MBB : Q&A with Kellis Robinett of The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star
Syracuse survived its second-round game with UNC Asheville, holding off the Bulldogs on Thursday, 72-65. But the Orange face a larger challenge on Saturday with No. 8 Kansas State (22-10).
The Wildcats are led by Rodney McGruder, who put forth a Herculean effort with 30 points in KSU’s second-round win over Southern Mississippi. The Daily Orange spoke to Kellis Robinett, Kansas State beat writer for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star, about the Wildcats and how they match up with Syracuse (32-2).
The Daily Orange: Obviously Rodney McGruder had a huge game – 30 points – on Thursday, how do you see him faring against the Syracuse zone?
Kellis Robinett: Pretty well. Kansas State has played well against zone most of the time this year. They played Baylor three times, which uses a lot of zone, and they actually played so well against the zone that Baylor scrapped it. They went man-to-man in the two games that Baylor won, that’s how they won. They went a little smaller and used man-to-man looks.
So I think Rodney’s looking forward to seeing a zone defense where he can find some gaps in the middle and mid-range jumpers, because that’s where his game is best, right in the mid-range, floaters, making jump shots.
Jordan Henriquez is another player who had a good game against Southern Miss. It seems he has played better toward the end of the year, is that the case?
KR: His last nine games, and especially his last five, have been by far his best. … His last five games he’s averaging 15.2 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.2 blocks. So lately he’s been looking like an NBA guy where early in the year he was hardly even playing.
He was briefly suspended from the team, then they benched him, they tried everything they could to bring out the good side in him and I think just finally seeing some other guys playing well, he decided to help out and the light came on for him. He’s been a totally different player.
Without Fab Melo for Syracuse – and Syracuse doesn’t rebound well, either – is this a good matchup for him?
KR: I think he’s probably licking his chops knowing he’s going to be the tallest guy out there and he can really focus on blocking because the other guys like to board and like you said, if Syracuse doesn’t rebound very well then he can really focus on blocking shots.
Kansas State has had some big wins, but at the same time the Wildcats have lost a couple games they should have won and are a No. 8 seed. Why have they been a little inconsistent?
KR: They’ve had a little trouble in finding a set rotation. It took them until the end of the year to kind of narrow it down to 7-8 guys so that was one thing. They never truly seemed to have a lot of focus. During home games, they lost four conference home games, which is really out of character for them. They got swept by Oklahoma, which was the next-to-worst team in the league.
So on one hand you see them beating Missouri twice, which is fantastic. They also lose to Oklahoma twice, which is the complete opposite. So I think it’s focus issues, but now that they know what’s on the line, I think that’s why you’re seeing them play better now.
In the two games Syracuse has lost this season, to Notre Dame and Cincinnati, those two teams had a lot of early success hitting 3-pointers to build a lead. Is there a couple players that could get hot from outside for Kansas State?
KR: Well, not really. Rodney is probably the best 3-point shooter, but as you saw (Thursday), he’s really the best when he’s shooting from mid-range. Will Spradling has capabilities, he’s shot the ball well in the past, but he’s been cold as ice this year. He can’t really make anything right now. And they’ve got a good shooter off the bench named Jeremy Jones but I’m not even sure if they’ll play him. Kansas State, I would say, is not a great 3-point shooting team.
