KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Eighth-ranked Florida was beaten at its own game by Kansas State.


The nation's best defensive team was out-defended, and Gators coach Billy Donovan knew it.

"I thought they were just a step ahead of us, a step quicker," Donovan said after a 67-61 loss Saturday night. "We gave up some offensive rebounds. We had just a couple plays there where we were just late on some things, particularly our guards getting over screens."

Patric Young had 19 points and 10 rebounds despite foul trouble, but he didn't get a whole lot of help against Kansas State's in-your-shorts defense.

Rosario, the team's leading scorer, had five points on 1-for-9 shooting. Scott Wilbekin scored 11 points but was 0 for 3 from beyond the arc, where the Gators were 5 of 19 as a team.

"When a guy like (Rosario) goes 1 for 9, probably a third of his shots were blocked," Donovan said. "When you're getting your shot blocked, it's not a good night."

It was a dandy night for the Wildcats.

For all the area teams, as a matter of fact.

Will Spradling had 17 points, six rebounds and five assists to lead the Wildcats, who followed up No. 9 Kansas' win over No. 7 Ohio State and No. 12 Missouri's victory over No. 10 Illinois on Saturday with the most surprising result of them all.

"Whenever you're shooting it well—you see the ball go through the net—it brings confidence to you and for your team as well," said Spradling, a sophomore guard from suburban Kansas City. "This is probably my best all-around performance that I've had."

No doubt.

Spradling didn't even have a turnover in 39 minutes.



Young's two free throws with just over 2 minutes left got Florida (8-2) within 58-53, but Spradling found Shane Southwell in the corner for an open 3-pointer and the Wildcats managed to put the game away from the foul line down the stretch.

They ended up shooting 21 free throws in the second half.

"If you're looking at the game, I'd think everyone would say Kansas State's energy was much better than ours," Donovan said. "The reason they got the lead they did, it was because their energy was much better."



It was defense that ruled this one from the start.


Kansas State eventually settled down on offense, and McGruder's basket with just under 5 minutes left made it 26-19. The Gators' Michael Frazier curled in a 3-pointer for his only basket, but Kansas State rattled off seven more points that helped it take a big lead into the break.



The Gators scored on their first six trips down the floor and put together a 12-3 run that allowed them to wipe out almost the entire deficit. Kenny Boynton's 3 with 13:10 left drew them even at 41-all, the closest they'd been since leading 19-17 midway through the first half.


The Wildcats kept stepping up.



