Nick KrugAccording to a report from 1350KMAN.com, the Kansas men’s basketball team will not be the only Sunflower State basketball team without a key player in tonight’s 6 p.m. Big 12 tournament semifinal at Sprint Center.
Citing two unnamed sources close to the program, the report indicates that Kansas State forward Dean Wade is unlikely to play against Kansas tonight because of “a foot injury he aggravated in recent weeks.”
“I think they want to focus on the NCAA Tournament and don’t want to take any chances,” one source told 1350KMAN.com’s Tyler Dreiling.
Wade, who leads the Wildcats (22-10) in scoring, at 16.5 points per game, and rebounding, at 6.3 boards per outing, did play during Thursday’s quarterfinal victory over TCU, which helped the Wildcats (22-10) reach today’s semifinal showdown with Kansas and likely solidified K-State’s status as an at-large NCAA Tournament team.
In 41 minutes, Wade scored 12 points and grabbed three rebounds and two steals.
In two game against No. 9 Kansas (25-7) this season, the 6-foot-10, 228-pound junior from St. John, Kansas, averaged 39 minutes per game and shot a combined 16-of-32 from the floor for 42 points. He also grabbed 14 combined rebounds and shot 50 percent from 3-point range.
Beyond those numbers, Wade proved to be a bit of a matchup problem for the Jayhawks, who were forced to go to a zone defense to combat him during KU’s 14-point victory in Manhattan.
With Wade out and 7-foot center Udoka Azubuike out for the second consecutive game for Kansas, the KU-KSU semifinal figures to take on an even greater all-guard look.
The Jayhawks got solid games from reserve big men Silvio De Sousa and Mitch Lightfoot in their 82-68 victory over Oklahoma State on Thursday but neither player will face nearly the challenge he would have if Wade is out of the K-State lineup.
Kansas opened as a 5-point favorite over K-State in Las Vegas but the line has jumped to KU -8 in the past few hours.
