Cat fight in Columbia

February 21, 2012|by Bruce Haertl | KWCH 12 Eyewitness Sports

The importance of Kansas State's win at Baylor last weekend, can't possibly be overstated. The Wildcats NCAA resume got a huge boost with a second win over a top ten team this season, not to mention the confidence boost that they get going into Columbia. They'll need it.

Sure, KSU meat the Tigers by 18 back on January 7^th, but Mizzou has won four straight and 24 of the last 26 games against 'Cats at home where they are 15-0 this season. Frank Martin may be 5-4 all-time against Missouri, but he's yet to beat them on the road. This will be the 235th meeting between the two programs which have played twice a year for 85 consecutive seasons, a streak that will end when Missouri leaves for the Southeastern Conference at the end of the school year.

Pop quiz—the Wildcats and Tigers have battled each other through five different conference affiliations, can you name them? You better have gotten the Big 12, before that there was the Big Eight, Big Seven and Big Six. But they both started in the Missouri Valley Conference, along with KU. All three left before Wichita State became a member right after WWII.

If you're looking for a key for the Wildcats, start at the point. Kansas State is 14-2 in games when Angel Rodriguez record a positive assist to turnover ratio, they're 4-5 when its negative. As a starter, the numbers become more telling: 6-1 in the positive, 0-3 when he turns it over more than he assists. Turnovers continue to be particularly telling for Kansas State which is 13-2 in games when they turn it over less than their opponents. Another winning formula? Shooting percentage. When the 'Cats out shoot their opposition they're 15-1, That won't be easy to do, Missouri hits nearly 51 percent of its shots and they're even better than that at home. On the other hand, KSU hasn't shot better than 50 percent in any of its conference games.

Since hitting 4-5 three pointers against Texas A&M, Will Spradling has connected on just just 4 of his last 21attempts. After going off on Texas for 33 points, Rodney McGruder has shot just under 38 percent. Both of these guys do a lot of other things to help their team win, but they need to be more consistent for the, sometimes, offensively challenged Wildcats.

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