Heading into Saturday’s fixture against the Kansas State Wildcats, there were question marks about this Kansas squad. After a six-point 75-69 win over the Colorado Buffaloes, potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft Darryn Peterson suffered an ankle sprain that would eventually rule the freshman out. Combine that with the fact that the Jayhawks hadn’t won in Manhattan since the 2021-22 season, and you can understand why the butterflies could be surfacing.
Yet, the Jayhawks played as poised as a game you could have asked for, as they marched past the Wildcats in an authoritative 86-62 win.
Keeping your calm
Up until approximately the final seven minutes of the night, both teams were in this ever-changing cycle where the Jayhawks would take the lead to eight, the Wildcats would respond with a short run to trim the lead to four, and then Kansas would pick itself back up and push the lead back.
For most teams with any residue of shaken confidence, this could culminate in a late-game collapse, yet the Jayhawks instead found the final bit of juice needed to go on a 25-7 run in the final 6:48.
Sharing the rock
Kansas finished the game with a monster 19 assists. Kansas also added five double-digit scorers in Tre White (13), Bryson Tiller (16), Melvin Council Jr. (17), Elmarko Jackson (19), and Flory Bidunga, who led the team with 21 points.
Stifling defense will almost always win
The Jayhawks did a phenomenal job of forcing Jerome Tang’s team to take and make tough shots. The Wildcats went into the half with a phenomenal 42.1% three-point mark. However, it would not take an acute eye to realize that unless Kansas State remarkably kept it up, it would struggle to stay afloat. Safe to say, the Wildcats struggled to keep up the ludicrous three-point mark as Kansas State notched a 20% mark from beyond the arc in the second period.
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