Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor:

Taylor had another good game. He had a bad final two minutes, but besides that, he was superb. With the Jayhawks down 36-37, Taylor controlled a loose ball that went into the backcourt and possibly got away with a push off, but he drained the go-ahead three. That bucket sparked him and the team the rest of the way. Taylor had 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting and 3-of-6 from downtown. He added five rebounds, five assists and two steals. He had a couple bad turnovers and missed clutch free throws in the final minutes that luckily didn’t cost the team. He put the team on his back during the second half with the big shots.

Grade: A-

Junior guard Elijah Johnson:

Johnson had a decent game despite fouling out. He only shot 2-of-9 for five points, but he was good elsewhere. He had a couple nice assists. He had five for the game. Johnson added five rebounds as well. The charge foul he committed to foul out of the game was reckless. He was invisible shooting, but his defense was decent.

Grade: C+

Junior guard Travis Releford:

Releford continued to play hard-nose defense. He held junior guard Rodney McGruder to 5-of-15 shooting. He crashed the boards effectively with six rebounds. He had a nice run-out dunk to get two of his four points for the game. Releford is a relentless defender who never takes a play off, and Monday night was no different.

Grade: B-

Junior forward Thomas Robinson:

If this was any other player, who wasn’t a national player of the year candidate, 10 points and 9 rebounds would be an acceptable game. Not for Robinson. He was quiet all night except for a couple of nice dunks. He was annoyed by double teams from the Wildcats defense for the majority of the night. He did step to the line and hit two free throws to put the game out of reach. Robinson only took seven shots, making just three of them. Not the Robinson Jayhawk fans have come accustom to.

Grade: C

Junior center Jeff Withey:

For the second straight game, Withey flirted with a triple double. He had 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and knocking down 6-of-7 from the stripe. He managed to get 11 rebounds through the pesky Wildcats around the glass. Then he did what he does the best; blocked shots. The Big 12 block leader added to his season total as he tallied a career high 9 blocks. The big man possibly has been the Jayhawks best player over the past three games. Ever since he was shutout by the Missouri Tigers, he has posted career highs in all the proceeding games. He is a force inside and Wildcats kept tempting him, and kept getting denied.

Grade: A+

Senior guard Conner Teahan:

Teahan was once again invisible throughout the game. He knocked down two late free throws to score his only points of the game. He also had a couple rebounds as well. Teahan needs to find his shot, again, and maybe not settle for the three. He’s not going to drive the lane, but how about a 15-footer?

Grade: C

Overall Performance:

This was an ugly game to watch. The Jayhawks had a season low 59 points, which came off of just 39.6 percent shooting. In the Jayhawk blowout of the Wildcats on January 4th, the team out rebounded K-State 48-24. On Monday night, that wasn’t the case. The Jayhawks actually got out rebounded 40-39 and allowed 19 offensive rebounds. Kansas State came to play and was hoping for the upset over the No. 5 team in the nation, but they didn’t have enough fire power. Kansas’ defense held the Wildcats to just 30.8 percent shooting and forced 11 turnovers. Even though the Jayhawks have owned this rivalry in the past, it’s always a tough one to get, especially in Manhattan, and this one was no different. An ugly victory to say the least, but the Jayhawks remain atop the Big 12 standing with five games remaining.

Grade: B-

— edited by Jeff Karr