Eastern Kentucky Comes Up Short

(St. Louis, MO) – With a brilliant finishing kick to their season, Eastern Kentucky fought their way into the NCAA tournament but couldn’t climb the mountain quite high enough to defeat Kansas. The Jayhawks have a perfect APR and a perfect graduation rate and they were perfect here in St. Louis today.

Bill Self’s team has been to 25 straight NCAA tournaments and that kind of experience and talent was on display at Scottrade Center. KU is now 8 and 1 in NCAA play in St. Louis, but this was their first appearance at Scottrade.

Super Freshman Andrew Wiggins came into the game averaging 31 points over his last three games and finished with a team high 19, but the real story of this game was rebounding. Kansas out rebounded the Colonels 43-19 and out scored EKU 54 to 20 in the paint.

Colonel’s Head Coach Jeff Neubauer said his team did a better job on the boards in the first half because they were able to force the Jayhawks into turnovers before they could crash the glass.

 

Neubauer remains proud of his team. He told the Colonel players they finish the season as champions.

 

EKU who finishes the season with a record of 24-10 had double digit scoring from Glenn Cosey (17), Eric Stutz (15) and Tarius Johnson (15). Corey Walden saw limited playing time due to foul trouble and eventually fouling out with just four points.

After the game, Neubauer expressed his gratitude to the EKU fans who he said gave them a lift early in the contest.

 

Kansas moves on with their 96^th NCAA tournament win and the 26^th under Bill Self. They will play Stanford on Sunday with the goal of reaching the Sweet Sixteen.

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