National Basketball Association
Kentucky 56, Kansas State 49
When: 9:40 PM ET, Friday, March 21, 2014
Where: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Officials:
# Mike Reed, # Michael Greenstein, # Deron White
Attendance:
19223
By SportsDirect Inc.
Kentucky 56, Kansas State 49: Julius Randle recorded 13 of his 19 points and nine of his 15 rebounds in the second half as Kentucky rebuffed Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA tournament in St. Louis.
Aaron Harrison scored 18 points for No. 8 seed Kentucky (25-10), which faces top-seeded Wichita State on Sunday in the third round of the Midwest regional. Andrew Harrison and James Young had seven points and five rebounds apiece while Willie Cauley-Stein grabbed eight rebounds as Kentucky won the battle of the boards 40-28.
Marcus Foster scored 15 points as No. 9 Kansas State (20-12) was held to its lowest point total of the season after shooting 35.8 percent from the field and missing 16 of its 21 tries from 3-point range. Shane Southwell scored 11 and Thomas Gipson added 10 in Kansas State's school-record fifth straight NCAA appearance.
The Harrison twins scored 14 of their team's first 19 points and Randle produced two straight buckets to give Kentucky a 29-17 lead with 2:25 left in the first half. Kansas State responded by scoring the final six points before intermission and closed the gap to 35-33 on Southwell's 3-pointer with 15:08 remaining.
Kentucky stretched the lead back to nine on Randle's basket with 12:01 left and his three-point play with 5:27 to go made it 49-38 as Kansas State endured a 7:04 stretch without a field goal. Kentucky did not let the lead slip below six the rest of the way in improving to 21-1 in its last 22 NCAA tournament openers.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The game began in bizarre fashion with Andrew Harrison splitting two free throws before the opening tip after Kansas State walk-on sophomore guard Brian Rohleder was charged with an administrative technical for dunking in warmups. ... The teams combined to shoot 35.2 percent in the first half and Kansas State missed all seven of its 3-point tries. ... Kentucky has won all nine meetings with Kansas State, including a 68-58 victory in the 1951 NCAA tournament championship game in Minneapolis - their only previous NCAA meeting.
Top Game Performances
| Kansas State |
|
Kentucky |
|
Marcus Foster 15 |
Scoring |
Julius Randle 19 |
|
Marcus Foster 5 |
Assists |
Andrew Harrison 5 |
|
Thomas Gipson 7 |
Rebounds |
Julius Randle 15 |
|
Thomas Gipson 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Julius Randle 5 |
|
Nigel Johnson 2 |
Steals |
Willie Cauley-Stein 4 |
|
Wes Iwundu 1 |
Blocks |
Willie Cauley-Stein 4 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Kansas State
|
49 |
35.8 |
5-21 |
6-12 |
8 |
23 |
3 |
7 |
10 |
| Kentucky
|
56 |
38.0 |
4-15 |
14-21 |
8 |
38 |
7 |
4 |
15 |
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