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Volume 126 Issue 76
kansan.com
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
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COMMENTARY K-State loss not a big deal
Kansas has dominated Kansas State in basketball for the better part of the last two decades. If Kansas is the Harlem Globetrotters, then Kansas State is the Washington Generals. If Kansas is the sun, then Kansas State is the polar ice caps.
Before Monday, Kansas won 48 of the last 51 games against the Wildcats. The most recent matchup was in Allen Field-house. The Jayhawks took to a huge lead, put the clamps on freshman Marcus Foster, and ended the night with an 86-60 victory. The game was as much of a blowout as the score suggested.
The history of this rivalry, both the long term and the short term, would indicate that any loss to Kansas State would be a major disappointment.
However, that was not the case last night. Unlike the debacle against Texas, this was not a bad loss. This was simply a loss.
To start, Kansas was missing one of its key bench players, Jamari Traylor, who was benched for disciplinary reasons. Traylor defends the pick and roll much better than Perry Ellis, who got burned by poor switching several times in the second half. In general, Traylor is the right defender to throw at shorter forwards such as Kansas State's Thomas Gipson and D.J. Johnson. Traylor's impact sometimes is not visible on the score, but this loss showed his reach extends beyond the obvious statistics.
Another one of Kansas' key players, Joel Embiid, was unavailable for the latter parts of the game, due to a culmination of injuries occurring over the last several games. Embiid was unable to contribute much outside of the first twenty minutes. His towering presence was sorely missed, as Kansas State attacked the rim with ease and made eleven layups in the second half and overtime.
Monday night also produced some good teaching moments for Kansas to draw upon. Down nine points with two minutes to go (eerily mirroring the last two minutes of the 2008 national championship game.) Kansas fought hard to tie the game in regulation. The grit Kansas shows in the last couple minutes of games is encouraging, as shown in the losses against Florida and San Diego State. The Jayhawks need to prove they can play with this kind of intensity during the earlier minutes of the game.
Kansas also hung in the game against a good team when its offense never got going. Kansas shot 42 percent from the field, and until Conner Frankamp's garbage time 3-point at the end of the game, shot 13 percent from three. These numbers usually suggest a lopsided loss, but the Jayhawks stayed aggressive by getting to the free throw line. Which is the perfect solution for an off-shooting game. In addition, Brannen Greene and Frankamp provided valuable minutes, showing they can be used in important games down the road.
It's never good to lose to a rival. But Self uses the game film to focus on positives and fix the negatives; it will be forged come March.
Edited by Jack Feigh
MEDIA DAY
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN
Senior pitcher Jordan Piche' and junior outfielder Michael Suiter answer questions during baseball media day. The team starts off its season in Arizona this weekend.
SHANE JACKSON
sports@kansan.com
that we will be able to play, to prepare us for conference season." Price said.
As Jordan Piche' walks into the Kansas baseball clubhouse, he is constantly reminded of the doubt that has been put on his club this year. Everytime Piche' looks at the wall in the room room. The Big 12 preseason rankings stare back at him. The one that has Kansas finishing ninth.
"Being underdogs is fun," senior closer Jordan Piche' said. "We proved last year that we can beat the big guys."
selves on the road this weekend as they travel to Arizona to take on Brigham Young University in a four-game series. For the start of the season Kansas is on the road more often than not. They have three away tournaments in the first four weekends of the season.
With all the snow recent-
Before the jayhawks take a run at proving the Big 12 voters wrong, they'll find them-
"For the last month, we have been hitting off tees and in cages. It's exciting to get out in warm weather and play."
TUCKER THARP
senior outfielder
"It's something we don't like to do," coach Ritch Price said. "We had to assure ourselves
"For the last month, we have
ly, the Jayhawks had a tough time taking to the diamond to practice, let alone play. With a week to go before the start of the season, Price took his guys down to Dallas after classes Friday.
been hitting off tees and in cages," senior outfielder Tucker Tharp said. "It's exciting to get out in warm weather and play. That's why Dallas was a blast, because we got to see the ball travel and see live pitching."
Junior pitcher Wes Benjamin is excited to get out of the snow is well.
"When you have a foot of snow on the baseball field there is not much you can do," Benjamin said. "Going down some place like Arizona, where it's warm all the time, lifts up everyone's spirits and they get excited to play."
The Kansas team will have Sunday off before the final game of the series on Monday.
rice, however, has special plans for his ball club for its off day.
"We are actually going to Surprise Stadium," Price said. "The Royals are giving us one of their fields to practice on Sunday. Our relationship with Dayton Moore and Rusty Kuntz (first base coach) is off the charts, and they always treat us first class."
Regardless of the outcome, it is evident that the Jayhawks need a weekend in warm weather just to get some quality work in on the diamond.
Edited by Maddie Nave
AMIE JUST/KANSAN
Junior guard Natalie Knight looks to continue her recent success after scoring 25 points in the Jayhawks' last game against Oklahoma.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansas looks to overcome inconsistency against TCU
KYLE PAPPAS sports@kansan.com
One of the first words that comes to mind when describing this year's Kansas women's basketball team is "inconsistency." The Jayhawks have yet to win back-to-back Big 12 games and haven't displayed the ability to maintain any momentum through the season.
Predicting which Jayhawk (11-13, 4-8 Big 12) team will show up has been about as accurate as the daily horoscope. Will it be the squad that took down the No. 7 Baylor Bears by sixteen points on Jan. 19? Or will it be the bunch that was dismantled nine days later by unranked Texas, 80-55?
"That's what happens when you don't show up in this league" Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said following the Texas loss. "No matter where, you don't show up, you don't play, that's what happens in this league."
Kansas players will certainly have their coach's words in the back of their minds heading into tonight's home game against TCU (14-9, 5-6 Big 12). The Horned Frogs have been a fixture in the bottom half of the conference for
It's clearly the Jayhawks' best chance to get back on track before the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tournament in March. Losers of consecutive conference games, Kansas will again look to junior forward Chelsea Gardner to help turn things around.
Gardner has been on a tear in 2014, being named espnW's Player of the Week earlier in the season while leading the conference in double-doubles with nine. But in Kansas' last outing against Oklahoma, Gardner was held in check, not recording a field goal in the entire first half.
much of the season and enter Lawrence having lost five of their past eight contests.
Knight was one of the few Jayhawks to elevate her game in the absence of Gardner's production. She finished with 25 points while shooting 67 percent from behind the arc in undoubtedly the best game of her career. She's become a constant threat to score and is dangerous from nearly everywhere on the court. Expect Knight to get several open opportunities in transition while TCU occupies itself with Gardner down low.
"We could've done a better job of just penetrating," junior guard Natalie Knight said after the game. "You know, trying to dish to [Gardner] or getting her rotational rebounds"
The Horned Frogs are fresh off a 72-57 home victory over Texas Tech, which remain the Big 12's sole winless team. They're led by sophomore guard Medley Zahna, who's averaging 16 points and 3.8 assists per game as the team's primary playmaker. TCU sits last in the conference in both free throw percentage and defensive rebounding, so look for Henrickson to attempt to exploit these areas.
When these two met earlier this season in Fort Worth, Kansas allowed the Horned Frogs to mount an 11-point comeback over the game's final five minutes in surely one of its most disappointing losses of the year. You can be sure it hasn't been forgotten. Anticipate a fairly physical game as both sides are attempting to gain some, or any, momentum heading into this final stretch of the regular season.
Edited by Stella Liang
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