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Volume 126 Issue 63
Monday, January 20, 2014
kansan.com
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COMMENTARY
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Wiggins wins,but Smart shines
Wiggins was held to three points, one rebound, one assist and played only 11 minutes in the first half due to two personal fouls. He was forced to give up the ball on multiple possessions and showed no sense of urgency to take the ball to the basket. The Oklahoma State zone defense allowed Wiggins to settle for jump shots and made him become a passer in the first half.
The matchup between Wiggins and Smart was well over-hyped. Wiggins was supposed to guard Smart for the majority of the game, but ended up guarding Smart on a handful of possessions. The matchup went unnoticed in the 80-78 Kansas victory over Oklahoma State.
Smart was the key to the comeback, finishing the game with 16 points on 3-14 from the field, ten rebounds, nine assists, four steals and a perfect 10-10 from the charity strike.
The leadership comparison of Smart and Wiggins wasn't bought,Smart rose to the occasion and Wiggins refused to rise like some unleavened bread.
Oklahoma State surged back from the 19-point deficit in the second half to come within two points.
On the other hand, Smart played in all 20 minutes of the first half, but a committee of Kansan players held him without a field goal. Smart still managed to go a perfect 8-8 from the line, five rebounds and four assists. He had a quiet first half as Kansas went to the locker room leading 47-30.
Here it was, early in the first half, freshman guard Andrew Wiggins gave a 3-pointer against the ninth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. The crowd thought that this could be Wiggins' chance to out-shine Oklahoma State's star sophomore guard Marcus Smart. No one in the crowd knew that the Wiggins' 3-pointer would be the only made basket for him the entire game, and Smart would outplay Wiggins.
SEE COLUMN PAGE 9B
KANSAS 80 OKLAHOMA STATE 78
"Wiggins had the worst game he played all year," coach Bill Self said.
"In the first half we did it to ourselves, a lot of stupid plays and mental mistakes on our part," Smart said. "Coming out in the first half we played aggressive and hard, the intensity wasn't there so we just made sure we came out in the second half and made sure we changed that."
To understand how unaggressive Wiggins' offensive play was against Oklahoma State, Wiggins didn't attempt a single free throw, while Smart was increasing his aggressiveness on each possession.
The second half was a completely different game for Smart, but Wiggins remained invisible on the court.
The Oklahoma State guard continued his aggression and the first two possessions of the second half, Wiggins was in the face of Smart. Wiggins' insanity was present on defense, but he couldn't buy himself a basket. He finished the game shooting 20 percent two rebounds and one assist during 12 minutes of play.
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
Junior guard Naadir Tharpe high fives the crowd on his way to the locker room after Saturday's victory against the Cowboys.
LIVE AND LEARN
Jayhawks play smarter after last year's home court loss
BLAKE SCHUSTER sports@kansan.com
sports@kansan.com
Marcus Smart didn't waste any time walking off James Naismith Court when the final buzzer sounded. He didn't soak up the rambunctious crowd around him or walk over to shake hands with any of the Kansas Jayhawks.
Like most of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Smart tilted his head down, pointed his eyes at the floor and started his quick walk back to the visiting locker room at Allen Fieldhouse.
There were no back flips. Not today.
In part one of what has been billed as the Big 12 Championship Series, it was No. 15 Kansas holding off No. 9 Oklahoma State, 80-78 in the rare game that exceeds expectations.
"Everybody is smiling." Naadir Tharpe said. "Everybody is excited. They're starting to understand this is how Kansas basketball is supposed to be played."
By that standard Kansas basketball is played with lob passes that fly perfectly over
defenders, a defense that holds the league's second-best shooting team to a mere 39 percent and a bench full of players who get into tussles at midcourt. Then again, that doesn't account for anything that happened in the second half.
Kansas 48-33 in the final frame, leading to much of Self's concerns.
"It an eerie feeling but it's the same game we played against Michigan last year," Self said, referring to the Jayhawks Sweet Sixteen loss last March.
"They're starting to understand this is how Kansas basketball is supposed to be played."
