Thank goodness for Jeff Withey and Tyshawn Taylor. What Jayhawk faithful would have thought at this point in the season that Kansas would be ranked 4th/5th in the country and depending on the scoring duo of Withey and Taylor to win games?
That's exactly what the game plan was last night. Thomas Robinson only had 10 points total, so that left the slack for Withey and Taylor. They answered the call. When the bench only adds 2 point on free throws, then they HAD TO! Conner Teahan has just not been the go to 3-point shooter Kansas had hoped for and Robinson, as good as he is, he can't do it all alone.
KU ran up a 10 point lead by half time, but due to more offensive struggles and failure to convert possessions to points, it was barely enough. Kansas State was held to 18 points in the first half. That was their lowest total of the season in one half, but add KU's 10 points and Kansas scored a paltry 28 points. That's not going to get it done come tournament time. Teams are going to figure out how to eventually score points on the Hawks when it counts.
Luckily Withey was holding a block party under the rim with 9 for the game, one short of reaching a triple-double. Kansas defense is getting these wins.
Kansas lost the lead in the second half, only to get it right back and hold on until the finish of the game. The concern comes in closing these tights games out that no lead is comfortable. Kansas had a 9 point lead with 2 minutes left, but Kansas State kept coming after them and Kansas continued to get in their own way with turnovers, silly mistakes and poor shot selection.
In the end, Kansas held to a 6 point victory, but had they played the likes of a Missouri or Ohio State, their play would have cost them the game, again.
The bench needs to step up and the offense needs to be smarter on possessions. It's the same story, different game. Kansas hosts Texas Tech who just scored their first Big 12 win, so look out!
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