Woodling: Lee fills void

Kansas City, Mo. ? Kansas State is Kansas State is Kansas State is … at least when the Wildcats play Kansas in men’s basketball.

Once the ‘Cats knocked off Texas A&M in Thursday’s first-round game of the Big 12 Conference tournament, talk radio and Internet chat rooms began blathering that the time was ripe, that the Jayhawks were vulnerable, that The Streak was in danger.

Kansas wouldn’t have Keith Langford, out because of the double whammy of a bum ankle and stomach flu, and everyone knows how difficult it is to defeat a team three times in the same season, and so on and so on. Blah, blah, blah.

The Jayhawks’ 30-game win streak was in jeopardy all right — right up until the last six minutes, when Kansas State was within three points, and KU exploded for a 10-1 run that announced, in effect, “Attention K-State: Here comes No. 31.”

The one KU player most entitled to make that pronouncement would have been Michael Lee, the senior tapped to replace the ailing and ill Langford in the starting lineup.

To describe Lee’s performance, I would speculate that never has a basketball player who put up a field-goal goose egg done so much to help his team win. Lee was 0-for-3 from the field.

“He did the intangibles,” said Aaron Miles, Lee’s teammate at KU and earlier at Portland, Ore., Jefferson High. “He had 11 rebounds, and he’s a 6-2 guard. He was great. He was terrific.”

Putting it another way, Lee was just as terrific Friday night as he was terrible when Jayhawks dropped their regular-season finale Sunday in Columbia, Mo. In KU’s 72-65 loss to the Tigers, Lee logged 24 minutes, basically replacing Langford, who needed crutches after rolling an ankle three minutes after tipoff, and Lee — to be euphemistic — played poorly.

Against the Tigers, Lee missed all five shots he attempted, had a team-high three turnovers and grabbed only one rebound.

Kansas' Michael Lee (25) and Kansas State's Jeremiah Massey, left, contest a rebound as Lance Harris awaits the outcome during the Jayhawks' 80-67 victory. Lee had a career-high 11 boards in the victory Friday in Kansas City, Mo.

By way of contrast, against K-State, Lee may have missed every shot, but he did indeed collect 11 boards, as well as a team-high five assists in 30 minutes. Oh, and he was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.

“We need Mike to play,” KU coach Bill Self said. “When he’s good, he’s really good, but he’d be the first to tell you he’s been way too inconsistent. With Keith out, he has to be a factor.”

Lee certainly was against the ‘Cats. At the same time, Wayne Simien was never better in the 80-67 victory with 28 points and 14 rebounds, and Miles was a stallion with 18 points while continuing his uncanny three-point shooting by making four of six from beyond the arc.

Miles’ three-point shooting continues to amaze. You would think that a player who averaged a paltry 28.6 percent from long range in his three previous seasons pretty much had established his level of competence.

Yet Miles has been deadly from the outside during his senior season, hitting 40 of 77 three-point attempts. That’s a glossy 52 percent, and they say you’re a good three-point shooter if you reach the 40-percent plateau.

Miles hit back-to-back threes early in the second half to double the Jayhawks’ six-point lead. A couple of minutes later, Miles stole the ball from KSU wheelhorse Jeremiah Massey and went coast-to-coast for a layup that provided a 13-point cushion.

Yet the Jayhawks’ most important basket wasn’t provided by Miles, and it wasn’t from Simien. As far as I’m concerned, the most critical basket of the night was Alex Galindo’s three-pointer, a parabolic roof-scraper that seemed like it would never come down, with three minutes remaining.

Kansas State's Lance Harris, left, brings the ball up the court against Kansas' Aaron Miles.

Galindo’s trey gave KU a 12-point lead and, for all practical purposes, was the final kick in Kansas State’s gut, even though the Jayhawks still had to make 10 of 12 free throws in the last 2 1/2 minutes to seal it.

So, yes, Langford’s teammates did pick up the slack, just like they did earlier in the season when Simien missed four games. The Jayhawks proved they can win without Simien, and now they’ve proven they can win without Langford.

But can they defeat Oklahoma State today in the tournament semifinals without Langford?

A couple of weeks ago, when KU outlasted the Cowboys, 81-79, in that classic game in Allen Fieldhouse, Langford scored 14 points and had five assists.

Can someone pick up that slack? Or will it take a couple of someones?

On the line may be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. If the Jayhawks win today, they’ll have a 24-5 record with the highest RPI in the country. If they lose, they almost certainly will have to settle for a No. 2 seed at best.