This was always going to be a tall order. Even without match-up nightmare Udoka Azubuike to man the post, Kansas (26-7, 11-5 Big 12) still had four all-conference players on the floor. The task for K-State (22-11, 10-8) got harder mid afternoon Friday, when it was announced that one of the Wildcats’ two all-Big 12 performers, Dean Wade, would be sidelined with a foot injury.
The chore became positively monumental when, less than two minutes into the game, Kansas’s Devonte Graham got both hands into the eye of K-State’s other all-league player, Barry Brown, on an attempted K-State break.