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Volume 126 Issue 64
kansan.com
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
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COMMENTARY Defense takes center stage
On the first Baylor possession, sophomore center Isaiah Austin took a 3-point attempt. Nothing too special or unusual, but Austin was guarded by freshmen defensive standout Joel Embiid. Austin missed the shot, but the attempt was wide open.
"Coach Drew told us after last game that we passed up too many shots and he knows that we have confidence in making them," Austin said. "That's what we did tonight, but we fell short."
Embiid is used to playing against centers inside the paint and not having to contest 3-point shots. Embiid's shot blocking ability had to take a back seat when defending Austin on the perimeter during the 78-68 Kansas victory over Baylor last night.
Austin ended the first half 2-3 from 3-point range due to Embiid's lack of success guarding him. Baylor shot 80 percent from beyond the arc.
"We had some really good first-shot defensive possessions in the second half," coach Bill Self said. "In the first half, we weren't turned up enough to get to their players."
Niang was 0-9 from three on Jan. 14 against the Jayhawks, but still forced Embiid out of his comfort zone.
Embiid hasn't faced a center quite like Austin since playing Iowa State's Georges Niang.
Why was Austin's 3-point shooting ability so tough for Embid?
mage lover by Emblid's Austin was bothered by Embidid's knack for guarding the rim, and forced Austin to settle for outside shots, which was the reason for Embidid's single blocked shot Monday night.
In the first half, Austin didn't have any success inside against Embiid. Austin was 0-5 in the paint, including a huge block by Embiid.
Niang has trouble shooting against Embiid because Niang is only 6-foot-7. Embiid wins the size advantage there.
Austin's mixture of athleticism and length makes his shot hard to defend. Austin is a true seven-foot center, which makes the ability to block his jump shot more difficult.
Embid'd inexperience guarding players who succeed from the three-point range showed mostly in the second half. Throughout the game, Embid would lose track of Austin and Austin would have a wide-open three-point look.
Embiid didn't have a bad game defensively; He was a force on the inside, guarded the paint well and picked up four rebounds. When Baylor took Embiid outside of his comfort zone, he had trouble guarding the perimeter.
The Embid-Austin match-up took size to a completely different level.
The offensive comparison between Embiid and Austin is night and day. Embiid is
SEE COLUMN PAGE 10
BEAR TRAP
KANSAS 78 BAYLOR 68
Kansas defeats Baylor for fourth consecutive victory against ranked team
MICHAEL STRICKLAND/KANSAN
Freshman center Joel Embiid and sophomore forward Jamari Traylor guard the Bears' Cory Jefferson. Embiid had 12 points, one assist, one block and one steal. The Jayhawks beat the Baylor Bears 78-68.
BLAKE SCHUSTER
sports@kansan.com
If you wanted a sign that No. 8 Kansas could make the quick turnaround and move past an emotional victory over Oklahoma State, it's best that you didn't watch the first half against Baylor.
Not that Kansas wasn't performing well — actually the team hit 60 percent of its shots and limited Baylor to 4-18 inside the arc. It's just when your opponent hits 80 percent of its 3-pointers, the lines of good and poor play become a little blurred, especially when Brady Heslip, the savior of Baylor basketball in Lawrence on Monday, seemingly never took a shot he didn't like. Well, maybe that's not true for the second half.
After going 4-4 from behind the arc in the first frame, the fifth-year senior tapered off a bit, right around the time Kansas started to pull away and seal a 78-68 victory.
"We didn't do what we had prepared to do," Kansas coach Bill Self said of the first half. "It was the fact that they scored 35 that was disappointing to me."
But that sign, the one showing that the Jayhawks had all but forgotten about Saturday's war with the Cowboys, that didn't come until midway through the second half.
Kansas already had the lead, a decent handle of the game and had shut down the Bears from three — 5-17 in the second half it just needed something to fuel it to the finish.
A 30-second span from Perry Ellis, who led Kansas' scorers with 18 points, was all it took, starting with a jumper from just inside the arc with 13 minutes remaining. The shot gave Kansas a four-point lead. Ellis stormed back down the floor, catching Baylor's Taurean Prince off guard and allowing him to steal the ball back and run down for an easy dunk that drew a Cory Jefferson
foul.
"That gave us the energy to keep us going," freshman guard Wayne Selden Jr. said.
One free throw later, Kansas took a quick seven-point lead and the gap was more than enough.
"That's what's tough about playing up here," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "You can't let them get separation."
It was the hustle plays such as Ellis' steal and score that doomed the Bears. Particularly, it was Selden's dive four rows deep into the crowd to save a loose ball that took away any momentum Baylor could have mustered with its timeout after Ellis' run.
Selden's no-look pass falling onto the wood bleachers at Allen Fieldhouse fell perfectly into the hands of Joel Embiid, who had 12 points and four rebounds, for a quick jumper. It was Embiid's only field goal attempted in the second half.
Selden gave "the eyes in the back of my head" credit for the save.
And with Baylor's offense struggling to find away around the re-energized Jayhawks, there wasn't much the Bears could salvage.
"Kansas' defense, especially inside the arc, was effective." Drew said.
The victory gave Kansas its fourth consecutive win over a ranked opponent, making Kansas the first team to accomplish the feat since North Carolina in the 1996-97 season.
Since putting up just 57 points in a loss to San Diego State, Kansas hasn't scored less than 77 points in its previous five games. "Three of our wins are at home," Self said, as if it took away any validation. "It's a nice accomplishment, but it's just the way the schedule fell."
— Edited by Tara Bryant
TRACK AND FIELD
Women continue success in Nebraska
BEN BURCH sports@kansan.com
Senior sprinter Diamond Dixon entered the 2014 season with a slew of accolades already under her belt. She has claimed five Big 12 championships, eight All-American honors, a national championship and even an Olympic gold medal. Although it's early in the season Dixon showed that she plans to add to the list. At the Holiday Inn Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., Friday and Saturday, she brought home victories in the 60-meter and the 4x400-meter relay and notched a personal record of 7.48 in the 60-meter.
"[Dixon] is on track to doing great things; I believe it's going to be really special for us,"
coach Stanley Redwine said. "For someone of her talent to be PR'ing this early in the season is something special."
Also putting in an impressive performance at the meet in Lincoln was senior Natalie Becker. Like Dixon, Becker was also responsible for two of the Jayhawks' six total victories at the meet, helping the distance medley relay team grab the win on Saturday after she ran away from the field on Friday in the 3,000-meter, posting a personal best time of 9:40.86 that was more than 30 seconds faster than the second place finisher. Her performance in the 3,000-meter not only gave her the victory, but it moved her up to No.10 on the national leaderboard in the event according to the
["Becker] was outstanding to say the least," Redwine said. "To run the 3,000 that she did was a really good performance and made the field look pretty average."
Junior Lindsay Vollmer did her best at the meet to prove herself worthy of her selection to the preseason Bowerman Watch List, setting two new personal records in the shot put and the 60-meter hurdles. Her personal best time of 8.45 in the 60-meter hurdles not only gave her the victory in the event, but it moved her up to No.14 in the national rankings.
latest NCAA rankings.
The Jayhawks' other victory
SEE TRACK PAGE 10
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Senior spinner Paris Daniels finishes the final leg of the women's 4x400 relay to wrap up the women's events on the last day of the 2013 Kansas relays.