OMAHA, Neb.—When the No. 6-seed Southern California Trojans and the No. 11-seed Kansas State Wildcats walked onto the court Thursday night at the Qwest Center, the spotlight focused on two players—USC freshman forward O.J. Mayo and Kansas State freshman forward Michael Beasley.
Miami Heat head coach Pat Riley sat in the third row at center court and watched along with the majority of CBS’s national viewers as Mayo and Beasley made acrobatic shots and rim-rocking dunks. Yet the player who stood out was another KSU freshman forward, Bill Walker.
In the first half he scored 17 of the Wildcats’ 37 points and finished with 22 points and five rebounds.
Thus, when Kansas State faced Wisconsin Saturday afternoon, the focus was again on two players—Beasley, the CBSSports.com National Player of the Year, and Walker, a potential first-round NBA draft pick.
Wisconsin guards Trevon Hughes and Michael Flowers have received little national attention this season, but the backcourt duo controlled the game on both ends of the floor during Wisconsin’s 72-55 win.
“I had fun,” Flowers said. “It was just an exciting game, a game I probably won’t ever forget against a good team.”
Although Flowers committed five turnovers—something he said would “keep him up at night”—the senior leader did everything else right for the Badgers. He made all three of his 3-pointers and also recorded five assists.
Perhaps, most impressively, Flowers produced on the offensive end while also defending the five-inches-taller Walker on several possessions.
“I thought our guards did an excellent job,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “Michael Flowers ended up on three or four different players during the course of the game.”
Hughes only committed one turnover, shot 4-of-9 from 3-point range and tied a career-high with 25 points. In Wisconsin’s 71-56 victory over Cal State Fullerton, Hughes missed all of his 3-point attempts and scored only eight points. His play contributed to Wisconsin’s erratic performance on offense against the much smaller Titans.
The Queens, N.Y., native said he felt “antsy” against Fullerton, but stayed patient during the second game of the tournament.
“The game we played … against Cal State … I wanted to go out there and show what I had. It got away from me,” Hughes said. “Today I knew I had to be under control and play Wisconsin basketball, get my teammates involved before I start forcing anything.”
Hughes and Flowers outscored Kansas State’s starting guards Blake Young and Clent Stewart 40-4, out-rebounded them 7-5 and had five more assists.
Riley was not in attendance for Saturday’s game, but Hughes did not seem to mind.
“I like playing under the radar,” he said. “We don’t have to get talked about. We know what we’ve got in the locker room, and it put a chip on our shoulder, made us go out and play even harder.”
