KU’s early start helps quiet crowd in 70-56 victory over Kansas State

Armed with a dozen or so signs, Kansas State’s loud, energetic student body appeared primed to make life miserable for rival Kansas on Monday night at Bramlage Coliseum.

“It can get real crazy here,” KU senior guard Devonté Graham said of the Octagon of Doom, where he and fellow senior Svi Mykhailiuk took a 2-1 career record into their career finale in Manhattan.

“We did a good job jumping on ’em, getting that early lead, keeping them not as crazy as they usually get,” Graham added after scoring 16 points and dishing out 11 assists against three turnovers while playing his usual 40 minutes in a 70-56 victory over the Wildcats.

Mykhailiuk (22 points, 5 of 9 three-pointers) scored 13 points and Graham added eight in the first half as the Jayhawks, who coasted to leads of 11-2, 15-4 and 31-16, rolled to a 40-27 halftime advantage.

The crowd didn’t exactly give up — K-State took advantage of 0-for-11 KU shooting to begin the final half to cut the gap to five points — but the atmosphere never became so wild it could be classified as intimidating to the visitors.

“That’s the best job we’ve done since I’ve been over here, the crowd not becoming a big factor late,” KU coach Bill Self said after his seventh-ranked squad improved to 18-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12. K-State dropped to 16-6, 5-4.

One factor in keeping the decibel level down was the fact that KU’s defense, which included a zone, held the Wildcats to 32.3 percent shooting to KU’s 45.7 mark. The Jayhawks hit 9 of 20 threes, and the Wildcats made 6 of 27.

“I hate to say we went zone and it’s our best defensive effort. I can’t say that,” Self said, when asked if Monday’s performance was indeed KU’s best on the defensive end in 2017-18. “It’s our best rebounding effort in quite some time.”

KU, led by Malik Newman’s 10 boards, outrebounded K-State 41-31. Myhkhailiuk had seven rebounds, Mitch Lightfoot grabbed five and Lagerald Vick had four.

When asked why he went to a zone with about 5 five minutes left in the first half, Self said, “The fact we couldn’t guard Dean Wade.” Wade scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 40 minutes.

“When they play him at the 5, it’s a hard matchup for us when Doke (Udoka Azubuike) is not in,” Self added.

Azubuike had six points, three turnovers, three rebounds and three fouls in 18 minutes. He hit 2 of 5 free throws after entering the game 5 of his last 19 from the line.

“That’s about the worst we’ve been this year,” Self added of committing fouls. “It’s not a big deal when Marcus (Garrett, no points in 4 minutes) gets three fouls (in 1 minute in the first half). But when Lagerald (Vick, 11 points and four rebounds) gets two early … We played Sam (Cunliffe) and Sam bailed us out and gave us some minutes the first half. Mitch played 7-8 minutes the first half with two fouls.”

KU sophomore Cunliffe scored two points in 6 minutes, all the first half. By game’s end, KU had committed 16 fouls to K-State’s 20. The Jayhawks hit 19 of 26 free throws, while the Wildcats were 8 of 11.

“He definitely helped us. He did fine,” Self said of Cunliffe, who also shot an air ball from the corner.

Graham pointed to defense as being pivotal.

“That zone won us the game,” Graham said. “It slowed them down. They were a little stagnant. They were holding the ball, not moving the ball. We definitely controlled the tempo with that. We work on it every day in case we need it. Tonight we needed it,” he added, noting, “it can give you a little rest.”

Sophomore forward Lightfoot finished with five rebounds, three blocks and two fouls in 20 minutes.

“Mitch has been great,” Self said. “I hate to pick on Doke. Doke was a total nonfactor defensively, rebounding (three boards in his 18 minutes). Mitch didn’t score but had three blocks and three offensive rebounds. Mitch is playing great.”

Lightfoot went down hard late in the game and it appeared might have a concussion. He was cleared to return and did indeed re-enter in crunch time.

“I’m fine,” he said, noting he had a “knot” on his head. “I think one of their guys landed on my head. I’m fine.”

The Jayhawks are looking solid in the league race following another road win. Three teams — West Virginia, Texas Tech and Oklahoma are 5-3, with KU on top at 7-2.

KU is 4-1 on the road in Big 12 play.

“I think we are more focused,” Self said, “traveling, eating all our meals together, scout … having more time to do it, that kind of stuff. Even though it (the road trip) is only 30 hours together I do think we certainly seem more focused, although we played well against A&M Saturday (at home).”

Another road victory gave Mykhailiuk and Graham a 3-1 career mark at Bramlage.

“Last time here I think it meant a lot to him,” sophomore guard Newman said of Graham.

Graham noted: “It’s a tough place to play, especially when we come here. It’s always good playing your rival team, to beat ’em.”

KU will meet Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

No. 7 KANSAS 70, KANSAS STATE 56

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 10:23 PM with the headline "KU’s early start helps quiet crowd in 70-56 victory over Kansas State."