The freshman guard came off the bench Thursday in Puerto Rico and knocked down four of five three-point shots and led all Kansas State scorers with 20 points.

His big night couldn’t have come at a better time. Play was sloppy throughout at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, and K-State’s best two veteran guards (Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen) didn’t play well. But behind McGruder and some tough second play, the Wildcats pushed past Boston University for an 80-70 victory in its first game of the Puerto Rico Tip-off.

Based on McGruder’s start to the season (he is now 9 of 12 from behind the arc) he is emerging as K-State’s best outside shooter.

His best skill appears to be simply getting open. Sure, he’s got a fantastic shooting stroke and makes knocking down treys seem effortless. But I don’t think I’ve seen him shoot a heavily contested three-pointer this season.

Neither has Pullen.

“He was shooting the ball in from open spots,” Pullen said. “That’s what we practice.”

Coach Frank Martin said McGruder gave K-State a nice lift on Thursday.

With Pullen making only four shots and Clemente nervously clanking nine in front of his home crowd, his shots were needed.

If he keeps it up, and Clemente and Pullen get back to their usual production, the Wildcats should be able to play an improved game against Ole Miss at 7:30 tonight and make a run at the tournament’s championship game.

Emptying the notebook
– The Coliseo de Puerto Rico didn’t attract many fans for the first day of this tournament (announced attendance was 5,073 and fans only stayed for their own team’s games) but K-State was well represented in that number.

A good number of students made the trip and a plane full of boosters flew over with the Wildcats basketball team. Before the game they were very rowdy and a few fans took turns leading the KSU Wildcats cheer near press row.

In all, the purple-clad fans numbered about 250. Forty or so were there solely to see Clemente play.

– McGruder’s only three-point miss came on the final possession of the game, when trying to beat the shot clock from way outside.

– Wally Judge did not score in 10 minutes of action.

– Curtis Kelly and Jordan Henriquez-Roberts combined for 17 rebounds.

– Today’s game against Ole Miss will match Martin up against good friend and Rebels coach Andy Kennedy. When asked about Kennedy, Martin said he was one of the best people “in the world.”

Player of the game: Rodney McGruder. The freshman won the game for the Wildcats with his smooth shooting touch.

Play of the game: Jamar Samuels drove the lane, rose above two Boston defenders and thew down an athletic two-handed dunk that sparked a nice K-State run in the second half. It was the slam of the season, no doubt.

Do this again: Get your opponent in foul trouble. Boston’s starting five had 15 combined fouls at the end of the first half.

Try to avoid: K-State still needs to work on its free-throw shooting. It made 28 of 44 on Thursday.

Bottom Line: K-State could have played better offensively and won by a bigger margin. But it was nice to see a few players come up big to help out the team. And in a tournament setting, a win in that first game is always big.

“Some things have come up off the court that we’re looking into right now,” Martin said. “We’re going to continue to keep him out until we get home and get a better idea of what’s happening. It’s unfortunate. He’s healthy enough to play I just can’t play him.”

Not being able to play surely puts a damper on Colon’s trip home. But Martin said he had no choice but to keep him in street clothes.

When asked to elaborate on what the off-court problem was Martin said, “He’s not in trouble with the law. If he was he wouldn’t be here.”

Colon averaged 4.4 points and 4.7 rebounds as a junior.

Everybody knows about Ndamukong Suh, the senior Nebraska defensive tackle who is a sure-fire bet to earn All-America status at the end of the season.

But the Cornhuskers have another defensive tackle who is pretty good, too. He actually leads the team in tackles with 60, four more than Suh.

His name is Jared Crick (pictured above on the right) and as a sophomore he has recorded nine sacks, 13 quarterback hurries and three pass breakups this season.

K-State center Wade Weibert said he’ll be paying just as much attention to Crick as Suh on Saturday.

“All year you’ve only really heard about Suh,” Weibert said. “He’s dominant and he’s strong, but Crick is good in his own right.”

Some have suggested that Crick, who Nebraska is pushing for All-Big 12 and All-America status in addition to Suh, only has such great stats because he benefits from all the double and triple teams opponents give to Suh.

But K-State coach Bill Snyder said he thought Crick would be an excellent player with or without Suh.

“I’m not sure that the other one (Crick) isn’t very far behind (Suh),” Snyder said. “The other one gets all of the numbers.”

Offensive lineman Nick Stringer agrees. He said he’s not sure if K-State has faced a better defensive tackle than Crick all season.

It will be his job, along with the rest of the Wildcats blockers, to keep Suh and Crick away from Gregory and running back Daniel Thomas.