NAADIR THARPE Junior guard
In those final 20 minutes everything that Kansas proved it was capable of in the first frame unraveled. Be it complacency, over-confidence or laziness, the Jayhawks showed they have a ways to go before playing their best basketball.
Which is why even when Kansas took a 17-point lead at half, there was a lingering feeling that nothing was safe. Oklahoma State out-scored
"We did enough to win," coach Bill Self said. "But we're not leaving out of here giddy because we did."
in that game, Michigan clawed back from down 12 with just more than six minutes remaining after Kansas had played some of its best basketball all season. At that same mark on Saturday the layhawks led the Cowboys by 11. Perhaps even more unnerving is the comparison of Marcus Smart to Michigan's Trey Burke. In the Sweet Sixteen, Burke didn't hit a field goal until two minutes into the second half. Smart didn't knock down any shots from the field until six minutes
were left in the second half. And like Burke, Smart contributed by doing more than scoring. His nine assists and 10 rebounds made up the bulk of his game in Lawrence.
The difference between last March and last Saturday came down to a recently familiar position for Kansas inconsistency: point guard. It was the mistakes of his elders that allowed Naadir Tharpe to come up big for the Jayhawks.
"I have to be the leader," Tharpe said. "These guys haven't played in these games. I watched Tyshawn [Taylor] and Elijah [Johnson] and I have to lead out there."
So Tharpe led. He led the Jayhawks with 21 points and six assists and he put the talented young freshmen around him in a position to finish off the rest.
It was Tharpe's play that ignited Joel Embiid, allowing the potential NBA lottery pick to put up 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks, which broke the Kansas single game record that Embiid set with seven blocks against UTPE earlier in the year.
It was because of Tharpe's
play that Frank Mason was in a position to knock down a free throw with a little more than five seconds remaining to give Kansas a two-point lead.
Yet on that final play it was all Mason, who proved more than anyone that he can learn from his mistakes. Against Colorado in December, Mason let asika Booker to get to the side of him and toss up a game-winning three. This time Mason stayed completely in front of Le'Bryan Nash not allowing much, if any, of a look at the basket before time expired.
"With five seconds you've got to go. You don't have time to draw a play." Cowbies coach Travis Ford said. "We knew what to do, get it and go."
Marcus Smart called the loss a moral victory. Naadir Tharpe called it a warning.
"We are sending a message," Tharpe said. "Even though we have a lot of young guys we're ready to play."
Edited by Chelsea Mies
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks defeat Cowboys despite Wiggins' career low
BRIAN HILLIX
sports@kansan.com
Coming into a clash between the preseason co-favorites to win the Big 12, Andrew Wiggins carried the Jayhawks in big games, averaging more than 20 points against ranked teams. After playing No. 9 Oklahoma State (15-3, 3-2), Kansas proved it is capable of beating a top ten team when the freshman star isn't at his best.
Wiggins scored a career-low three points on Saturday in an 80-78 victory against the Cowboys at Allen Fieldhouse.
While No. 15 Kansas (13-4, 4-0) is certainly a much better team with Wiggins on the court, the Jayhawks have proved throughout the season that they aren't doomed if he has an off-day.
He also recorded career-lows in field goals made (one), field goals attempted (five) and minutes played (23).
"They've got so many good basketball players, so deep," Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said.
Kansas has won all three games this season where Wiggins hasn't reached double digits in scoring. In the
team's Big 12 opener against Oklahoma in Norman, Wiggins scored nine points and made just two field goals in a 90-83 Kansas win.
Picking up the slack on Saturday was Naadir Tharpe, who scored 21 points for his third 20-point game in his last six contests. When Kansas was in need of a run in the second half. Tharpe made the game-changing plays.
When Oklahoma State cut the lead to three with 11 minutes remaining in the game, Tharpe nailed a 3-pointer to
SEE WIGGINS PAGE 9B
BRENT BURFORD/KANSAN
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Senior forward Markel Brown defeats freshman guard Andrew Wiggins to the basket for a lay-in. Wiggins finished with three points and acquired three fouls.
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