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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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In a pinch, Beaty finds speed and length in Texas
REN BRODSKY/KANSAN
Coach David Beaty explains the talent KU football signed for this upcoming season. The Jayhawks landed 24 letters of intent on Wednesday.
DAN HARMSEN
@UDK_Dan
Any队 that fires its head coach in late September of the previous season and ultimately finishes (3-9, 1-8) has holes to fill.
It's just that Kansas' holes might be even bigger than most, given the recent happenings within the program.
With the graduation of 21 seniors off last year's roster, running back Brandon Bourbon transferring to nearby Washburn, and wide receiver Nigel King throwing his name into the 2015 NFL Draft, new head coach David Beaty — hired Dec. 5 — had a day sh of two months to get cracking.
"You're drinking from a firehose for a while there," Beaty said of the chaotic 61-day stretch in which he accepted the coaching position, hired
his entire staff and scrambled to solidify 24 letters of intent from often mercurial 18- to 20-year-olds. "You're managing a lot of things."
So in a bit of pinch at a Kansas football program that doesn't exactly recruit itself in a coaching limbo, Beaty and his burgeoning staff did what they did best: recruit the homeland.
The funny thing, though, was as desperate as Beaty and staff may have seemed in the moment, thanks to his deep-rooted Texas ties, the phone worked both ways.
"I think probably the biggest thing for us was familiarity of players," Beaty said. "Most of these (coaches) have a background in the state of Texas."
the relationships in the state (helped)," Beaty said. "Guys just picking up and calling."
On one end of the phone a high-school coach connected to Beaty — or one of his staff members — and would call with the name of an overlooked recruit. Beaty would answer with two conditions.
"We said we needed to improve our profile from a length perspective as well as speed perspective," Beaty said Wednesday as he announced his 2015 recruiting class. "It's a long, fast league now."
"We can't make them taller," he continued, "but we can make them bigger."
One of those late-stage additions that was both long and fast and Texan, a Jan. 31 commitment, came kudos to assistant coach Kume Kubiak.
"I got to take my hat off to coach Klint Kubiak," 'Beaty
Kansas hopes to continue winning streak in Stillwater
SEE BEATY PAGE 4B
BEN FELDERSTEIN
@Ben_Felderstein
After a huge win against Iowa State on Big Monday, the Jayhawks travel to Oklahoma State to take on the Cowboys. Kansas defeated Oklahoma State 67-57 earlier this season.
Kansas now sits atop the Big 12 by two games in front of both West Virginia and Iowa State. The Cowboys are 14-7 on the season with a 4-5 Big 12 record.
Phil Forte leads the Cowboys with 17.3 points per game, adding 49 steals on the season. Forte's ability to knock down the open jumper has given the Jayhawks trouble in recent memory as he scored 18 points in their last matchup.
Le'Bryan Nash is second on the team in scoring with 16.9 points per game, averaging 5.7 rebounds per game. Oklahoma State has dropped four of their past six games.
Forte has led the Cowboys in scoring, in their previous three games. Leyton Hammonds is the only Cowboy to lead the team in scoring other than Forte or Nash this season.
The Cowboys have given the layhawks the most trouble over the past seasons, splitting the season series over the previous two seasons. Sophomore Brannen Greene leads the layhawks with a 51 percent field goal percentage from behind the three-point line.
Greene averages 6.2 points
per game and is shooting 62.5 percent from behind the arc in Big 12 play this season. Fellow sophomore Frank Mason III has scored ten points and recorded two plus assists for 19 straight games this season.
Oklahoma State ranks seventh in the Big 12, allowing only 59.6 points per contest,
while scoring 68.2 points per game which ranks eighth amongst the conference. While sitting atop the conference standings, Kansas is eighth in the conference with a 7.9-scoring margin.
The jayawks lead the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 40 percent from the behind the line
Oklahoma State-comes in at number seven, shooting 33.5 percent.
Sophomore Wayne Selden Jr. is coming off of his second 20-point performance of the season, putting up 20 on 7-12 shooting from the field. Selden's shooting from the field has improved as of late.
Frank Mason III cuts to the rim against Kansas State on Jan. 31. The Jayhawks will take on the Cowboys on Saturday.
BEN BRODSKY/KANSAN
Kansas leads Oklahoma State by four games in the Big 12 and seem to be well on their way to an 11th straight Big 12 title. Undefeated at home, Kansas is on a current five
game win-streak. Next up for Kansas, the Jayhawks travel to Lubbock, Texas to take on Texas Tech on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
- Edited by Laura Kubicki
BEN BRODSKY/KANSAN
BEN BRODSKY/KANSAN Kelly Oubre Jr slams one down early in the first half against Kansas State. The Jayhawks defeated the Wildcats 68-57.
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