Kansas가 최대 난적 Oklahoma St.을 81:79로 물리치고 멋지게 3연패 사슬을 끊었다. 경기 내내 2-3점차로 엎치락 뒤치락 하다가 후반 초중반 Kansas가 8점차로 앞서나가면서 승부의 추를 Kansas 쪽으로 기울여 놓았지만 Oklahoma St.은 John Lucas Jr.와 Jameson Curry의 연속 3점으로 금세 승부를 다시 안개 속에 빠뜨렸다. Cowboys는 이에 그치지 않고 Joey Graham과 John Lucas Jr.가 각각 3점 1개와 점프슛 1개씩 성공시켜 후반 5분 경에 7점차까지 앞서 나갔다. 패색이 짙은 Kansas는 Oklahoma St.의 파울트러블과 Aaron Miles의 귀중한 3점슛 하나로 역전에 성공했다. Wayne Simien은 가장 위기였던 후반 5분경부터 자유투를 6개나 얻어내 모두 성공시켰다. 반면 Oklahoma St.은 Joey Graham이 파울 트러블 때문에 승부처에서 장기간 벤치를 지킨 것이 아쉬웠다.
양팀 모두 화끈한 공격력을 앞세워 상대 수비를 무력화했다. Kansas는 70.5%, Oklahoma St.은 57.4%의 고감도 슈팅을 자랑했다. 70%의 야투율을 보이고도 접전을 펼친 것은 Kansas가 John Lucas Jr.와 Jameson Curry에 대한 대책이 전혀 없었기 때문이다. 개인기 있는 가드들에게 농락당하는 것이 현Kansas 팀의 고질병이다. GT의 Jarrett Jack에게 작년과 올해 호되게 당했고 Villanova의 가드진에 초토화됐고 오늘도 Lucas와 Curry에게 다득점을 허용했다. Lucas야 작년부터 이름을 날렸지만 Curry는 오늘 스타로 발돋음했다. 자신이 왜 North Carolina 고등학교 역사상 최다득점 기록을 보유하고 있는 지를 명명백백하게 보여줬다.
Kansas에서는 기록상 전부 잘했지만 그 중에서도 Wayne Simien과 Aaron Miles가 돋보였다. Simien은 자신의 생애통산 최다득점인 32점을 기록하며 Lucas, Curry, Graham의 한수 한수에 응수했다. Aaron Miles는 턴오버를 단 한개만 범하는 안정적인 경기 운영에다가 시기적절한 3점슛에 상대의 방심을 틈탄 드라이브인으로 Oklahoma의 수비를 계속 압박해 승리에 기여했다.
경기를 이기긴 했지만 여러모로 개선할 점을 많이 찾은 경기였다. 상대 가드진에 대한 견제는 최우선 과제다. Aaron Miles를 비롯한 외곽 수비수들이 드라이브인하는 선수들한테 스틸을 노리다 자기 마크맨을 놓치고 완벽한 3점슛 기회를 너무 자주 내주고 있다. 헬프 디펜스도 좋지만 자기 수비수는 항상 염두에 두고 있어야 한다. 오늘도 J.R. Giddens의 슬럼프는 이어졌다. 슛도 안 들어갔을 뿐더러 패스도 별로였고 어이없는 수비 실수나 턴오버도 잦았다. Simien을 위해서라도 그가 하루 빨리 슛감각을 찾아야 한다.
승부를 떠나서 양팀 모두 깔끔하고 멋진 경기를 펼쳐준 것에 박수를 보낸다. 오랜만에 두 팀 모두 잘한 경기를 본 것 같다.
Highlights | Photos
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
On the game:
"I don't think I have ever been a part of a better basketball game. The atmosphere was great, the stakes were high, the game was well-officiated, they (Oklahoma State) only had nine turnovers and we had 10. Just when you think one team has control, the other team would step up and make plays. It was awesome. This will go down as one of the great ones to ever be played in this building. Kids were competing and battling the entire game. It could have been disastrous if things didn't go our way. The seniors stepped up and made some plays. Certainly for me, it was an honor to coach in this game. I think the players will look back and say it was an honor to play in this game and the fans will look back and say they were here for this game."
