4B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2007
MEN'S BASKETBALL WRAP-UP
BASKETBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Arthur made a turnaround shot.
All of a sudden, Kansas lead 15-3. Jackson and Arthur had scored all the points without leaving the paint.
"That sets the tone of the game," Jackson said. "Our main goal is to get Shady started. That's what we say in practice or in the locker room at halftime. We have to get the ball to Shady because the game is easier when he's down there scoring."
Arthur or Jackson couldn't have done it without the guards. Senior guards Rodrick Stewart and Russell Robinson and junior guard Mario Chalmers all picked up assists in the opening minutes. Self's pleas to throw the ball inside had finally been answered.
Robinson said the biggest reason they went inside early was because of his team's size advantage. Only one Eastern Washington starter stood taller than 6-foot-4 inches.
The inside-out dominance continued into the second half as senior center Sasha Kaun and freshman center Cole Aldrich helped the Jayhawks outscore the Eagles by 24. Kaun finished with seven points. Aldrich, whose 15 minutes were the second-most he's played all season, scored six points and grabbed six rebounds. Jackson continued his run of excellent games by coming one rebound short of a double double. Arthur bounced back from a poor performance against Southern California with 15 points and six
"We just wanted to get Shady into a rhythm and work inside-out," he said. "It's worked for us in the past and should not work for us in the future. So why not do it today?"
He had the guards to thank for the majority of his baskets. They still found the big men open down low in the second half. Kansas finished the game with 20 assists on 30 field goals and 44 points in the paint.
rebounds.
Brandon Rush, junior guard, leaps over Eastern Washington defenders to get a shot off during the second half of game. The rush finished with nine points and 12 rebounds in 22 minutes.
Self said the guards sometimes saw the game differently. If a big man was open, they might not have recognized it and would have taken the ball to the hoop instead.
Robinson said games where the guards continually fed the big guys should continue in the future, even against taller opponents. Earlier this season, the guards were slightly hesistant to throw the ball in the pain for fear of the post players not catching it or defenders swiping the ball away.
"They might think, 'Well, I could throw it in there and he may be open or he may not be open, but I know I can just drive it,'" Self said. We just have to get to where we have more confidence throwing it in there."
Now that the team has seven games under its belt, Robinson said they knew their roles and that the confidence to get the ball down low was coming. With a revenge game against DePaul on Saturday, Kansas is ready to build off Wednesday night's performance.
"We figure if you get it inside," Robinson said, "a lot of good things will happen."
Including less running on the treadmill.
Edited by Jeff Briscoe
Jon Goerina/KANSAM
Despite low scoring, Rush shows healthy improvement
Senior forward Darnell Jackson powers a shot over an Eastern Washington defender during Wednesday's game in Allen Fieldhouse. Jackson led Kansas in scoring with 17 points in the 85-47 victory over the Eagles. The undefeated Jayhawks face DePaul at home Saturday.
ACL injury proves short-lived in early return to court
BY RUSTIN DODD
rdodd@kansan.com
Brandon Rush didn't have the game he would have liked to have against USC on Saturday. The junior guard missed — and missed more — making only two of 11 shots. None of Rush's five three-point attempts found the net either, as he finished with six points.
Rush, who played in his sixth game since returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, didn't produce eye-popping stats against Eastern Washington, either. Rush had nine points, but made only four of 11 from the field. But coach Bill Self saw something else in Rush's game Wednesday night. He said Rush did three things better than he's done all year.
"He got a dunk off one foot in transition, he grabbed a rebound off of two feet and he guarded number 10 (Eastern Washington's Adris Deleon), and number 10 couldn't get around him," Self said.
That was a welcome sight for Self, as he watched his junior All-American play in a game that was supposed to be one of his first this season. This week was supposed to be the week that Rush returned from his injury, but Rush, who suffered his knee injury in late May, beat that estimate by nearly three weeks. Rush said he knew the rust in his game was still wearing off and thought his old explosiveness was starting to come back.
"It'll just take some time," Rush said. "Just to get back in that flow and try to get back to my old self like I was like last year so I'll just be explosive and help my team out with rebounding."
Rush pulled down 10 rebounds against Eastern Washington in 22 minutes. But Rush, who has yet to start a game this season, said he might attribute his shooting woes to his new role as a bench player. Last season Rush shot 44.3 percent from the floor while in the starting line-up. This season, Rush is shooting 39.6 percent off the bench.
"I think it affects it a little bit, because I can't get in the flow like I used to," Rush said. "But I just got to play through it."
Rush conceded that his confidence in his shot was a little low after the USC game.
"I still ended up burying one, that's going to help me out a lot,"
So only one question remains. When will Rush return to the starting lineup? Self said it may be awhile.
