March Madness 2018: Undermanned, undersized, Kansas State couldn't be unnerved against Kentucky

Nubyjas Wilborn

March Madness 2018: Undermanned, undersized, Kansas State couldn't be unnerved against Kentucky image

ATLANTA—A challenge from head coach Bruce Weber was the catalyst for ninth-seeded Kansas State's 61-58 win against No. 5 Kentucky in the Sweet 16 Thursday.

"I told them that if we can play like the best defense in the country then we will go far," Weber said.

MORE: Three takeaways from Kansas State's upset of Kentucky

That sounds simple until you're playing a team that scored 95 in its last game and is taller than you at every position.

"It just shows our resilience, the character of our guys," Weber said. "We've been through a lot this season, and we've been able to keep fighting and battling and making the plays when it matters. They made runs. We got 30 fouls, seemed like everybody on our team was fouled out. We were playing with 6-4 and under, and they're one of the biggest teams in the country."

Kansas State lost three players to fouls and leading-scorer Wade Dean didn't play the entire second half due to the nagging foot injury that caused him to miss his team's first and second round games. Kentucky was on a run. They'd taken the lead and it appeared Kansas State's dream was going to be deferred. And it might've been if not for the pesky play of freshman guard Cartier Diarra. With 3:01 left, he jumped into the lane to steal a pass from Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Diarra would drive the length of the court and score. The four-point swing saw Kentucky lose the lead they'd worked the whole game to gain.

"That play changed the whole momentum," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Defense is what they do. He caught me slipping. He made a good play and that's what they've been doing all season. That's why they're going to the Elite Eight and we're going home."

Diarra finished the game with five points, but he was a +16 plus/minus during his 27 minutes of action because of plays like that.

"We really wanted to clog the lane and get a lot of deflections," Diarra said. Coach challenged us to get 40. I don't know if we got it but I got that one. I knew we had to make plays on defense because those things are the difference makers. We use our defense to make our offense go."

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It became tougher on defense as the fouls mounted up. Sophomore Xavier Sneed led Kansas State with with 22 points and nine rebounds, but he was whistled for his fifth personal foul with a 1:13 left. Before exiting the court, he huddled his teammates together and gave them another challenge.

"'Stay focused and finish the game for me,'" Sneed said, recalling his parting words. "It was hard with me not feeling like it was a foul, but just not being on the court with those guys. But I knew they were going to finish off the game, and that's what they did, and it was a big win for us. I'm an emotional type of player, so I like to get hyped for anything."

Kansas State's Barry Brown accepted the challenge. The 6-3 junior struggled from the field, shooting 4 of 15. With 1:15 left, Brown had a layup attempt sent into the fifth row by 6-9 Kentucky freshman Kevin Knox.

A lot of players wouldn't have wanted to go back to the paint with the game on the line. Yet, when it came down the last moment, Brown went to the rack and converted what wound up being the game-winner with 18 seconds left.

 

 

"We kind of just played on our principles a little bit," Brown said. "I knew they would space the floor and I was able to get in there. We knew they were trying to block the shot. Just with their length, they've been blocking the shots all game. Once I got past my man, I just wanted to get the ball away from the people that were going to block my shot, and I was able to make the lay-up."

Brown made the layup, but there was still time left and Kentucky had plenty of time to tie it up. Quade Green missed a contested three and it was Diarra coming down with the rebound.

"I got to play in the last minute, and got a huge rebound," Diarra said. "Just anything to contribute to the team, but also when I was out of the game, I was encouraging our guys, telling them what we needed to do and stuff like that. We are a real family based team, we love each other, and that is why we grind it out and stick with each other.”

The family affair will continue on Saturday against Loyola Chicago for the right to go on to the Final Four.

"We believed we could win going into it and we did it," Weber said. "Now we got to find a way to do it again."

Nubyjas Wilborn

Nubyjas Wilborn covers the NBA for Sporting News and is based in Atlanta.