It might not take a lot of points to beat Nebraska, but it will be difficult to score. The Cornhuskers’ defense has allowed 11 points a game this season.

Suh may be the main reason why. But Crick has been there every step of the way, too.

Asprilla, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound center, averaged 14 points and 9.3 rebounds with Florida International and was named 2009 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year for his efforts.

He comes to Manhattan from Miami Dade junior college.

It will be the second transfer of his college career.

Coming out of high school he was to attend Miami, but didn’t qualify academically and attended prep school for a year instead.

He then agreed to sign with Florida International, but when Sergio Rouco, the coach he committed to, was replaced after his freshman season by current coach Isiah Thomas he chose to transfer.

Thomas denied Asprilla an official release from his scholarship, which meant Asprilla could not immediately join another Division I school. So he ended up in the JUCO ranks.

Asprilla is originally from Villavicencio, Colombia and played with Art Alvarez’s AAU team as current K-State players Luis Colon and Denis Clemente once did.

Asprilla was a three-star player as a high school senior and has been a highly-touted junior college recruit ever since leaving FIU. Recruiting Web site Rivals.com currently ranks him as the No. 2 JUCO player in the nation.

His best game at FIU came against Middle Tennessee State, when he scored a season-high 28 points and snared 10 rebounds. Against Western Kentucky and Troy, he grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds.

He joins incoming guards Will Spradling, of Kansas City, Mo., and Shane Southwell, of New York, on K-State’s list of committed players.

He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Kansas State beat a mid-major opponent by more than 30 points and no one, from coach Frank Martin on down, was thrilled about the performance.

But K-State looked much tougher during its 82-50 win over Western Illinois on Sunday, and outrebounded the Leathernecks 48-31.

After being beaten in that category by Loyola-Chicago, that was a nice sign of improvement.

So was Jamar Samuels scoring 19 points and snaring seven rebounds, and Jordan Henriquez-Roberts’ stat line of 10 rebounds, seven points, five blocks and two assists.

But players insist they could have done much better. In particular, they could have prevented Western Illinois from grabbing 13 offensive boards and rotated more quickly on defense.

Martin said the Wildcats need to get a lot better in those areas before they head to Puerto Rico if they hope to have success in their upcoming early season tournament.

And he will be asking his players to work a lot harder this week in practice to make that improvement happen. Those who don’t bring high energy to practice, he said, won’t be in uniform for this week’s games.

Emptying the notebook: Had this game been for a spot in the NCAA tournament, Martin said he would have played center Luis Colon. But he is making sure Colon’s hand fully recovers before he puts him on the floor. Ideally, Martin said, Colon will play in Puerto Rico … The game’s leading scorer was Matt Lander of WIU, who scored 20 points … Despite starting the game Dominique Sutton saw 7 minutes of playing time … Martin said Samuels will move back and forth between the 3 and 4 positions depending on the opponent. In a perfect world, he will play more 3 than 4. … Chris Merriewether started in the second half.

Player of the game: Jordan Henriquez-Roberts. The center had 10 rebounds, seven points, five blocks and two assists. As Curtis Kelly would later say “those are some stats right there.”

Play of the game: Henriquez-Roberts had a nifty transition layup in the second half that, coupled with a Samuels dunk on the play before, brought the crowd at Bramlage to its feet.

Do that again: K-State outscored Western Illinois 22-0 in fast-break points Sunday. It’s tough to beat those numbers.

Try to avoid it: Missing 13 of 28 free throws will hurt the Wildcats against stronger teams.

Bottom line: These first two games were nothing but a warm up. We will find out how good Kansas State is later this week in Puerto Rico.

For those reasons, the Missouri Tigers easily defeated the Wildcats 38-12. There’s not much more to be analyzed from yesterday’s game.

K-State players said they had already moved on from it in the interview room afterward. With a winner-take-all battle in Lincoln up next there isn’t anywhere to look but forward.

If the Wildcats win their season-finale at Nebraska, they win the Big 12 North and qualify for a bowl game. If they lose to the Cornhuskers, their season is finished.

Fortunately for K-State, Nebraska is the type of team it has had success against this year.

Teams like Missouri, Texas Tech and Oklahoma (who can score quickly with high-powered pass plays) are not good match-ups for the Wildcats. But Nebraska, and its 17.5 points per game in Big 12 play, is.

The biggest obstacle for K-State to overcome could be playing on the road. The Wildcats managed to beat Iowa State in Arrowhead Stadium earlier this year, but are yet to win a true road game.

