NCAA Basketball – Jacob Pullen leads Kansas State to a win over Kansas

Instate Rivalry in college sports are among the most exciting games in NCAA regulated sports. There is so much tradition and so much history involved in each of this games that one can’t help but to feel a certain fascination for these games. So when Kansas State hosted the Kansas Jayhawks at the Fred Bramlage Coliseum in Manhatan, KS, it really seemed as if all the ingredients for a great game where on the ground.

And here is where it gets really interesting. Kansas State has been up to this point somewhat of a disappointment the No. 3 ranked team before the season kickoff was now unranked and could only hold onto a mediocre 16-9 record overall and 4-6 mark in the Big 12 before the game began. So Kansas State had to deal with the fact that the team had not have a good win since Thanksgiving and as if that was not enough, the team’s off the court shenanigans has brought them a couple of suspensions to their starters. Jacob Pullen was suspended for 3 games while Curtis Kelly took a 6-game suspension for violating NCAA rules.

On the side of the Jayhawks, there team was going through a great moment and just a couple of hours prior to the game the Jayhawks had pushed the Texas Longhorns from the top to claim themselves as the No. 1 team in the nation. So yes, on one side of the story the Jayhawks had to defend their votes that placed them ahead of the Longhorns; on the other hand, Kansas State really had to bring on their A-game and prove their fans that their season was not over.

And what better way to prove they are still alive and worthy of going to March Madness then taking a win over their instate rivals: the Kansas Jayhawks. That’s when Jacob Pullen began to shine. The senior guard was capable of turning the game around with a brilliant performance, scoring 38 points to lead the Wildcats to an outstanding upset 84-68.

To really put things into perspective, you might need to know that this is one of the most lopsided rivalries as the Wildcats have only won 2 of their previous 45 games against the Jayhawks. Pullen and company have now made that 3 wins in their head to head matchup. This was one heck of an upset. Just a month ago, the Jayhawks had beat the Wildcats by 24 points. But that was all going to change. Kansas State was a dominant, well paced and organized team.

Even head coach Bill Self, from Kansas, had to agree that the Wildcats were a much stronger team. In the press conference he commented: