Kansas State Tangos with USC . . . Then Eats Them for Dinner

Not even a Trojan Horse could have saved USC as Thursday bore witness to one of its biggest upsets.

Everyone expected the game to be largely two person, with O.J. Mayo of Troy up against Michael Beasley of [insert witty Wildcat reference here], but instead I was pleasantly surprised to see Kansas using some good old-fashioned teamwork. Sure, Beasley scored 23 of Kansas' 80 points (Mayo, for his part, contributed 20 to the other side), but it was also a time for Beasley's other teammates to shine, especially Bill Walker.

"I was fighting two, three guys," Beasley said. "They face guarded me. I've seen that before. They double-teamed me. I've seen that before. Sometimes I had three guys on me. I've seen that before." Well, at least he knew what to expect and came prepared since he has, after all, seen it before. Whether it was pure luck or a genius move, we may never know, but as two to three players at a time were determined to guard Beasley like a presidential security team, Walker stepped up and scored another 22 points, nearly matching Beasley. Teammates Jacob Pullen and Ron Anderson also reached double digit scoring numbers.

“[Kansas State] did a terrific job,” admitted USC coach Tim Floyd, one hand clapped lazily against the side of his face. He had some explaining to do, but he knew where they went wrong and made no effort to sidestep around the issue. “You look at the rebounding numbers, that's the difference in the game. 44 boards to 27.” He then briefly rubs one temple, takes his hand away from his face and looks away as if he were thinking, “Whatever I just said tasted really bad.”

But all free body language lessons aside, in essence, that was definitely a part of the problem. After admittedly having rebound difficulty for most of the season, USC attempted to make up for lost time in the last 8 games as they out-rebounded their opponents, but it was too little, too late.

I, for one, expected more out of Mayo. But perhaps he found it too hard to shake Dominique Sutton, who guarded him like a wet suction cup to a glass wall (Though he didn't carry the burden alone.) Taj Gibson managed the first 2 pointer relatively early in the game, but Bill Walker responded a mere 14 seconds later with a 3 point jumper of his own, sent home by Sutton. The lead continued from there with Gibson and Davon Jefferson contributing to most of the points for USC in the first half before Mayo decided it was time to get his act together and tied the score at 47-all in the 2nd half. He managed a one point lead a few seconds later, but that lasted only 21 seconds before the score was tied again and Beasley put Kansas back into the leader's spot, with Gibson and Jefferson fouling out like Foghorn Leghorn at a KFC Drive-Thru trying to stop him. It was something that USC would never recover from, and Kansas State walked off the court with a 13 point lead.

Kansas Coach Frank Martin decided to channel his inner philosopher as he explained the win by saying, “That's what it's all about this time of year. You gotta figure out a way to survive to score one more point than the other team and that gives you life. That allows you to practice the next day and play one more. That's all you wanna do here.” Sort of like Mario Party . . .

But the point is, Kansas has a clear-cut goal. They're keeping their eyes on the big prize, wanting to win and wanting it bad. It's instilled into each player and they're not ashamed to say it. Beasley wasn't even slowing down to enjoy the win as he quipped, “It's nice to have one win, but it's better to have two or three, you know? We're happy about this win, we're excited that we brought the first win in 20 years, but it don't stop here, you know . . . we're goin' for the next one.”

The Wildcats will have their work cut out for them on Saturday when they play number 3 seed Wisconsin.

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Created by: HeatherAkena