Rushed Reactions: #2 Kansas 75, #15 New Mexico State 56
Posted by Eric Clark on March 20th, 2015
Rush the Court will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of each of the NCAA Tournament from each of the 13 sites this year. Follow our NCAA Tourney specific Twitter accounts at @RTCeastregion, @RTCMWregion,@RTCsouthregion and @RTCwestregion.
Three Key Takeaways.
Kansas Advances to the Round of 32 for the Ninth Straight Year (USA Today Images)
- Kansas took away New Mexico State’s strength from the beginning. The Jayhawks routinely double-teamed the Aggies’ 6’9″ Pascal Siakam and 6’10 Tshilidzi Nephawe in the post and forced them to move away from their first-half strategy of pounding it down low. Nephawe committed three turnovers and had only two points in the first half, while Siakam had one giveaway and four points. The double-teams forced a number of bad shots in the paint while baiting the Aggies into bad outside shots too. New Mexico State shot only 35.7 percent from the field for the game.
- The Jayhawks were hot from three. Kansas was hot from everywhere, really, but its 9-of-13 performance from three-point range opened up the floor for plenty of mid-range jumpers. The Aggies were often quick to leave their feet and the Jayhawks routinely stepped in front of the arc and drained long twos while their bigs forced Siakam and Nephawe to stay put down low.
- Kansas struggled at the rim early. Despite entering halftime with a 13-point lead, the Jayhawks missed a handful of early opportunities near the rim. Kelly Oubre Jr., Wayne Selden and Perry Ellis all botched dunks or layups, making the score much closer than it should have been. They cleaned that up later, but Oubre and Selden left a couple of posters on the cutting room floor.
Player of the Game – Frank Mason III, Kansas. Mason was excellent for Bill Self’s team, tallying four assists while grabbing nine boards and going 6-of-7 from the field for 17 points. He was a key cog in the Jayhawks’ busting of New Mexico State’s press, cashing in on their over-ambitious attempts to force turnovers and develop a faster pace. He was excellent on defense as well, as the Jayhawks held the Aggies’ starting backcourt to a combined 4-of-18 from the field.
Quotable. “We ran into the real Kansas Jayhawks tonight.” – New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies.
Sights and Sounds – Perry Ellis took a verbal beating from Self numerous times on Friday, and the reasons seemed to run the gamut, from lazy inbounds passes to poor defense.
Wildcard. Kansas’ Brannen Greene’s foot got caught in a New Mexico State defender’s shorts after a shot fake, almost causing a repeat of Dayton’s Dyshawn Pierre’s public-pantsing from Wednesday.
What’s Next? The Jayhawks will wait to see if they’ll face #10 Indiana or #7 Wichita State in the third round on Sunday in Omaha. A majority of America will be rooting for a Kansas-Wichita State death match, without question.
