4B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2008
Silence of the tigers
Mindy Ricketts/KANSAI
Senior guard Russell Robinson pushes past Missouri forward Darryl Butterfield to take a shot. Robinson scored eight points against the Tigers.
high/low
Highs
Darnell Jackson
The senior forward quietly put together another efficient game. With 13 points on five of seven shooting, Jackson's improved his field goal percentage to 67 percentage. He also grabbed nine rebounds.
Kansas' perimeter defense
Missouri shot five of 28 from the three-point line, and although it looked like the Tigers were shooting blindfolded at times, you have to give credit to Kansas' team defense. The Jayhawks did a nice job of scrambling and getting hands in the faces of shooters.
Kansas out-rebounded Missouri 52 to 43, and Jackson, Brandon Rush, and Darell Arthur all pulled down nine rebounds.
Rebounding
Lows
Free Throw Shooting Kansas had been inconsistent from the charity stripe for most of season - shooting
66. 1 percent from the free throw line into going to Missouri. But after shooting a combined 30-for-34 in Big 12 victories against Nebraska and Oklahoma, the Jayhawks looked like they had tightened up their free-throw woes - until Saturday. Kansas shot 28 of 45 from the line, including seven of 14 in the first half.
The Tigers' home crowd was lively at times, but the announced capacity crowd of 15,061 was late arriving – with a smattering of seats staying empty the entire game. And with Kansas holding a six-point lead with a little more than a minute left – and the game somewhat still in doubt – thousands of Tiger fans headed for the exits.
Turnovers
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Missouri's leading scorer at 14.9 points per game, Carroll shot two of 11 from the field and one of six from the free throw line and finished with five points.
Mizzou Arena Crowd
DeMarre Carroll
-Rustin Dodd
Sophomore forward Darrell Arthur rises above the Missouri defense to get a shot off during the half of the game. Arthur finished with 10 points and nine boards in 21 minutes.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
A Kansas fan tauces the Missouri student section with an orange during the final minutes of Saturday's game. The Orange Bowl selection committee selected the Kansas football team for the BCS bowl despite a late season loss to the Tigers.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Missouri guard Kean Lawrence ducks under the arm of sophomore guard Sherron Collins while taking the ball to the basket during the first half. The Jayhawks led the Tigers by two after the first 20 minutes.
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Jon Goering/KANSAN
Senior forward Darnell Jackson helps a game official signal an intentional foul call on a play late in the second half of the game. The intentional foul gave the Jayhawks two free throws and possession of the ball, which helped seal the victory down the stretch.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Head coach Belf Self yells instructions during the second half of Saturday's game. Coach Self improved to 8-2 against Missouri during his career at Kansas with the win.
Rush relishes Missouri's defeat
Rush's glee over brother's former team loosing overshadows his subpar performance
BY RUSTIN DODD
Standing along the concrete nautways of Mizzou Arena on Saturday night, Brandon Rush still had one more message to send. His teammates had just sent their own message to the rest of the Big 12. With its 76-70 victory, Kansas stayed undefeated and proved to the rest of the country that it was immune to the upset bug that ravaged college basketball this past weekend. But for Rush, all those Big 12 and national implications could wait. He was more concerned with making sure he had family bragging rights over his brother - and former Missouri Tiger - Kareem.
"I'm going to text him as soon as I get on the bus." Rush said. "I got 'em again."
For the fourth time in five career matchups against Missouri, Rush won the upper hand on big brother's alma mater.
It wasn't what you might expect from Rush in his third career game in Columbia, Mo. He made only two of 14 shots, but Rush found other ways to make sure his Jawahiers left
town with their undefeated record intact. With his shot not falling, Rush drove aggressively to the basket and went to the free throw line 14 times, making nine of them.
"It's a career high by far," Rush said, of his free throw attempts. "Getting to the free throw line was pretty good. I missed some bunnies too."
Rush finished with 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds, with seven on the defensive end.
"Some players, that's what they have to bring to the table. They have to make shots to play well," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "With him, I still think he can play well and not make shots. I'm proud of his aggressiveness and I'm proud of the way he rebounded the ball. The last two games he's had 18 rebounds, and he's getting to the foul line."
Rush, who's averaging 11.7 points per game, said his two for 14 shooting performance - including zero for four from the three-point line — was the worst shooting game he's had at Kansas.
"It just wasn't going down for me," Rush said. "It would rim out. It'd drop in and then come right
back out."
Rush, a Kansas City, Mo., native, still managed to score in double-figures for the ninth time in 10 games. The junior also showed signs that he's inching closer to 100 percent after he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee last May. Rusk skied over Missouri forward Darryl Butterfield in the first half and just missed finishing an acrobatic dunk. "I felt good," Rush said. "He didn't help uphill. I would have finished it but the ball slipped out of my hands."
It was that kind of night for Rush – a night of near misses. But Rush said he was satisfied knowing that Kansas can still win with him not playing well. And Rush still had the pleasure of sending out a personalized text message to older brother, Kareem, Kareem played at Missouri from 1999 to 2002 and is now playing for the NBA's Indiana Pacers. He led the Tigers to an Elite Eight appearance in 2001-2002.
"This is a big game for him, but it's also a hard game for him." Self said. "He likes a lot of people here and Mizzou was, obviously, very good to his brother."
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