4B
KU 59, USC 55
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2007
MEN'S BASKETBALL WRAP-UP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Russell Robinson and Darrell Arthur defend USC's star freshman O.J. Mayo in the first half. Mayo scored 19 points and had three steals but couldn't carry the Trojans to victory. He turned the ball over five times and missed 15 shots.
basketball notes
THE GREAT
GALEN CENTER
If or when Allen Fieldhouse has to go, the University needs to seriously consider building a venue similar to the Galen Center, USC's sparkling new arena across the street from its campus.
The outside of the building is made of the same brick as nearly every building on campus, allowing it to blend in with the surroundings. Inside, there is a glass window behind the fans on one side of the court that features a view of downtown Los Angeles. The only negative was the lukewarm fan support. At game time, more than a thousand seats were unfilled.
NBA GAME
Twenty-nine NBA scouts viewed Sunday's game. That means every NBA team except one had a representative to watch both Kansas and USC. Both teams are full of pro prospects, USC's OJ. Mayo, Davon Jefferson, TaJ Gibson and Daniel Hackett all have a good chance to play in the NBA. For Kansas, the scouts are looking at Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers.
STEWART'S HOMECOMING
The USC fans booed Stewart when his name was announced for the starting lineup and continued to serenade him with the chant "Lodrick's Better" during the first half. Stewart said he didn't mind. He got the victory and had the most important assist of the game.
"I take it as I'm on the opposite team, it's not a big deal. I almost thought you were Stewart said."
Mark Dent
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brandon Rush, center, shoots between Southern California's Davon Jefferson (5) and Daniel Hackett in the first half of the game in Los Angeles. Rush scored just six points but started the second half for the Jawhaws.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Taj Gibson pressures Mario Chalmers during the second half, Chalmers and the Jayhawks didn't succumb to the Trojans, though. Chalmers led all scorers with 20 points, and Gibson fouled out with just two points on 1-4 shooting.
Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun force Southern California's Davon Jefferson to take a difficult shot in the first half. Jefferson finished with 17 points.
Jayhawks survive challenge from USC
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
LOS ANGELES — The only thought on Rodrick Stewart's mind was to not turn the ball over.
Junior guard Mario Chalmers had just passed him the ball as the shot clock ticked down with less than 30 seconds to go and Kansas nursing a 55-53 lead. Stewart, a senior guard who transferred from Southern California, had already been called for two travels and a charge during his homecoming game. He couldn't mess up again.
Sure enough, Stewart found Chalmers open, and Chalmers made a shot from several feet behind the three-point line as the shot clock expired. The basket sealed Kansas' 59-55 victory against Southern California.
"I knew we had a little time on the clock, but I didn't want to look at it again because the last time I did, a guy jumped in front of me and I charged," Stewart said. "But I knew the shot was going to go in. It felt like it was going to go in after it left his hands."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It wasn't the first time Chalmers showed a knack for being the go-to guy. Last week against Arizona, he scored eight straight points down the stretch of regulation to help push the game into overtime. He made a three-pointer against Texas in the Big 12 Championship to send that game to overtime last year.
for Jackson, he had no problem letting Chalmers make the clutch three-pointer.
Chalmers was supposed to take the last shot back then. That wasn't the case Sunday. Kansas coach Bill Self designed a play that should've ended with senior forward Darnell Jackson shooting the ball down low. Chalmers said he passed the ball to Stewart because he thought Stewart had a better angle to throw the ball to Jackson. Stewart instead passed the ball immediately to Chalmers, who scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half.
Although the play was designed
"I think Mario's the big-shot guy for us," Jackson said. "If Mario not out there, it's Brandon. One of those two is always going to make big shots for us."
The shot was pretty; the rest of the game wasn't. For the second Sunday in a row, the Jayhawks won an ugly game against a quality opponent.
Rodrick Stewart, front, passes around a Southern California player to Darnell Jackson in the second half of Kansas 59-55 victory. Jackson led all players in rebounding with 13, four of those coming on the offensive glass.
In the first half, USC looked like it might run away. They went on a 14-2 run to take a 10-point lead midway through the first half. Kansas' players looked lost when they tried to run the half-court offense.
"Offensively we were very poor." Self said. "We were so stagnant, and we lost our poise. Their pressure had us sped up pretty good."
Kansas' ability to rebound the ball kept the Trojans from pulling too far ahead. The Jayhawks couldn't clean the glass with a gallon of Windex the first few games of the year. Arizona outbounded them last week and lowly Pittsburg State outbounded them in an exhibition game.
USC brought a backcourt featuring three 6-foot-5 guards and two powerful post players in Davon Jefferson and Taj Gibson. This should've been an easy rebounding day for the Trojans. It wasn't. The Jayhawks won the rebounds battle 42-30.
