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Volume 126 Issue 82
kansan.com
Monday, February 24, 2014
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COMMENTARY Jayhawks avenge previous Texas loss
At some point during Kansas' rampage on Saturday you had to remind yourself that the jayhawks were facing a ranked team.
Without that knowledge, it was just another slaughter in a long line of Allen Fieldhouse beat downs. One that could get filed away and forgotten about as the seasons go by.
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But these are the Longhorns. This was a team that had decimated the Jayhawks in Austin, Texas, not even a month ago. This was revenge.
No. 8 Kansas defeated No. 19 Texas 85-54 and it wasn't even that close.
texas whipped us down there the first time." Self said. "This wasn't about the league race as much as it was about playing Texas."
"I thought we decapitated better today," coach Bill Self said with a wide smile.
Maybe that had something to do with it, because the way Kansas played you'd never know they were.
Edited by Amber Kasselman
Kansas was just better, potentially the best team in the nation according to Barnes, whose Longhorns weren't even expected to contend in the conference this year.
the Jayhawks wanted to come out and show Texas what happened in Austin was a one-time thing, that they could stop freshman guard Isaiah Taylor, who shot 1 for 14 from the field, and expose the Longhorns' offense. Because the opposite rang true in part one of a clash between the Big 12 best.
"Topeka YMCA would have given them a better game," Texas coach Rick Barnes said afterwards.
Just a few weeks ago freshman guard Andrew Wiggins was rendered useless, freshman center Joel Embid was big-bodied by sophomore center Cameron Ridley and junior guard Naadir Tharpe couldn't do anything to help get the offense going.
And while all of this was happening, the Jayhawks held Texas to 34 percent shooting from the field.
Embiid, who set the freshman block record (63) in the first half, ran the floor for a Tomahawk Slam. Senior forward Tarik Black went up and over Ridley for a dunk that was so unexpected it nearly silenced the Fieldhouse. Moments later Black caught an alley-oop from sophomore Iamari Traylor.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
This was more than that. This was bullying in its simplest form, giving the Longhorns the appearance of hope before smacking them down.
After falling to Texas and again to Kansas State, it was clear some things weren't working anymore. That playing tight defense was a chore instead of an accomplishment.
On Saturday three layhawks scored double-digits while three other plays came just one or two points shy of doing the same. By the second half, the game had become more of a Kansas skills competition than, well, a Big 12 one.
"We got embarrassed at their place," said Wiggins, who scored 21 points and had six rebounds. "We wanted to do the same to them."
"We wanted to let them know how we really play," said freshman guard Frank Mason who scored 14 points. "Who we really are."
Freshman center Joel Embiid dunks the ball over Texas player Javan Felix. Embiid broke the all-time blocking record and had 13 points, three assists and six blocks against Texas.
MICHAEL STRICKLAND/KANSAN Leia blonde against Tayas
BRIAN HILLIX sports@kansan.com
This game had all the makings of a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire affair.
Kansas was playing a team it lost to by double-digits three weeks ago, a team that stood at second place in the Big 12 standings and a team that could match the Jayhawks' size down low and speed on the perimeter.
Instead, Saturday's battle of the top two teams in the conference ended in a romp as No. 8 Kansas (21-6, 12-2 Big 12) crushed No. 19 Texas (20-7, 9-5 Big 12) 85-54 at Allen Fieldhouse after a dominating first half that Kansas freshman guard Frank Mason said was the team's best half all season. The Jayhawks overcame an 81-69 loss to the Longhorns on Feb. 1 in style, handing Texas its
The Jayhawks shot 63 percent from the field in the first half while holding Texas to 21 percent. The Kansas defense held the Longhorns without a field goal for an eight-minute span in the period, which was part of a 32-5 run that gave Kansas a 28-point lead going into halftime.
worst loss of the season.
"At Texas [three weeks ago] it seemed like we didn't have pride or anything going for us," said Mason, who came off the bench for 14 points on 6-7 shooting. "So we wanted to come back home and let them know how we really play and who we really are."
"We started the game aggressive and were locked in on defense," Mason said. "We got stops and that lead to our offense."
A driving force of the lockdown defense was
freshman center Joel Embid, who broke the Kansas freshman block record with his first block of the night. Embid passed former big man Eric Chenowith, who blocked 62 shots during his
FRANK MASON Freshman guard
"We wanted to come back home and let them know how we really play and who we really are."
freshman season in 1997-98.
"It was a great accomplishment for me," said Embiid, who also added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Embid, who ranks second in the Big 12 in blocks, had six blocks in the evening, matching his total from his
last four games combined.
Another key for Kansas' defensive success was shutting down Texas freshman guard Isaiah Taylor, who torched Kansas for 23 points in the teams' first meeting. With an emphasis to shut down the Longhorns' floor general, Taylor was held to five points on 1-14 shooting.
"We knew that he was the key to their team," Mason said. "It started with me and Naadir cutting the head off of the team and we knew they would struggle if we could do that."
The 54 points are the second-fewest the Jayhawks have allowed this season and mark the fewest points Texas has scored in a game this year.
"We didn't give them any easy baskets," coach Bill Self said. "Everything was contested at the rim."
Freshman guard Andrew
Wiggins, who shot 17 percent from the floor and scored seven points against the Longhorns in Austin, Texas, doubled that total in the first half alone and would finish the period with 15 points on 5-7 shooting and 3-4 from long range. He scored eight straight Kansas points during an 18-0 run midway through the half.
With the victory, Kansas now has a three-game lead in the Big 12 and can clinch at least a share of the conference title on Monday against Oklahoma at Allen Fieldhouse.
"When I start early it builds up my confidence in my game," said Wiggins, who finished with a game-high 21 points. "Especially if I get a three. I feel like I'm on fire automatically."
Edited by Chelsea Mies