On Oklahoma State:
"I don't think our defense is as good as I would have liked it to be, but that is by far, without question, the best team we have played this year. They made plays. You don't expect a freshman (JamesOn Curry) to come in here and play like that. (John) Lucas was four-of-five from three and nine-of-11 from the field. Fortunately for us he missed his last two shots. That last three was right on line. Joey (Graham) is a fabulous player. I am sure Coach Sutton would say that was one of the best games he has been a part of."
On Christian Moody:
"People take him for granted, but how valuable is Christian Moody? We just look like a totally different team with him out there. He was fabulous. We were giving him a hard time about having to guard Joey (Graham). To put a guy that walked-on here against a player like Graham was a lot to ask, but he (Moody) responded."
On Wayne Simien:
"He shot it great. We have struggled getting the ball to him. We knew that having Christian in the game would help. Our guys did a good job looking for Wayne. Let's call it like it is, Wayne put us on his shoulders today. Everybody played great, but he was a man out there today."
On the upcoming games:
"We haven't done anything yet. All we did today was set the table for what should be an emotional, fantastic Senior Night against a Kansas State team that is playing very well. There are so many things going on distraction-wise, we can't let that take away from us winning the basketball game. We've got a lot of work to do. We control our own destiny. We still have two tough games left. Our fans should be so excited about Wednesday with Senior Night, but it will be a tough game. Then we have to go to Missouri and play our biggest out-of-state rival. We have put ourselves in a good position, but we haven't accomplished anything yet."
Senior Guard Keith Langford
On Wayne Simien:
"He just made himself Big 12 Player of the Year today. That's all I have to say about that. He's the Player of the Year hands down. Wayne is a very emotional person and he really showed that today."
On winning the game:
"It feels good to smile, but we realize that we still have a lot of work to do with two games left. We tried to stay positive after every loss. As tough as it was (losing), we knew in the back of our minds that winning the Big 12 was a possibility."
Junior Forward Christian Moody
On the game:
"It definitely had a championship atmosphere. We were really pumped up for this game. Oklahoma State has a really good team and I am just glad that we turned things around. The difference in the game was the seniors. When you look at Wayne (Simien), Aaron (Miles), Keith (Langford) and Mike (Lee), you see that they played great today."
Senior Guard Michael Lee
On Wayne Simien:
"I think it was obvious that he really wanted this game. From the opening tip he put us on his back and carried us. He got bucket after bucket and rebounds. He was pretty much just Wayne today and he really stepped up for us. I wasn't surprised at all by the emotion he showed because he is a competitor that wants to win night-in and night-out."
On playing at home:
"The Fieldhouse was a big factor today. Every time we were down the fans picked us up, and when we were up they lifted us up higher. The fans came through for us. They are like our sixth man."
Oklahoma State Head Coach Eddie Sutton
On the game:
Their three seniors played really well. They played like seniors should play. Simien is such a good player. He puts so much pressure on defenses. He had a sensational afternoon. When we went up seven, I thought that we were in good shape. Then (Aaron) Miles hit that big trey. Any mistakes you make late in the ball game are magnified. Ivan (McFarlin) had a layup and fumbled the ball out of bounds, and Terrance (Crawford) got underneath the basket and missed the shot. On the other end, Joey (Graham) is not playing very good defense for us right now. This is just one loss. Kansas played very well. On the road, if we play like this, we will beat a lot of people. We just didn't do a very good job in the last two or three minutes. If we both play like that, we will beat a lot of people. I think that both Bill (Self) and our staff are satisfied with the way our offenses played."
On John Lucas' last shot:
"We wanted John to shoot it. I thought that when the ball went airborne, it looked like it was going to go in."
On the game's atmosphere:
"This was a great game. I've coached a lot of basketball games, and even though we lost, it was a great game. Certainly a great basketball fan would have loved this."
On Wayne Simien:
"He is a great player. He is one of the two or three best in the country, certainly an All-American player. That is what we don't have. If we had a big guy like him, we would really be a good basketball team. When you give away size to cover him, he is very difficult to defend. He is a great basketball player."
On Joey Graham:
"We need to get Joey (Graham) to play better defense and get him to go rebound the ball. We didn't really drive the ball. Joey has to get it in his head that he needs to drive the ball instead of being satisfied with shooting jumpers from the perimeter. And then when he does shoot, he needs to go get the ball. He has been tentative the last couple of games. Even at the Texas Tech game, he didn't play well. We've got to get him straightened out."
