Kansas State 66, Missouri 42

And senior Ryan Rosburg, who started in place of Jakeenan Gant, had his best game of the year with eight points and nine rebounds.

The second half was much of the same for Missouri. Northwestern (4-1) came out shooting 3-pointers from the jump, an interesting strategy against a guard-heavy, undersized team, but it was effective.

Anderson blamed the slow start for the Tigers’ 66-42 loss to Kansas State in the semifinals on Monday night. By the time Lumpkin rattled in his 3-pointer with 7:45 remaining in the half, Northwestern had built a 31-11 advantage. McIntosh had 14 points and a career-high nine assists against the Tar Heels but was 3-of-15 shooting and will seek a rebound performance against the Tigers. Demps scored 21 points in Monday’s 80-69 loss to North Carolina after tallying 22 three nights earlier against Columbia.Demps is averaging 16.8 points through four games, second on the squad behind sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh’s 19.5 per game.

But while the Wildcats went cold from the field, they managed to create enough offense to get to the free-throw line, where they were able to eventually put the game away. “All the fans just tweeting at you really anticipating the game really hyped us up to come out and give them something to cheer about”.

Kansas State still views Missouri as one of its rivals, even though the two schools separated by a long drive down Interstate 70 haven’t been members of the same league for years.

The team was out-rebounded 17 to 13 in the first half, and four of those boards given up were offensive. Missouri finished the game with 13 turnovers.

After trailing 38-24 at halftime, the Tigers came out with more energy in the second half – coming out with more might have been impossible – and got within single digits with two quick baskets by Wes Clark and Phillips. “I thought we went into this game with absolutely no confidence”, he said.

“I kind of knew going back Mizzou was part of the Big Eight, Big 12 before they left, it was kind of a rivalry game”, he said.

Kansas State coach Bruce Weber hopes that nobody tells Wade, a freshman from tiny St. John, Kansas, how impressive he’s been this season.