Kansas State Game Box Score MVG: Patric Young

[GatorJason]

Patric Young had one of his best games of the year with 19 points, 11 boards and 2 blocked shots for a Value Score of 93 but it was all for naught as the Gators lost 61-67 to the Kansas State Wildcats. The only other Gator with a winning performance was Scottie Wilbekin who scored 11 points and had 7 assists for a Value Score of 49. No other Gator produced a Value Score above 38.

The Gators were out hustled and out rebounded by 10 boards as the Wildcats remain perfect on their home court. The Gators also suffered 7 blocked shots and shot 26% from the arc versus 41% for Kansas State. That was the difference in the game. The Gators never got in rythm as Kansas State took advantage of the Gator's lack of quickness at point and made every offense possession a struggle. Their aggressive defense on the perimeter and shot blocking in the middle neutralized all Gators except for Young.

Another tough loss for the Gators but great road experience against a quality opponent. Conversely, the the SEC Conference looks weak with only Florida, Missouri and Kentucky appearing to be top 20 caliber teams. Win or lose, the Gators need to face tough competition wherever they can if they hope to develop into a team that can make a run in the tournament. This game exposed some weakness that need to be shored up before they become a tournament ready team.

Box Score Value Leaders:
Young............93
Wilbekin.........49

Click on this link (http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/album.php?albumid=221&pictureid=2326) to see all player value scores for this game

Value Credits* are assigned as follows:
+5 credits for each Steal and Assist
+4 credits for each Point scored, Rebound and Block
.-5 credits for each Turnover
.-2 credits for each Field Goal Attempt
.-1 credit for each Free Throw Attempt

* Value Credits are based solely on Box Score data and do not reflect total game contributions by players

Kansas State Game Official Box Score (http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=323572306)

The Gators next game will be against the Air Force Academy (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/2005/air-force-falcons) on Saturday, Dec 29th at 2:30. ESPN-850AM WRUF (http://tunein.com/radio/ESPN-850-s22624/)

[HALLGATOR]

Will with a -7 is troublesome. Not that some of the other guy's scores aren't but I was really expecting a good year out of him. Still a lot of bb to be played however he needs to step it up imo.

[tommyuf21]

Will with a -7 is troublesome. Not that some of the other guy's scores aren't but I was really expecting a good year out of him. Still a lot of bb to be played however he needs to step it up imo.

He had a rough night with the ball in his hands. KSU's big really bothered him.

[InstiGATOR1]

Wilbekin had 2 turnovers to knock him down to 49.

[GatorJason]

Wilbekin had 2 turnovers to knock him down to 49.

Got it, thanks Insti.

Looking at the results, the Gators were owned at the 3 position. As previously mentioned, Yeguete had a nightmare game (-7 in 14 minutes) and Rosario was 1 for 9 on FGA with only 1 assist. Murphy was invisible at the 4 position, seemingly a step slow and passive. This game was painful but necessary if Billy wants to build a championship team. Crushing patsies doesn't help. Playing good teams helps identify flaws in fundamentals that aren't so obvious when you play weak teams. It's only December. Adjustments can be made.

[themistocles]

Other than Young and Wilbekin, the entire team played between mediocre and bad. These things happen, just like that K-State forward who had the best night of his career.

There are HUGE advantages to being home near the Christmas Holidays. I mean, who wants to be on the Road, and, in Kansas of all places. Thank God, "We're not in Kansas andy more, Toto." Note that Ohio State, Illinois and Florida all lost to teams from that area yesterday evening. In a way, it was very similar to both Arizona's football and basketball teams winning last minute come-from-behind games the previous Saturday. Perhaps being at the end of a 25,000 year Astronomical Cycle has altered the energies around various phenomena more than a little.

Standardized: - I figured out why Jason and I had some differences - I was erroneously counting -3 for Turnovers, instead of -5. I corrected that. I also built in a Verification Algorithm so that now I am making sure my hand entered numbers match the Box Score precisely.

Standardized for the Entire Year - Average Minutes per Game (AVG) and if they played 20 Minutes per Game:

Avg 20
62 47 P. Young, C
56 38 S. Wilbekin, G
51 41 E. Murphy, F-C
51 33 K. Boynton, G
44 35 W. Yeguete, F
44 30 M. Rosario, G
33 49 C. Prather, G-F
29 35 M. Frazier II, G
06 22 D. Walker, G-F
06 15 B. Ogbueze, G
03 14 D. Graham, G
00 03 J. Kurtz, G

As we can see, Patrick Young, based on average minutes per game (26 for him) is the leader, followed by Wilbekin, Murphy & Boynton (despite shooting an average of 28% on 3-points for the season).

Regarding an average of 20 minutes per Game, despite a very poor performance yesterday (total of 14 points), Prather remains at the top, but his is only playing an average of 13.5 minutes per game.

Yeguete (-7) and Rosario (9) had Horrifying Games yesterday, but that is why you judge based on an entire season. Sometimes matchups simply are "BAD" and sometimes you are having an off day while your matchup is having a good one.

Such is life.