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Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Brown's double-double leads Xavier past K-State
By JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer
CINCINNATI (AP) -- There was nothing subtle about Xavier's approach. The Musketeers were going to make a point by making it painfully tough to get any points.
Derrick Brown had 14 points and 12 rebounds for his third career double-double on Monday night, and Xavier's unrelenting defense set up a 103-77 victory over Kansas State at a downtown arena.
Xavier (10-3) opened the game with a 14-point run and never let Kansas State (9-4) get into a flow. It was the Wildcats' first drubbing of the season and the most points they'd allowed since a 103-68 loss to Kansas on Feb. 27, 2002.
''We came out and tried to impress on them,'' Brown said. ''We didn't want to get hit in the mouth and get pushed around. We were going to be aggressive tonight and wanted to show it early.''
A sign of their success: Kansas State's leading scorer, Michael Beasley, didn't make a field goal until the final minute and finished with only five points.
''They just were physical,'' Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. ''That's what older guys do. They never gave him or us anything easy at the rim.''
The Musketeers had a stunning seven players in double figures, the ninth time this season that at least four have scored 10 or more. Point guard Drew Lavender led with 21 overall as Xavier put up its highest point total since a 108-57 win over Long Island on Dec. 8, 2001.
Sophomore Jason Love had a career-high 11 points for Xavier, continuing to emerge as a solid front-line threat.
''Our big men are playing great right now,'' Lavender said. ''Everybody on the coaching staff knew what they could do, but they had to prove it on the court. They're starting to emerge now.''
Bill Walker scored a career-high 31 for Kansas State, and Fred Brown added a career-high 25, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep up with Xavier's balance.
''Defensively, we had some major breakdowns throughout the course of the game,'' Martin said.
It was the second in a three-game series set up when former Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins went to Kansas State. The Musketeers won 76-66 at the downtown arena last season, and will visit Kansas next season.
Last season's game was a novelty, with hundreds of Huggins fans showing up in purple shirts to support the coach. He bolted for West Virginia after last season, and the rematch on Monday night had far less interest.
One Xavier fan held up a sign that said: ''I Came To See Huggins.''
Instead, the attraction was to see how Kansas State's two fabulous freshmen would handle Xavier's tenacious defense.
Walker fizzled in his Cincinnati homecoming last season, going 4-for-14 for eight points. The power forward joined Huggins at Kansas State after helping suburban North College Hill win the Ohio prep title, but tore a knee ligament after only six games.
His sidekick is the 6-foot-10 Beasley, who was averaging 25.8 points and had 12 consecutive double-doubles in his budding college career.
In the opening minutes, Xavier made them look like raw freshmen.
Beasley had a charge, missed a shot and was called for traveling on Kansas State's first three possessions. Walker then missed back-to-back shots, helping Xavier get up and running.
Kansas State was only 3-of-17 with eight turnovers in the opening 13 minutes against a defense coming off its stingiest performance in 26 years. Xavier beat Delaware State 65-33 on Saturday.
By the time Kansas State got its composure, Xavier led 30-7. The Wildcats never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.
Coach Sean Miller's only regret was that Xavier seemed to let up a little bit after it got ahead comfortably in the second half.
''In the second half -- I hope it's not a sign of things to come -- we really let our guard down,'' Miller said. ''We've got to be a great defensive team the whole game if we're going to go where our team wants to go.''
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