Volume 124 Issue 105
kansan.com
Monday, February 27, 2012
Perhaps the most ridiculous thing about Kansas' victory on Saturday was that everything about it was ridiculous.
With a little over 16 minutes left in the game, Missouri guard Marcus Denmon hit a three with nobody guarding him to put his team up 19 points — again, 19 points — in Allen Fieldhouse. The shot felt like a dagger to Kansas fans. Kansas would need everything to go its way to come back.
COMMENTARY
Missouri fans started composing their smack-talking texts to send to their jayhawk buddies. Kansas fans started thinking about their replies. The joke about Missouri fans only playing 14 holes in golf because the Tigers haven't been to the Final Four would've been used as a defense thousands of times. The fans in yellow shirts in the Fieldhouse, many of them branded with the SEC logo, stood and screamed, anticipating a victory in the "final" regular season battle in the Border War.
A second half for the ages
The game was in the Tigers' hands. Kansas fans would probably go to their grave hearing about how Missouri beat Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse when everything was on the line. But the great thing about basketball is that the players don't really have time to think about all that.
This game was so ridiculous that Kansas didn't even need all 16 minutes that were left to make it a game again. The Jayhawks were one possession away from tying things up with 6:10 remaining.
This game was so ridiculous that it only took four.
Taylor took the ball and sprinted down the court and was fouled on a layup. Taylor's free throws gave Kansas the lead for good. Missouri didn't get a shot off in time.
This game was so ridiculous that Bill Self thought it was ridiculous. The general of the final Border Showdown battle knew what was at stake.
And this game was so ridiculous that we might get to watch one like it again in 12 days at the Sprint Center. Buckle up.
And this game was so ridiculous because Denmon just wouldn't give up. He hit a three with 3:50 left in overtime to close Kansas' four-point lead to one. He hit another with 39 seconds left to give the Tigers the lead again. Tyshawn Taylor would give Kansas the lead again on a perfectly-executed backdoor cut and dunk.
Denmon, whose swagger could not be contained, came back down the floor and hit a short jumper to retake the lead. Kansas had 12 seconds to secure one of the final blows in the Border War.
This game was so ridiculous that Missouri guard Marcus Denmon nearly ended it with a 25-foot heave with 33 seconds left in regulation. He could've been the next Ali Farokhmanesh. But his shot rattled the rim and Kansas got the ball down three points.
Edited by Max Lush
This game was so ridiculous that Robinson made a game-saving block despite not being known for his shot blocking ability.
This game was so ridiculous that Kansas didn't even need to try a three-pointer to tie the game. Junior forward Thomas Robinson made a layup while being fouled to tie the game.
Junior guard Angel Goodrich has the ball knocked away by the Baylor defense in the second half of Friday's game at Allen Fieldhouse where Goodrich had 14 points, four assists and four turnovers in the Kansas 76-45 defeat.
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
BAYLOR 76, KANSAS 45
KANSAS RUNS COLD
KATHLEEN GIER kgier@kansan.com
The lajhwaks knew what was coming. Friday night they hosted the undefeated No. 1 Baylor Bears and lost 76-45 in a game where they looked lost from start to finish.
Kansas had just three points when the clock ticked below six minutes in the first half. Junior guard Angel Goodrich had all Kansas' points after a floater in the lane at the 16:55 mark and a free throw 10 minutes later in the first half. Baylor built a 22-point lead before freshman forward Chelsea Gardner scored again for Kansas. Those two combined for 14 of the teams' 16 points in the first half.
Goodrich scored six of the first eight points and served as a spark for the struggling laj Hawks.
"You have to go in there with a purpose," Goodrich said. "If you don't have a purpose then why are you out there?"
Kansas shot just one of 14 in the first 14 minutes with the lone basket coming from Goodrich. The Jayhawks also had four air balls and two shot clock violations during the stretch. Kansas finished the game shooting 26.9 percent from the floor and allowed Baylor to shoot 57.4 percent.
"When I see something like that I feel like I have to do something more, but we just have to stick together," Goodrich said.
Baylor junior forward Brittney Griner led the attack with 20 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Kimetria Hayden and sophomore guard Odyssey Sims followed with 16 and 15 points respectively.
