When the final buzzer sounded last Saturday, you could almost hear Gonzaga fans coming back down to reality. Although the Bulldogs have been impressive in 2012, we quickly learned in the loss to Illinois that there is plenty of work to be done. After several days to sober up get over it, we are now staring down another tough foe in Kansas State. The one loss Wildcats are still a relatively unknown commodity at this point but the basketball world should have a pretty clear picture of Bruce Weber's team on Saturday.
One thing that we do know about K-State is that they have been ferocious on the glass through the early part of their season. They are third in offensive rebounding percentage at 46% and are averaging an incredible 45 rebounds per game which is sixth in the nation. Now, to temper things a bit, this gaudy statistics are partially due to the fact that they have played a horrid nonconference schedule which includes (but is not limited to) North Dakota, Lamar, Alabama Huntsville, North Florida, Deleware, and SC Upstate. Be honest, you only knew about one-third of those were real colleges, huh?
In the two games they played where I can 100% tell you they played real colleges, they had mixed results. Against Michigan, they were outrebounded 40-28 but in a win against George Washington, they outrebounded the Colonials by nine. Like all strong rebounding teams, the Wildcats are rebounding by committee. Five K-State players have 4.5 or more rebounds per game and seven have more than three. They are winning the battles for a lot of the 50-50 balls, something which we have seen the Bulldogs excel at in some contests. With Gonzaga's size and Kansas State's tenacity, the rebounding battle could be a key stat to watch come Saturday night.
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