Rush said about a three he hit with three minutes left.
"I still don't think he is where he needs to be yet," Self said on Tuesday.
Senior forward Darnell Jackson said having a talented player such as Rush coming off the bench was a luxury for the Jayhawks.
"It gives us a boost because when
he gets in the game and we throw him the ball and he shoots a three, the crowd goes crazy" jackson said.
But Jackson said Rush didn't quite embraced his role off the bench.
"He's just so anxious to go out there and play and make those big plays for us like he usually does. He just needs to calm down and play for us," Jackson said. "We just encourage him to keep shooting."
Edited by Meghan Murphy
basketball notebook
BANGED UP BODIES
Freshman guard Tyrel Reed, playing in his first game after suffering an ankle sprain last week, hurt his other ankle late in the second half Wednesday night. This time, Reed came back in the
Senior center Sasha Kaun also fell during the game and walked off the court with the trainers. He came back to play several more minutes.
"He's kind of beat up," Self said about Reed. "Sasha's kind of beat up; we're just not quite healthy."
game.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
The defense the Jayhawks showed for most of the game last night was not complete full-court pressure. Self said they were just playing man-to-man and trying to get to the ball as quickly as possible.
ALMOST FULL-COURT
PRESS
Robinson said the defense forced Eastern Washington to play to Kansas's speed.
"We kind of wanted to create the tempo and create more minutes for the other guys," he said. "You do that with the press."
MAYBE A RECORD
For those who didn't notice, Eastern Washington's Gary Gibson had to leave the game quite early after he picked up his fifth foul with 16:40 to go in the second half. He had two fouls before halftime and three in the 3:20 after break.
The whole game didn't go too well for the Eagles. Coach Kirk
"I think there are less than 20 teams that can look at San Antonio and the Final Four as a realistic goal," he said. "Kansas is one of those teams. We have played Washington State, and they are another team that realistically could make it. Kansas is a whole different animal in terms of length, athletic ability and style of play."
Sophomore forward Darrell Arthur slaps the backboard after throwing down a dunk during the first half of the game. Accurate scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in the game.
Earlywine was impressed with Kansas.
Mark Dent
Pessimism, criticism of Jayhawks undeserved
BY CASE KEEFER
BY CASE KEEFER
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
CKEEFER@KANSAN.COM
Every Kansas basketball fan seems to be gripping about something this season
season.
They say the Jayhawks weren't dominant enough in an overtime victory against Arizona, they only beat Southern California because its superstar guard O.J. Mayo had an off day and senior center Sasha Kaun played like he belonged at Baker. OK, maybe everyone is justified in being fed up with Kaun.
Other than that, this grandfather-like cynicism needs to come to an end because we're missing the bigger picture. Kansas is 8-0 for only the second time in the Bill Self era, and these Hawks look like the coach's most promising team yet. It doesn't take Magnum P.I., however, to trace back to the origins of this negativity.
"No, 8-0 doesn't mean anything," senior forward Darnell Jackson said. "We have a long season we still have to play. We have to go out there and execute better before Big 12 play starts. There are a lot of good teams out there."
Players are trained to never be satisfied. If Jackson said that Kansas was right where they wanted to be, something would have been wrong. Yeah, there are some solid Big 12 Conference teams that are as hungry as wolves to take a bite out of the Jayhawks like Jackson said. That's why non-conference games exist.
Kansas has already passed two tests against high-caliber NCAA tournament teams despite fighting through injuries of two of its premier players. This year's team is already leaps and bounds beyond where last year's team was at this time.
In case you needed a refresher, Kansas had already dropped two games, against Oral Roberts and DePaul, exactly a year ago.
An 85-47 blowout victory against Eastern Washington isn't going to convince anyone that the streets are paved in gold for Kansas. The Eagles were really bad. Their best player, Kellen Williams, had a tattoo of the Space Needle on his leg and starting shooting guard Gary Gibson fouled out in less than 19 minutes of playing time.
Fans will undoubtedly be discouraged that the three Kansas starting guards shot below 30 percent and sophomore guard Brandon Rush's slump continued as he only went 4-for-11 from the field. But Rush did lead the team with ten rebounds and even Self sounded optimistic after the game.
"If he can rebound in traffic and he can finish in transition," Self said, "then his close to being back to the old Brandon."
Did you hear that? Self said his best player was almost back to his old self. He also said that he expected sophomore guard Sherron Collins to return from an injury before the allotted six-week time frame.
Keep your heads up during this winter break because there's no reason to be concerned about Kansas basketball. And don't complain incessantly just yet, there will be plenty of time to do that next semester when the Jayhawks lose in the Elite Eight again.
Edited by Amelia Freidline
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