teams. Their final loss came to Dayton, who barely missed out on the NCAA Tournament and instead settled for the NIT. The Musketeers also beat big-name teams such as Florida, Richmond, LSU, Creighton, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg.
This is Xavier’s fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth in the past decade. It is also their third-consecutive Sweet 16 and they are trying to make it to their third Elite 8 appearance in the past six years. They are one of only of twelve teams to have made the NCAA Tournament five years in a row. Over the past four seasons the Musketeers have averaged 27 wins per season.
Last Meeting vs. the Musketeers
The last time the Wildcats faced the Musketeers there were blizzard-like conditions in Manhattan, KS. Bramlage Coliseum was relatively empty, aside from than the packed student section. The Wildcats defeated the Musketeers 71-56. The game moved very slowly, and neither team was hitting shots. Kansas State shot a combined 4-of-17 from beyond the arc and was just 23-of-40 from the free throw line. The game was called very close the entire game as K-State racked up 26 fouls while Xavier committed 31. It was a battle throughout the game but Kansas State pulled off the victory.
Key Players for Xavier
Jordan Crawford
Crawford (6-4 sophomore guard from Detroit, Michigan) is the leader of the 26-8 Musketeers. He is a transfer player from Indiana University. While at Indiana he averaged 9.8 points per game as a true freshman. The Hoosiers finished that season with a 25-8 final record. This season in a starting role for the Musketeers, Crawford has averaged 20.2 points per game, 4.8 rebounds per game, and has a 1.22 assists-to-turnover ratio. Crawford will be the best player Kansas State has faced during the NCAA tournament so far, although BYU’s Jimmer Fredette was certainly no slouch. He has scored in double figures in all but one game (against Marquette) this season. In the NCAA tournament so far he has averaged 27.5 points per game and has shot 9-19 from beyond the arc. Crawford was named a third-team all-American by the Sporting News as well as the A10 player of the year.
Jason Love
Love (6’9 senior forward/center out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is the senior leader for the Musketeers. He is the lone senior on the team. He leads the team in rebounds, (8.5 per game) shots blocked (1.5 per game), and is Xavier’s second-leading scorer (11.8 points per game). He represents Xavier’s biggest inside scoring threat. He has started 100 games for the Musketeers over the past three seasons (including all 34 this season). Kansas State did a very good job on guarding Love in Manhattan as he was held to five points on 1-5 shooting. Unlike some of the forwards that BYU had, Love has never attempted a three point shot in his college career and is not an exceptional free-throw shooter. Nevertheless, his 71 percent average on free-throws is still respectable. Love was named a second-team all-Atlantic 10 player.
Terrell Holloway
Holloway (6’0 sophomore guard out of Hempstead, New York) was a reserve guard for the Musketeers last season in their sweet 16 run. This season he has emerged as the starting point guard. He leads the team in assists (3.9 per game) and averages 11.7 points per game. Holloway is the best free throw shooter on the team. He shoots an impressive 85.6% per game from the line.
Other Impressive Players
Unlike BYU and North Texas, Xavier has a very impressive bench. They get their main scoring from Crawford, but after that the scoring is well-distributed. Xavier’s three key players only score 45.7 of the Atlantic 10-leading scoring offense of 79.3 points per game. Fellow starter Jamel McLean (transfer from the University of Tulsa) scores 8.6 points per game and grabs 7.5 boards per game. McLean and Love make for the most dominant big men that Kansas State has seen thus far in the tournament. Mark Lyons, Dante Jackson, Brad Relaford, and big man Kenny Frease are all capable scorers for the Musketeers.
Conclusion
Xavier represents a tough match-up with Kansas State. They play the same type of basketball that Kansas State plays and they will not be intimidated. Xavier is also the more-experienced team as they have been to the sweet 16 three years in a row. The Wildcats will look to slow Crawford and must play well in the paint. Once again, Kansas State has more depth than their opponent but in this part of the tournament, experience is just as important as depth. Crawford will most likely get his points, but the Cats will need to lead an aggressive attack against an aggressive Xavier team to pull this one off and advance to the Elite 8.
3 Keys to Victory
Play Harder than Xavier: The previous match-up between these two teams can be described in one word: war. The Wildcats fought for rebounds and neither team gave up until the very end. This will remain the recipe for success for the Wildcats when they take on Xavier on Thursday. K-State needs to be the aggressor, pushing the ball to the basket and not allowing easy points by Xavier.
Hit Free Throws: Against BYU, Kansas State shot a very impressive 27-30 from the charity stripe. Against Xavier it is going to be even more important to hit these free throws. The last time these two teams met, Kansas State missed 17 free-throws. They simply can’t do that tomorrow if they expect a victory against a team which plays as aggressively as Xavier.
Focus on Xavier: It was clear that KU did not focus on UNI. UNI proved that they were a good team and they shocked the Hawks in the second round of the tournament. Kansas State needs to learn from that game and focus solely on Xavier. Kansas State has beaten the Musketeers once this year, but both teams are completely different teams now. Xavier is very capable of winning this game as well as the elite 8 game, so K-State will need to play their best game of the season to win.
