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B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10. 2005
MEN'S BASKETBALI
Jayhawks tame Massey, continue streak
Free throws ward off Wildcat surge
BY KELLI ROBINETT
krobinett@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRIETER
MANHATTAN — Kansas coach Bill Self wasn't going to let Jeremiah Massey be the one to defeat the Jayhawks last night.
Sort of.
He treated the Kansas State senior forward as the focal point of his defensive efforts, and it worked.
By using a rotation of big men, Kansas forced last year's Big 12 newcomer of the year into shooting six of 16 from the field, and slowed him to a mere five first-half points.
Massey eventually found his groove and turned in a fine 20-point performance that featured eight free throws, but by the time he stepped up his game it was too late.
"Their game plan was to bang him, hit him, and not worry about a foul down there," Kansas State coach Jim
Wooldridge said. "It's tough on him because he's playing against bigger bodies."
Maybe it was Self's game plan. Maybe Massey was nervous because it was his last chance to play Kansas at home. Maybe it was the curse of K-State's 29-game losing streak against Kansas.
Whatever it was, it rendered him basically worthless in the first half of the Jayhawks' nine-point victory.
Not the kind of energetic start you want from a senior who is the only player featured on the cover of the Wildcats' media guide.
In fact, Massey was the man who many thought would be the miracle worker to finally end Kansas State's home loosing streak to their in-state rival.
Massey's 15-point second-half performance almost made that dream a reality, but the Kansas road game winning streak in Manhattan now stands at 22.
Kansas coach Bill Self didn't even put senior forward Wayne Simien on him. Instead, junior forward Christian Moody drew the defensive assignment.
Moody allowed Massey to score three points before picking up two early fouls, and Moody spent the remainder of the half on the bench.
"Christian was out of the game early." Self said. "We thought Sasha and Christian were the two best to guard him."
Self turned out to be correct, and Sasha Kaun picked up the slack.
the freshman forward played physical defense on Massey, and held him to only two points the rest of the first half.
"First half, Sasha did a great job on him," Self said. "He was two-o-fine in the first half."
Even when Massey made a good move and got a high-percentage look at the basket, he missed.
At one point faked out freshman forward Darnell Jackson and put up an easy lay, only to watch it spin around the rim twice and come out.
"He took some bad shots, but other than that he just had some good shots that didn't go in," Wooldridge said.
Another time, he spun past Kaun and put up a nice looking floater, but Simien came charging from the top of the key to
Massey couldn't do any better on rebounding or defense either. He only collected two rebounds in the first half, and ended with five.
swat it away.
On defense he had the task of guarding Simien, at times, and found no success there, as he allowed the Leavenworth native to score 23 points.
With 12:23 remaining in the game, Massey had an opportunity to put his team back in the game, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. He rebounded his own miss, and his putback shot was immediately blocked.
Massey didn't quit, though. Kansas switched to a zone defense and began trapping him, but he fought through the double teams and continually got to charity stripe.
"He went to the free-throw line in the second half," Self said. "We started trapping him and that worked a little better, but he still found a way to muscle the ball up there."
Self said he was impressed with Massey's effort, and was relieved that the streak lived on.
Jeremiah Massey, Kansas State senior forward, argues with a referee about a foul he was called for during the first half last night in Manhattan.
Edited by Jesse Truesdale
Courtney Kuhlen/KANSAN
Weinstein
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Before last night's game, Miles led the conference and was fifth in the nation in assists (7.3). He was coming off a four-game stretch in which he averaged 10.8 points per game, 8.5 assists and only 2.25 turnovers per game.
Miles was making a strong case for the Big 12's top honor (which is), leading the Jayhawks in every facet of the game. His defensive abilities are a major reason that Kansas ranks second in the nation in field-goal defense with 36.8 percent.
"Aaron's been so good." Kansas coach Bill said.
Poor games from star players happen.I know the entire Kansas team, including Miles, won't think twice about it.
That's why Miles' game last night was so glaring. His final line: one point, three rebounds, six assists and eight turnovers in 37 minutes.
"And then to have a game with so many unforced errors is not indicative of how good he can play."
Miles easily turned in his worst performance of the season and maybe his career.
Luckily for Miles, three of his fellow starters rose to the occasion and carried the team for the entire game.
Simien, senior guard Keith Langford and sophomore guard J.R. Giddens combined to score
65 points, matching the point total for the entire Wildcats team.
Self said his team would not have had a chance to win without those three players. The rest of the team combined for nine points. It's tough to win games without contributions from the bench.
