Volume 124 Issue 95
kansan.com
Monday, February 13, 2012
I'd be easy for Kansas to overlook Kansas State in a spot like tonight.
The Jayhawks are playing their best basketball of the season, in large part due to the emergence of junior center Jeff Withey. Kansas outplayed Missouri, tore apart Baylor's 2-3 zone and put Oklahoma State in a 27-point hole at halftime on Saturday.
The Wildcats have lost three of their last five.
In KU and K-State's first meeting on Jan. 4, the Jayhawks jumped ahead 23-5 with 8:39 to go in the first half. The Wildcats cut that deficit to just three points in the second half, but Kansas never lost control.
Don't expect a game like that tonight. This is probably Kansas toughest test left on its regular season schedule.
Ken Pomeroy, basketball statistics know-it-all, gives Kansas a 65 percent chance to win tonight. Pomeroy gives Kansas a 73 percent chance to get revenge on Missouri on Feb. 25.
In giving Kansas all it can handle tonight, the Wildcats just might provide the blueprint for how to beat Kansas come tournament time.
If Kansas State coach Frank Martin plays it right, he'll get the ball inside to those three big guys and tell them to attack Robinson and Withey from the opening tip.
Offensive rebounding, as we saw on Saturday, often leads to easy buckets. Kansas State will definitely have a chance of toppling Kansas if the Wildcats limit easy buckets.
Kansas, as we all know, does not get much production from its bench this season. Reserves only play 23.8 percent of the available minutes, good for 313th in a nation with 345 teams.
COMMENTARY
This won't be a free-flowing game like the one in Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.
This one will be ugly, sometimes sloppy and full of fouls. There will be charges, blocks and flops. There will be good calls, bad calls and Kansas State fans yelling about any call that goes in Kansas' favor.
If the jackawks can handle a slug-fest, they aprove themselves capable of sustaining a long tournament run in March.
Martin would also be wise to get his players to focus on boxing out. The layhawks snagged 19 offensive rebounds in the first matchup.
Expect a slugfest tonight
- Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
The Jayhawks are vulnerable, especially defensively, when Withey or Robinson is sitting on the bench for any extended length of time. Two early fools on either of them could put Kansas in trouble.
Kevin Young and Justin Wesley can keep the offense running but certainly won't be creating shots and opportunities by themselves. The way to hang with Kansas is to expose its bench, and Kansas State has the foul-hungry players to do just that tonight.
Three Wildcats draw fouls at an extremely high rate: Jamar Samuels (6.6 fouls drawn per 40 minutes), Thomas Gipson (6.5) and Jordan Henriquez (5.9).
ALL ABOUT THE NOW
MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
Kansas State sits behind the upper echelon of the Big 12 at 6-6, tied for fifth place with Texas. Some may view this version of the Wildcats as inferior to last year's team.
"They don't have Jacob," coach Bill Self said of former Wildcats leader Jacob Pullen after Saturday's 81-66 victory over Oklahoma State at Allen Fieldhouse.
Even without Pullen, Kansas State's record may be misleading.
"I think they're better than what their record is in the league," Self said. "They're 6-6 in the league, but they could easily be 8-4, 9-3."
The Jayhawks visit nearby Manhattan to face the Wildcats tonight at 8 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum, unofficially known as "The Octagon of Doom."
Kansas holds the series lead
182-91. There's no Michael Beasley, Dennis Clemente or Jacob Pullen to worry about. Kansas State's record doesn't scream success. But these Wildcats made
eventual 72-70 victory.
just one basket in the final five minutes at Baylor on Jan. 10 and lost 75-73. Then in Manhattan on Jan. 29, junior guard Steven Pledger scored 30 points, junior guard Rodney McGruder missed a deep but open three-point shot at the buzzer and Kansas State lost to underdog Oklahoma 63-60. At the Hilton Coliseum three days later, Iowa State's doit-all sophomore forward Royce White hit a game-winning shot to complete a 14-point rally and
"To me, it seems like something has gone awry on those close games," Self said.
Wildcats' coach Frank Martin, known for his colorful passion and tough teams, relies on McGruder as his leader, but plays nine different players for at least 11 minutes per game.
"To me, it seems like something has gone awry on those close games."