Coach Bonnie Henrickson talked about how Griner's length affects an opponent's offense and defense. Griner had four blocks and an assist to round out her stat sheet in 28 minutes before she went to the bench early in the second half.
"We have to adjust to Brittney Griner and just do different things than we normally do," Gardner
The Jayhawks had trouble making those adjustments and were down 38 points in the second half before going on an 8-0 run with Griner taking a breather on the bench. Griner then entered the game and led a 14-0 run for Baylor. She was responsible for the half of the points in the paint where
said.
Baylor outscored Kansas 40-18.
The Jayhawks were out of rhythm and combined for 12 turnovers and 14 rebounds off 39 missed shots. Henrickson said the team was missing calls and not lining up correctly on several possessions throughout the game.
"When we call plays you've got to know what you're doing, you
have to be dialed in and focused." Hendrickson said.
Senior forward Aishah Sutherland made one shot in the game for her lowest scoring effort of the season. She hit just one of 15 shots.
Kansas did get some bounce from younger players in sophomore guard CeCe Harper and
freshman guard Asia Boyd who are both receiving increasing minutes. Harper had five points and three rebounds in 34 minutes, but offered support to Goodrich on the wing guarding Sims. Boyd tied a career-high with seven points in 22 minutes.
Edited by Pat Strathman
BASEBALL
Early setback doesn't derail Kansas
ANDREW JOSEPH
ajoseph@kansan.com
The Kansas baseball team dropped two close games in a row Friday and Saturday against Mississippi State. But the Jayhawk bats' broke out in a big way Sunday against Mississippi Valley State.
Kansas (5-2) defeated the Green Devils 14-1 in seven innings, and the offensive spurt all began with a 10-run first inning.
The layhaws entered the bottom half of the first inning trailing 1-0 after freshman pitcher Drew Morovick surrendered one run on a Joseph Germaine RBI single. The deficit would be short-lived as senior third baseman Zae Elicang connected with Kameron Study's 0-2 delivery, blasting the fastball over the left field wall. The three-run shot gave Kansas a 4-1 lead.
"I was pretty excited." Elgie said of the homer. "I've been waiting awhile this year to hit the ball square, and it happened to go out this time. Hopefully we can build on this heading into next weekend."
After starting the season 4-0 for the first time in five years,the
Jayhawks tasted the first defeat of the season this weekend. Even in the two losses, the Kansas pitching continued to impress, giving up four runs total. However, the Jayhawks left 14 runners on base and scored just one run.
In baseball, it can take just one game for an offense to break out, and Kansas coach Ritch Price said that Sunday's performance was a good place to start.
The early flock of run support took all the pressure off Morovick in his first career start. The 6-foot-6 right-hander from Hemet, Calif., has been the most impressive starter in the intra-squad scrimages, and he showed that same ability Sunday against MVSU.
"I thought it was very important that we took a step forward," Price said. "We finally put together some quality at bats and took advantage with runners in scoring position."
"He has very good command, pitches down in the zone and has the ability to throw a slider for strikes," Price said. "He was as good today as he's been in our intra-squads."
Morovick went five innings,
allowing just that first-inning run on three hits, and he struck out seven.
For the first time this season, Price had the opportunity to give the younger bench players some early game experience. Hitting in place for Elgie, freshman third baseman Joey Luvisi did not wait long to make an impact in his Kansas career.
Luvisi ripped a three-run homerun on a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall. The homer came in Luvisi's first-career at bat, and the no-doubt shot traveled more than 350 feet. Luvisi returned to the dugout greeted by an excited Jayhawk team, and Eligie even had some advice for the freshman .
"It was great," Elgie said. "I was laughing and gave him a hard time. I told him that it really only goes downhill from there."
The bats will look to keep momentum going next weekend as Kansas continues its season Friday at University of Texas-San Antonio.
Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
PERFECT AT THE PLATE
NAME, POSITION HITS/AT-BATS WALKS RUNS RBIs
Kevin Kuntz, SS 1/1 2 3 2
Justin Protacio, SS 1/1 1 1 0
James Stanfield, C 2/2 0 1 3
Alex DeLeon, C 2/2 0 1 0
Taylor Hart, LF 1/1 0 0 0
Chris Manship, 1B 1/1 0 0 0
Kuntz Protacio Stanfield
DeLeon Hart Manship