Simien, Langford and Giddens average 43.2 points per game. It's unrealistic to rely on those three guys every night. In some cases, they'll light up the arena and save an occasionally anemic Kansas offense from embarrassment. But it won't happen all that often.
Kansas has been fortunate that it has not had to completely rely on those three scoring a ton of points on the same night. Team defense is the biggest reason Kansas is 19-1, 9-0 in the Big 12 Conference.
That defense was an oddity
last night. The numbers support a strong defensive performance.
The Jayhawks held the Wildcats to 38.2 percent from the field, largely a result of an unkind rim and poor shot selection by the Wildcats.
They did connect on nine three-pointers out of twenty, but that number also must be a concern for a team that has been holding opponents to 30.5 percent.
Poor games from star players happen. I know the entire Kansas team, including Miles, won't think twice about it.
Their most important player had an off night. But in no way did his performance diminish the fact that he still is the most important player on this team.
Aaron Miles for Big 12 conference player of the year.
"We never had a low-post presence," Henrickson said. "Crustal really struggled."
Upset
Oklahoma State took quick advantage of McIntohs's absence in the second half by jumping out of the gate with a 13-1 run.
Without McIntosh in the Kansas lineup, Oklahoma State posted five more rebounds than Kansas in the second period. Kemp, Kansas' leading scorer on the season, accounted for only seven points.
The Jayhawk offense fell out
of sync, and the defense repeatedly surrendered offensive rebounds to the Cowgirls.
"We didn't play smart offensively," Henrickson said. "In a one-possession game you've got to maximize opportunities.
On the offensive end, junior guard Erica Hallman struggled to score as Cowgirl senior guard Nina Stone clamped down in defense.
Stone, who ranks second in conference with 2.42 steals per game, effectively limited the scoring of Hallman for most of the game.
Several late buckets by Hallman helped her close out
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
"We didn't play smart defensively. In a one-possession game, you've got to maximize opportunities."
Bonnie Henrickson Women's basketball coach
with 15 points, but the effort came too late.
As Burras led the Kansas comeback and briefly reac-
quired the lead for the Jayhawks, the Cowgirls scored three straight buckets to regain the advantage and give the final margin.
The next conference test returns the Jayhawks to Allen Fieldhouse at 1 p.m. Sunday for a game against Colorado.
Monster
Kansas will play four consecutive home games before hitting the road again to finish out the season.
The Jayhawks took game one of this year's series against the Buffalooes with a 65-60 victory in Boulder, Colo.
They grabbed an early lead, but a 14-3 K-State run midway through the first half evened the score at 19. The Jayhawks countered by outscoring K-State 16-6 in the last ten minutes of the first period.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
That was the story of the game. Whenever one team went on a run, the other rallied with a run of their own. Luckily for the Jayhawks, their scoring streaks were longer.
Edited by Jesse Truesdale
It also didn't hurt that the Wildcats' star forward Jermiah Massey, who averages 17 points a game, got just five points and two rebounds in the first half.
The Jayhawks' most substantial run of the game was the one that started in the first half and carried over into the second. Their 16-6 first half ending run put them up 35-25 at halftime, and they added a 9-3 run that in the first two minutes after the intermission.
"I thought we did a pretty good job on him," Simien said.
"I would say the end of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half was the difference in the game," Self said.
But four scoreless minutes and 10 consecutive K-State points later, Kansas' lead had dwindled to a 58-54 advantage with four and a half minutes to play.
Self credited the four-minute drought to a combination of
In the early minutes of the second half, the Jayhawks looked on pace for a blowout.
Giddens nailed a three pointer and a jump shot and Sinien hit one from downtown.
"I would say the end of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half was the difference in the game."
Bill Self Men's basketball coach
good defense by the Wildcats, who switched into a zone defense, and sloppy play from his team.
"Our carelessness led to the funk, and it created indecision, and then they go to zone," Self said. "Our indecisiveness led to the scoring drought and that came from our indecisiveness."
Self said the biggest play of the game was a three-point shot by J.R. Giddens with about a minute and a half left in the game. After pulling within four, the Wildcats never got any closer, but they did hang in there.
Giddens' three extended the Kansas lead to 64-56, but more importantly, it killed K-State's momentum.
"That was a play that we drew up, but I missed it last time," Giddens chuckled. "It was good execution and good screens by my teammates."
Kansas sealed the victory by hitting 11 of 15 free throw attempts in the final three minutes of the game.
- Edited by Kendall Dix