After Monday night’s 59-53 victory at Kansas State, a reporter asked junior center Jeff Withey if he expected an outburst like this.

In his past three games, Withey has averaged 20.3 points, 12 rebounds and 6.3 blocks per game. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday, then the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week on Tuesday.

After the reporter’s question, Withey kept mum. Instead. senior guard Tyshawn Taylor, answered it for him.

“Yeah he did, yeah he did,” Taylor said. “I felt it.”

Withey smiled and gave in.

“My teammates around me, they lift me up all the time,” he said. “In practice, they’re always on me. They never let me get away with anything.”

All of this comes after Withey was held scoreless in the 74-71 loss on Feb. 4 at Missouri. Coach Bill Self told Withey the Tigers “punked” him.

But Withey is playing his best basketball as a Jayhawk, proving it against a physical team like Kansas State.

“He played really good against Baylor and he played really good against Oklahoma State, but he was a lot better tonight than he was in either one of those games,” Self said on Monday. “This was a big-boy game. He had 18, 11 and nine on a night when Thomas wasn’t Thomas. I thought he was just fabulous.”

Junior forward Thomas Robinson, who averaged 18.1 points per game going into Monday’s Sunflower Showdown, scored just 10 points. He also committed four fouls and five turnovers.

“They sent a lot of guys at [Robinson],” Taylor said. “They were rough with him down there, banging him a little bit.”

As a National Player of the Year candidate and double-double machine — second in the nation, with 18 on the season — Robinson usually draws the opposition’s best post defender.

“Thomas is probably going to be the main focus for everybody on their scouting report,” Taylor said.

This fact regularly frees Withey of defensive pressure, allowing him to score in the paint before a hand is there to hinder.

Now, Kansas’ challenge is to find a way to make both thrive together.

“He’s a beast in the paint,” Taylor said of Robinson. “So he’s going to find ways to score.”

— Edited by Gabrielle Schock