Jacob Pullen scored 18 PTS in his college debut for Kansas State in 2007, and then continued scoring for the following 4 years. He set a career-high with 38 points against #1 Kansas on Valentine’s Day 2011, tied his career-high the following month with another 38 PTS in his final game against Wisconsin in the NCAA tourney, and his 2132 career PTS remain the most in school history. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Wyatt Thompson (the “Voice of the Wildcats”) about Pullen’s sensational scoring ability and his postseason heroics.
What made Pullen choose Kansas State? I assume that a lot of it was due to a pair of coaches (Bob Huggins/Frank Martin). Jake’s 1st year was in 2007 and when Frank took over for Hugs he did not miss a beat. We had heard that Jake was a fine player coming out of a fine program in Proviso East.
In the 2009 NIT he scored 32 PTS in a 4-PT OT win over Illinois State: what was your reaction to the ridiculous final play (when he inbounded the ball off a Redbirds player and made a layup as time expired)? I do recall that play: he was always a high-IQ player. I have been here 24 years, and we have had a lot of good teams here. We had had a lot of great guard duos as well and Jacob/Denis Clemente were 1 of the best. That NIT was the start of a good little run for us.
Take me through the 2010 NCAA tourney:
He scored 28 PTS in a 5-PT 2-OT win over Xavier: how were the Wildcats able to overcome the Musketeers’ amazing clutch shooting (Terrell Holloway made 3 FTs with 5 seconds left in regulation, then Jordan Crawford made a 35-footer with 4 seconds left in the 1st OT: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFa14Wzo5nI)? In my 49-year career that might be the best game I ever had the opportunity to cover. I recall that we tried fouling them on the floor at the end of regulation, but the refs did not call a foul until Holloway was shooting and he made all 3 shots to send it into OT. Xavier hung around with us because they were well-coached and every bit as tough as we were. It was 1 of those games with hardly any separation at all.
He scored 14 PTS and tied a school record with 6 STL in a 7-PT loss to Butler: what made him such a great defender? Just his strength: he had a unique body type because even though he was not the tallest kid his body was thick. Hugs/Frank were all about being rugged/tough: as the saying goes, “No blood, no foul”! He just had a feel for stealing the ball: most people know about his scoring record, but it was a hard adjustment for him at 1st. Once he figured out that he belonged he just blossomed into an incredible player who did so many things.
As a freshman he scored a season-high 20 PTS/10-10 FT in a 9-PT upset of 2nd-ranked Kansas, then scored a career-high 38 PTS in an upset of top-ranked Kansas on Valentine’s Day in 2011: where do those 2 upsets rank among the biggest in the history of the “Sunflower Showdown”? We started to dip around 1990 as KU started to take off, but it had been a heated rivalry. I would describe the upset during his freshman year as “stunning” because nobody in our conference was beating KU back then. I would say it was easily 1 of the top-15 moments in school history: it was monumental at the time. As far as his 38-PT game, it was 1 of the top-3 performances by a K-State player that I have ever seen. That is why he is as beloved as he is: as time goes on you develop even more appreciation for what he did. Beating KU was the ultimate thing even though they did everything they could to try to slow him down. He scored in so many ways: deep threes, twisting his way to the rim, etc.
In the 2011 NCAA tourney he scored 38 PTS/6-8 3PM in a 5-PT loss to Wisconsin (which set a record for most PTS by a Big 12 player in an NCAA tourney game): was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot he put up seemed to go in because he was “in the zone”? Yes. At that time Wisconsin was very big/strong/athletic, which you think would have been a problem for Jake, but they just could not slow him down. We did not lose due to his performance (13-22 FG): the Badgers were 1 of the most physical teams that I had ever seen.
He remains the all-time leading scorer/3-PT shooter in school history: did you realize at the time how prolific a player he was, and do you think that anyone will ever break his records? Nobody thought that he would break Mike Evans’ scoring record. From the beginning I felt that his ability would make him a quality scorer in the Big 12. He could draw fouls, make FTs, and could make shots from deeper range than I thought. His records might be broken since we keep getting talented scorers (like PJ Haggerty), but it would be tough to find a good player who stays here for 4-5 years. Jake almost averaged double-digits for 4 years in a row, which is very hard to do. He scored 700+ PTS as a sophomore so after that you knew that he would have a shot at the record as a senior.
He was a 2-time All-American and won the 2011 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award for the nation’s best senior who is 6’ or shorter: what did it mean to him to win such outstanding honors? I remember asking him about it: if you ask him now, he would probably be as proud of that Naismith Award as anything. When he 1st got here, I do not know if he liked it all that much because it was like boot camp, but it laid the foundation for him to become tougher/stronger. That is why he blossomed: you just could not break him down. He could score on you even if you were 5’10” or 6’5″.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? I get emotional talking about this because I have been here a long time. I have seen 9 of the top-10 scorers (Bob Boozer was a little before my time), and when I look at those names, I know that he belongs. Guys like Evans/Rolando Blackmon had nice long NBA careers, and Steve Henson was an Olympic-level decathlete, but Jake will be known forever as 1 of the top guys who ever played here. He was the 1st 1 to get down on his knees on Senior Day and kiss the midcourt logo: he left here a Wildcat. The only reason they have not retired his # yet is that he has been playing pro basketball overseas for the past 15 years and they want him to be present when they do so!