They bounced back from the scoring drought in the first half by getting offensive rebounds that led to easy baskets. Kansas had 14 offensive rebounds compared with USC's six.
"That was the difference in the game." Self said. "Darnell was a beast on the glass. Shady did a good job rebounding the ball. I was proud of how we rebounded the ball because we hadn't done that up until this point."
Kansas's presence on the boards also helped because USC missed a
lot of shots, especially star freshman O.J. Mayo. Senior guard Russell Robinson pestered Mayo for most of the game. Self said he gave Robinson the nod because he was the best perimeter defender on the team. Mayo missed 15 of 21 shots and turned the ball over five times.
"He's a pretty good player. He can get his shot whenever," Robinson said. "He kind of settled for a lot of shots and that made my job a lot easier."
The victory certainly wasn't easy for Kansas. The Jayhawks shot only 38 percent from the field, but their defense, rebounding and clutch
shooting helped them win. Kansas is now two-for-two against quality opponents this season. Self said that USC would probably be the best team the Jayhawks would face until conference play and that his team needed this test.
"You have to win games where you don't play great, especially on the road," Self said. "That was one of those grind-it-out games where we competed hard. We didn't execute worth a flip, but we competed hard."
— Edited by Tara Smith
Kansas 59, USC 55
Kansas 7-0
REBOUNDS
<table><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">## Player Name</th><th colspan="3">TOT-FG</th><th colspan="5">REBOUNDS</th><th rowspan="2">TP</th><th rowspan="2">A</th><th rowspan="2">TO</th><th rowspan="2">BLK</th><th rowspan="2">S</th><th rowspan="2">MIN</th></tr><tr><th>FG-FGA</th><th>FG-FGA</th><th>FT-FA</th><th>OF</th><th>DE</th><th>TOT</th><th>PF</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>00 Arthur, Darrell f</td><td>5-11</td><td>0-1</td><td>0-2</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>8</td><td>5</td><td>10</td><td>0</td><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>32 Jackson, Darnell f</td><td>4-10</td><td>0-0</td><td>1-2</td><td>4</td><td>9</td><td>13</td><td>2</td><td>9</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>0</td><td>33</td></tr><tr><td>03 Robinson, Russell g</td><td>2-7</td><td>1-4</td><td>0-0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>3</td><td>5</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>0</td><td>2</td><td>33</td></tr><tr><td>05 Stewart, Rodrick g</td><td>2-7</td><td>0-1</td><td>0-0</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>7</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>1</td><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>15 Chalmers, Mario g</td><td>6-11</td><td>3-6</td><td>5-8</td><td>2</td><td>5</td><td>7</td><td>3</td><td>20</td><td>0</td><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>3</td><td>33</td></tr><tr><td>24 Kaun, Sasha</td><td>1-1</td><td>0-0</td><td>3-4</td><td>0</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>0</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>25 Rush, Brandon</td><td>2-11</td><td>0-5</td><td>2-2</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>0</td><td>6</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>26</td></tr><tr><td>45 Aldrich, Cole TEAM</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>2</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Totals</td><td>22-58</td><td>4-17</td><td>11-18</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">## Player Name</th><th colspan="2">TOT-FG</th><th colspan="4">3-PT</td><td colspan="6">REBOUNDS</td></tr><tr><th>FG-FGA</th><th>FG-FGA</th><th>FT-FTA</th><th>OF</th><th>DE</th><th>TOT</th><th>PF</th><th>TP</th><th>A</th><th>TO</th><th>BLK</th><th>S</th><th>MIN</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>05 Jefferson, Davon f</td><td>6-11</td><td>0-0</td><td>5-7</td><td>0</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>17</td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>35</td></tr><tr><td>21 Lewis, Dwight f</td><td>2-3</td><td>0-1</td><td>0-0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>22 Gibson, Taj c</td><td>1-4</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-3</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>5</td><td>2</td><td>0</td><td>2</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>13 Hackett, Daniel g</td><td>4-9</td><td>2-2</td><td>1-2</td><td>0</td><td>6</td><td>6</td><td>1</td><td>11</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>32 Mayo, O.J. g</td><td>6-21</td><td>3-11</td><td>4-6</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>3</td><td>19</td><td>2</td><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>3</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>01 Johnson, Angelo</td><td>0-1</td><td>0-1</td><td>0-0</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>0</td><td>2</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>23 Wilkinson, Keith</td><td>1-2</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>33 Cromwell, RouSean</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>43 Cunningham, Kasey</td><td>0-1</td><td>0-0</td><td>0-0</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>TEAM</td><td></td><td></td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Totals</td><td>20-52</td><td>5-15</td><td>10-18</td><td>6</td><td>24</td><td>30</td><td>20</td><td>55</td><td>11</td><td>18</td><td>1</td><td>6</td><td>200</td></tr></tbody></table>