With so much on the line, it will be difficult for them to end that trend in front of a hostile crowd in Lincoln. But they played extremely well throughout the second half at Oklahoma. If not for an awful first quarter, they easily could have pulled an upset on the Sooners.

They played UCLA tough in the Rose Bowl, too. And that was before Grant Gregory added a passing element to this offense.

The Cornhuskers will be favorites in the game, and deserve to be. But with a better start against Nebraska the game should be close throughout.

Not allowing a Cornhuskers receiver to go for 200 yards would help as well. But as pointed out earlier, that won’t be a problem in this game.

Against Nebraska, K-State will have to worry more about All-World defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

That and scoring more touchdowns than field goals.

Key Stats
200 yards receiving by Danario Alexander
3 touchdowns for Danario Alexander
298 passing yards by Blaine Gabbert
123 receiving yards by Brandon Banks
239 passing yards by Grant Gregory
79 rushing yards by Daniel Thomas
23 rushing attempts by Daniel Thomas
4 field goals attempted by Josh Cherry
4 field goals made by Josh Cherry
9 more field goals needed from Josh Cherry to win the game

Quotes of note:
“I don’t know what really happened to us to tell you truth. We weren’t in sync, we weren’t making plays we were supposed to make. We had opportunites we didn’t take advantage of,” — Lamark Brown.

“We fought. We made some mistakes — a lot of mistakes actually” — Emmanuel Lamur.

“We didn’t execute, they made good stops and we had to settle for field goals. Josh did a good job kicking field goals but can’t get down there five times and come away with 12 points.” — Grant Gregory.

“I told the football team they’re the luckiest group of 120 guys that exist in the Big 12 conference. To go out and get it handed to you like you did today and still have an opportunity to win a North division title and still have the opportunity to go to a bowl game.” — Bill Snyder.

“I don’t think Grant has thrown too many interceptions this year. I don’t think we’ve turned the ball over that much this year. For things like that to happen, that’s very unusual.” — Brandon Banks.

On Saturday at Snyder Family Stadium, the Wildcats were beaten at their own game and lost to Missouri 38-12.

K-State committed three turnovers, never got its running game going and could do nothing to stop Mizzou’s high-powered passing game.

Tigers quarterback Blaine Gabbert completed 20 of 27 pass for 298 yards and three touchdowns. All three of his scores went to wide receiver Danario Alexander, who looked particularly good amassing 200 yards on 10 catches.

The only scores K-State could offer in return were four field goals from Josh Cherry. The kicker experienced a good day, going 4 for 4 on his attempts. But it wasn’t nearly enough to carry the Wildcats to a win.

Daniel Thomas, the Big 12’s leading rusher, ended with 79 yards on 13 carries. Grant Gregory passed for 239 yards and an interception. His main target was Brandon Banks, who finished with 128 yards on eight catches.

With the loss, K-State dropped to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in Big 12 play. Missouri improved to 6-4, 2-4.

The Wildcats are still one win away from bowl eligibility and a Big 12 North title, but they will have the chance to clinch both next week with a win at Nebraska.

11:29 4th Quarter
Derrick Washington just ran in a touchdown to give Missouri a 31-12 lead. The Tigers have just been too much for the Wildcats today.

Their high-powered passing game has had no problems moving the ball. Danario Alexander in particular has been outstanding. He has 200 yards and three touchdowns on 10 catches.

It will take the comeback of all comebacks for K-State to come back in this game. Looks like the Wildcats’ bowl and North title hopes will come down to the Nebraska game.

13:18 4th Quarter
Brandon Banks’ fumble in the first half swung the game Missouri’s way. Daniel Thomas’ fumble in the second half might have ended K-State’s chances at a comeback.

Missouri picked up Thomas’ drop and is now driving in the red zone for the game-clinching score.

43 Seconds 3rd Quarter
Danario Alexander is good at what he does. Blaine Gabbert just hit the Mizzou wide out in the middle of the field and Alexander outran everyone on for an 80-yard touchdown.

He now has 192 yards and three touchdowns.

57 Seconds 3rd Quarter
The score is now Missouri 17, Josh Cherry 12.

The kicker is 4 for 4 on field goals today, and if the fourth quarter goes like the third has his kicks alone will be enough to win this game for K-State.

Daniel Thomas got going on that last drive, breaking off a 22 yard run, and no has 79 on the game.

9:20 3rd Quarter
Josh Cherry is now 3 for 3 on field goals today.