In the first match-up between the teams on Jan. 4 at Allen Fieldhouse, a 67-49 Kansas victory, the Wildcats were out-rebounded 50-26, and shot just 31 percent from the field. Only two Kansas State players scored in double figures; McGruder with 15 and senior forward Jamar Samuels with 12.
The Jayhawks are 21-2 in Bramlage Coliseum, however since 2008, the Widcats have taken two of the past four games. On Feb. 14 last year, Kansas
BILL SELF
Kansas Coach
was No. 1 in the country, 9-2 in the conference and Kansas State, just 5-6 in the Big 12 and unranked, won 84-68 behind 38 points from Pullen.
"I feel like he just made every shot," senior guard Tyshawn Taylor said.
No matter the Wildcats' record this time around, Taylor expects a wild atmosphere at the "Octagon."
"We know when we play against Kansas State, they're going to have a good crowd all the time," he said. "I'm sure they're going to be hyped."
- Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
JESSICA JANASZ/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Kansas State coach Frank Martin talks to junior forward Thomas Robinson after the Jan. 4 game in Allen Fieldhouse. Robinson scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds in the Kansas victory. This was his 10th double-double of the season.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Davis injured in loss to Kansas State
KATHLEEN GIER
kgier@kansan.com
Carolyn Davis screamed and dropped to the ground. Coach Bonnie Henrickson called her team ina huddle and they watched over their shoulders as they tried to quickly regroup. After more than 10 minutes on the floor, she was rolled out on a stretcher with tears streaming down her face. The orthopedic surgeon said she would call the Kansas team doctor and take an x-ray. The lajhwacks stood and looked stunned from the sidelines as they watched Davis, a junior forward and bona fide team leader, scream "I'm sorry" as she was whisked away to Memorial Hospital in Manhattan.
JUNIOR center Carolyn Davis gets taken off the court on a stretcher after injuring her knee during Sunday afternoon's game against Kansas State at Bramage Coliseum. The lajwahaws were defeated A7-A3.
When trainers put Davis in the brace they knew it was dislocated, but they sent her for more tests. Davis was transferred back to Lawrence last night and will meet with KU doctors this morning. Henrickson said that injuries like this are the absolute worst part of her job.
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
"You go back and they are all crying, and everybody's upset, but how tough are they," Henrickson said.
Kansas struggled to find a rhythm after the Davis' jarring injury. The team shot just 33 percent for the game and fell 47-43 to Kansas State.
on the roster of 10 women, three of them have sustained serious knee injuries in their careers. Junior guard Angel Goodrich tore her ACL two straight seasons to start her career, sophomore forward Tania Jackson tore hers in high school and in her first practice at Kansas and sophomore guard CeCe Harper tore hers in high school.
"You've got a lot of kids in tears because they know exactly what's going on and exactly what she feels like and emotionally it is for those kids who know exactly what it feels like; it's just not fair," Henrickson said.
Davis drove into the lane and tossed up a shot that went flying at the shot clock above the basket. The referee blew the whistle and Davis was on the ground.
"It happened so fast," Goodrich said. "It is like the usual play we see her come down the court and just give her the ball and then I didn't see until she was on the ground."
Both teams went scoreless for two minutes after the stop, but Goodrich broke the silence with a layup to rally her troops and extend Kansas' lead to four.
"Hearing her holler and yell it just hurts and it hit us hard, but we stuck together." Goodrich said.
Jayhawks. Goodrich played all 40 minutes and led the team with 14 points. Sutherland followed closely with 12 points and 17 rebounds.
The veterans, Goodrich and senior forward Aishah Sutherland took the helm and paced the
"When something like that happens you just have to react," Sutherland said.
Sutherland led the remaining forwards Jackson and the two freshmen Bunny Williams and
Chelsea Gardner. Gardner came in for Davis and scored seven points off the bench and grabbed three rebounds.
The layhawks were down four at the half and continued to battle throughout the second half. There were nine ties and 11 lead changes in the game with the largest lead coming when Kansas led by seven
"At the end of the day did we battle and compete and am I proud, yeah," Henrickson said.
in the first half.
V
Kansas will travel Ames, Iowa to face Iowa State at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
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