Men’s basketball wins final showdown

K-State captured its second road victory against a top-10 team in a row on Tuesday against the Missouri Tigers, 78-68, giving Frank Martin his first victory in Columbia, Mo., as head coach of the Wildcats.

"I wish we could celebrate, but we play Iowa State on Saturday," Martin said of his team's success.

The all-time history between the two schools was ambiguous prior to Tuesday's game, according to an ESPN segment during the game; K-State claimed a 118-116 advantage while Missouri claimed a 117-117 tie.

According to ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb, the series' debate stems from a 1913 meeting between the two schools in which each school owns a box score that claims its team won.

The advantage is no longer in question after the Wildcats defeated the Tigers for the second time this season and in the two schools' last scheduled meeting, as Missouri will be departing for the Southeastern Conference in 2012-13.

Rodney McGruder played aggressively on offensive, hitting all eight of his free throws that accounted for a third of his 24 points against the Tigers.

"I was getting good looks and making my shots," McGruder said after the game.

Jamar Samuels nearly posted his sixth double-double of the season with his nine points and 10 rebounds.

Jordan Henriquez made his presence felt in the paint with four blocks and Thomas Gipson brought 13 points off of 6-of-7 from the field.

"I think their length does bother us and the way they play the game," said Missouri head coach Frank Haith. "I felt like when teams are aggressive, you got to math their physicality, you got to be aggressive back to them."

Will Spradling, Angel Rodriguez and Martavious Irving all added to the Wildcats' balanced attack with eight, seven and seven points each, respectively.

"It had to be because Missouri is really good," Martin said of the Wildcats' balanced offense. "We needed to play as a unit, and we did."

The game started off back and forth until the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run to go up 19-16.

The Wildcats continued to defend and extend the lead, eventually taking an 11-point lead off of Samuel's 3-point shot off the glass.

Missouri senior Marcus Denmon struggled from the field, hitting two of his eight shots in the first half, but he found his stroke in the second half.

Denmon and Michael Dixon led the Tiger offensive attack with 19 and 21 points apiece.

Missouri's Kim English and Steve Moore both fouled out of the game with a combined nine points, more than eight points lower than their combined average.

The Wildcats' defense held the Tigers to 23 of 60 (.383) from the field for the game.

"That's a credit to our kids," Martin said of his team's defense. "They are taking so much pride in all the work that we do to build our defensive techniques and concepts. That allows us to spend a little more time on the offensive side of the ball to try and clean that up."

The offense for the Wildcats ran efficiently, with a .538 shooting percentage from the field that included hitting 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

"I think 68 points is enough to win a game," Denmon said when asked about the Tigers' shooting struggles. "We just have to guard."

Missouri's Phil Pressey struggled the entire game with his eight points off of 3-of-11 from the field.

Rodriguez hit a three to come out of halftime and K-State continued to build its lead, getting it to 16 off a McGruder layup until a quick 5-0 run by the Tigers prompted a timeout from Martin.

English hit a 3-pointer to cut the Wildcat lead to three but the Wildcats responded accordingly with a three of their own from McGruder. Rodriguez followed up another McGruder jumper and hit an acrobatic layup to bring the Wildcat lead back to eight.

The Tigers continued to fight and eventually slimmed the Wildcat lead down to four and kept it close until a four-point spurt from the Wildcats gave them the distance they needed to come away with a win.

"We just stepped it up big on defense," McGruder said. "They made runs but we just had to retaliate every time."

The Wildcats now have the rest of the week to prepare for the chance to even the season series with the Iowa State Cyclones, who they take on Saturday. The Cyclones erased a double digit deficit against the Wildcats in their last meeting on Jan. 31 when they defeated the Wildcats 72-70.

The Tigers lost their tie with KU at the top of the Big 12 Conference standings and will look to get themselves back in a tie with the Jayhawks on Saturday when they travel to Lawrence for the two schools' final scheduled meeting.