The kicker is having a terrific day, but if K-State is to come back and win this game it will need to find a way into the end zone. The Wildcats were close on their first drive of the second half, which lastes 5 minutes, 40 seconds. But Daniel Thomas misfired on a trick pass to Jeron Mastrud and Attrail Snipes didn’t turn around in time on a pass from Gregory.

HALF
The Kansas State football is yet to figure out how to stop Blaine Gabbert or efficiently run against Missouri’s defense. For those reasons, the Wildcats trail at halftime 17-6.

Gabbert, the Tigers’ sophomore quarterback, has completed 17 of 21 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns so far. His main target has been Danario Alexander, who has grabbed eight passes for 112 yards and both scores.

The second touchown pass came with 20 seconds remaining in the half.

Missouri went on top first with a field goal but was quickly matched by K-State’s Josh Cherry.

The Wildcats were a half yard away from going ahead 10-3 when wide receiver Brandon Banks tried reaching the ball into the end zone early in the second quarter, but he ended up fumbling the ball through the end zone for a touchback.

The Tigers then went ahead 10-3 on Alexander’s first touchdown pass. It was a 14-point swing K-State has been good at avoiding this season.

The Wildcats cut into that lead with another Cherry field goal in the second quarter.

Daniel Thomas, the Big 12’s leading rusher, has rushed for 35 yards on 13 attempts. K-State actually has more passing yards at halftime (73) than rushing yards (55).

The Wildcats will get the ball first in the second half.

6:25 2nd Quarter
Grant Gregory threw a number of good passes to Brandon Banks and Lamark Brown to score on a drive that started at K-State’s own 12-yard line.

But the Wildcats are having trouble running the ball right now. They actually have more passing yards (73) than rushing yards (50) right now. You don’t see that often.

Still, K-State moved far enough down field to get into Josh Cherry field goal range. He just booted a 34-yarder to make the score 10-6.

12:07 2nd Quarter
The Wildcats were a half yard away from going ahead 10-3. But now they trail by that score.

As Brandon Banks was attempting to reach the ball into the end zone, he fumbled and the ball went out of bounds for a touchback.

Mizzou then converted a third down thanks to a K-State pass interference penalty and Blain Gabbert heaved a 54-yard touchdown strike to Danario Alexander for a touchdown.

Tysyn Hartman was in position to make a play on the bomb, but Alexander won the battle.

The play completed a 14-point swing.

End 1st Quarter
Kansas State will face a 2nd and 6 at the 10-yard line when play resumes.

A roughing the passer penalty kept this current drive alive.

5:33 1st Quarter
A big kick return by Brandon Banks gave the Wildcats good field position, and K-State took advantage by crossing the 30-yard line and kicking a field goal to tie the game.

Josh Cherry continues his strong play during the second half of this season. He now has 47-yard field goals in back-to-back games.

10:13 1st Quarter
Missouri methodically moved down the field on its opening drive and got in the red zone, but John Houlik prevented a touchdown by deflecting a pass with the back of his helmet on a third-down play.

The Tigers kicked a short field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

Danario Alexander already has 28 yards receiving.

10 minutes till kickoff
The five seniors K-State will miss most:

Nick Stringer (four-year starter on the O-line)

Grant Gregory (smart, mostly mistake-free quarterback)

Brandon Banks (speedy wide receiver, one of the better return specialists in program history)

Jeron Mastrud (consistent receiving threat at tight end)

Jeffrey Fitzgerald (Very likely could be playing in the NFL next year)

30 minutes till kickoff
Overcast skies here in Manhattan as Kansas State prepares to take on Missouri.

Looks like no one notable is missing from the pregame warmups. So let’s get into some keys to the game:

Missouri is a first-half team, and if Kansas State can stay close to the Tigers or own a lead at half team it will likely win. The Wildcats have allowed 31 points during the second half of home games this season.

Danario Alexander and Daniel Thomas have similar stats. Alexander, Mizzou’s leading wide receiver, 1,038 yards through the air. Thomas, K-State’s leading rusher, has 1,087 yards on the ground.

Bill Snyder hasn’t lost to Missouri since 1992.

K-State is trying to go undefeated at home for the first time since 1999.

The Wildcats are saying goodbye to 24 seniors on this senior day.

The Kansas State basketball team defeated Loyola-Chicago 92-54 in its season-opener and did so rather easily, which is good.

But coach Frank Martin was so angry with his team’s performance that he said his players should be “embarrassed,” which is bad.

As is the case in most situations like this, it’s best to fall somewhere in the middle. That would make K-State’s performance on Friday at Bramlage Coliseum fairly average.