On Kansas:
"I think Kansas deserves a No. 1 seed if they win out. They are really a good basketball team when they play like they did today. I didn't think that it was a big surprise when they got beat at (Texas) Tech or in Norman. I think Oklahoma and Texas Tech are really good basketball teams. I was surprised that they lost to Iowa State."
On the remainder of the season:
"We have to win our last two games. We have to hope that we get a No. 3 or No. 4 seed. I don't think that they will give us a No. 2 seed."
Senior Forward Joey Graham
On the game's final minutes:
"They (Kansas) came out and hit some big shots. Wayne (Simien) hit a couple of big free throws. They just took the lead after that. Kansas picked up its defense and we picked up our defense. It was tough for both teams to get shots. Unfortunately, we came down and fouled them a few times. Wayne (Simien) hit some big free throws for them. It was a well-fought ball game."
On Wayne Simien:
"He is tough to defend. He put up 30-plus on us. He is the Big 12 Player of the Year and one of the elite players in the country."
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Wayne Simien had a career-high 32 points and Aaron Miles hit a running layup with 37 seconds to go, lifting Kansas (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today; No. 8 AP) to an 81-79 victory over No. 4 Oklahoma State on Sunday in a crisply played game that could decide the Big 12 championship.
The old rivals traded basket for basket with Kansas (21-4, 11-3) shooting 66 percent from the field while ending a three-game losing streak. Oklahoma State (20-5, 10-4) shot 59 percent in losing its second straight.
Simien had 12 rebounds and was 10-of-11 from the foul line, breaking the school record with 34 consecutive free throws.
John Lucas, one of four senior starters for Oklahoma State, hit his first nine shots but he missed a long 3-point attempt seconds before the final buzzer.
Lucas' first miss came with 1:31 to go and the game tied at 78. With 37 seconds left, Miles, the Big 12 assists leader, scored the go-ahead basket for an 80-78 lead.
Oklahoma State freshman JamesOn Curry was fouled by Christian Moody and went to the line with 25 seconds left. He made the second free throw to make it a one-point game. Miles was fouled with 19 seconds to go and he hit the second for the 81-79 lead.
After dribbling between the circle for a few seconds, Lucas launched the 3-point attempt that hit the rim.
Fast-paced throughout, this was a game that was befitting of a major conference championship showdown. Kansas had 10 turnovers, Oklahoma State nine.
Lucas, last season's Big 12 player of the year, had 22 points while Joey Graham added 19 and Curry 15.
Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, who has 775 career victories, will probably retire without ever leading the Cowboys to a victory in Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse, where his Cowboy teams are 0-11 under him.
Keith Langford had 14 points and Miles added 13 for Kansas, which snapped its first three-game losing streak in 11 years,
The Jayhawks go into the last week of the regular season one game ahead of Oklahoma State and No. 22 Oklahoma in the league standings.
Langford glided in for a layup with 7:39 left that put the Jayhawks up 67-64.
But the Cowboys needed only 21 seconds to take back the lead. Graham hit a short jumper in the lane and Lucas followed with a 12-footer to put Oklahoma State on top 68-67.
At that point, the Jayhawks were shooting 70 percent (28-of-40) but still trailed.
Graham then made his first 3-pointer and the lead went to 74-67 when Ivan McFarlin outfought Simien for a rebound and Lucas hit his fourth 3-pointer in as many tries.
Simien made two free throws and Miles hit one from beyond the arc, slicing the lead to 76-72, but back came Curry with a 14-footer that made it 78-72.
Two free throws by Simien and Langford's turnaround jumper sliced the lead to 78-76 and then with 1:31 to play, Simien went to the line and tied it 78-all.
The Cowboys, gunning for their first consecutive conference titles since 1953-54, have home games left against Texas A&M and Texas. The Jayhawks are home on Wednesday against Kansas State and then end their season at Missouri.
Simien hit his first four free throws and ran his streak to 34 straight in the first half, setting the school record. The 6-foot-9 power forward hit his first five shots of the first half and had 14 points at halftime.