Curtis Kelly looked good scoring 22 points and grabbing seven rebounds (both team highs) but didn’t look good snaring just one defensive rebound.

The Wildcats looked good on defense, allowing the Ramblers to make 24.6 percent of their shots, but looked bad being outrebounded 51-41 by a much smaller opponent.

Jacob Pullen and coach Frank Martin didn’t say much about the positives after the game, but had plenty to rant about on the negative end.

Martin said K-State’s practice leading up to Friday’s game was the worst he had ever been associated with, and Pullen didn’t disagree. He tried to take full accountability for it.

Nonetheless, that poor effort carried over.

Especially early on, when the teams were tied at 13 midway through the first half. But Kelly and Pullen led a big 24-5 run to break the game open and the second half was never close.

K-State shared the ball well on offense and five players ended in double figures (Pullen had 15, Jamar Samuels 11, Rodney McGruder 11 and Denis Clemente 10).

Next up is a home Sunday matchup with Western Illinois. If K-State players work hard and improve by then, it could be a long afternoon for the visitors.

Emptying the notebook: Dominique Sutton recorded the first K-State dunk of the season. … Samuels was announced in the starting lineup … Luis Colon did not play (hand injury) and watched from the bench in street clothes … Bramlage was not full and about 8,000 fans turned out to watch the game … Rodney McGruder hit 3 three-pointers … Martin said Chris Merriewether and Victor Ojeleye were the only bright spots in Friday’s game. They scored a combined three points, but coach liked the consistency they continued to show.

Player of the game: Curtis Kelly. The junior center scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots. He also energized the crowd with three dunks.

Play of the game: Jacob Pullen hit Kelly with a nifty pass at the end of the first half and the UConn transfer slammed home a dunk to send K-State into the locker room with a big lead and momentum.

Do that again: The Wildcats held the Ramblers to 14.7 percent shooting in the first half. Loyola-Chicago made just 5 of 34 shots and scored 18 points. Some of that was due to the Ramblers playing poorly, but they are impressive stats all the same.

Try to avoid it: K-State was outrebounded 51-41 by Loyola-Chicago, and the Ramblers don’t have much size. The Wildcats need to get tougher on the glass in a hurry.

Bottom line: It’s tough to be disappointed with a 38-point win, but K-State was weak in a number of areas against Loyola-Chicago.

The two high school seniors, who both live in the Kansas City area, seem to be pals.

Spradling, a 6-foot guard from Shawnee Mission South, signed his national letter of intent to play for K-State two days ago and says he is excited to join Frank Martin’s squad next season.

Williams, a 6-foot-5 small forward from Leavenworth, will attend prep school next year and join the Wildcats for the 2011 season.

He said he would have liked to have made his verbal commitment official this week like Spradling did, but can easily wait another year.

While chomping on a burger at halftime, he said he was impressed with Kansas State.

“I like Coach Martin’s style of play,” he said. “K-State plays hard nose, tough defense. … I just really like the environment here, too. Coach makes it seem like this team is a family.”

Spradling got to hold a news conference at his high school this week to announce he would be playing for the Wildcats. He said more than 100 people showed up and it was a fun experience.

Like Williams, he is excited to play for Martin.

“He’s always pushing his players to be their best,” Williams said. “I like the team atmosphere here. It’s something I want to be a part of.”

K-State basketball sports information director Tom Gilbert also just confirmed that Shane Southwell’s written commitment arrived in the Wildcats basketball offices today and is good to go for next year.

Should have a comment about him from Martin after the game.

Missouri wide receiver Danario Alexander is putting up big numbers in his senior season — All-American type numbers.

The Marlin, Texas native comes into tomorrow’s game against Kansas State with 71 receptions and 1,038 yards to his name. Those statistics each rank fifth nationally.

Last time out, in a loss to Baylor, he caught 13 passes for an astounding 214 yards and a touchdown. He is Blaine Gabbert’s favorite target, and the Wildcats will need to figure out a way to slow him down.

Kansas State has been good about containing individual wide receivers this season. The only wide outs to go for 100 or more yards against it have been Texas A&M’s Uzoma Nwachukwu (136 yards) and Detron Lewis (100).

But Alexander will pose a difficult challenge.

Not only is he talented, he has a lot of drive. At one point he beat out former standout Jeremy Maclin for a starting position but broke his wrist in the 2007 season opener.

He also tore knee ligaments later that season in the Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma.

That forced him to undergo four surgeries during his past two years with Mizzou, but he is thriving nonetheless.

Only Texas’ Jordan Shipley has put up better numbers in the Big 12 this season.