THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012
PAGE 7
NBA
Flew the coop: former Jayhawks in the NBA
JONATHAN ROSA
jrosa@kansan.com
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pierce was named Eastern Conference player of the week on Monday after averaging a team-high 22 points with 6.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds over the last four games. During that span, the Celtics went 4-0 and currently sit behind Philadelphia in their division. He leads the team in points per game at 18.6
**best game of the season:** 100-94 victory at Washington Wizards on Jan. 22
34 points, eight rebounds, three steals, 12-of-15 free throws
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gooden scored 24 points over the weekend against the Bulls, 18 of which were in the first half. However, the Bulls still came away with a 113-90 victory. He sat out the fourth quarter, because the Bulls blew open the lead. Prior to that game, he only had four points in 23 minutes played in an 80-88 loss at Detroit.
best game of the season: 100-107 loss versus Chicago Bulls on Jan. 2
23 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, 10 of 10 from free-throw line
Morris hit three of five shots for seven points on Monday against the Atlanta Hawks. The sharp shooting brought him out of a bit of a slump — in the previous six games, Morris only shot 30 percent from the field. While Morris is a bench player, he has been getting a lot of playing time because of his ability to rebound and occasionally shoot from beyond the arc.
best game of the season: 109-93 victory against Milwaukee on Jan. 8.
13 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, one steal, 35 played
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rush has stepped up for coach Mark Jackson, providing quality minutes off the bench. On Jan. 31, he put up 15 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, sparking a late rally and earning his team a 93-90 victory against the Kings. Twelve of his points came from a hot three-point shot.
best game of the season: 93-90 victory versus the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 31
20 points (6-10 from the field), six rebounds, 4-of-5 three-pointers, 19 minutes played
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Collison has been efficient off the bench this season, playing behind a tough lineup consisting of Durant, Westbrook and Harden. While he doesn't get much credit for the team's success, productive players like Collison are a necessity. They not only add to depth, but are also crucial down the stretch when players need a rest.
best game of the season: 108-96 victory versus the San Antonio Spurs
12 points (six of seven). 10 rebounds, two assists, 22 minutes played
LEGAL
Former Royal sued for false advertising
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Lawyers are seeking class-action status for a lawsuit that claims Hall of Fame slugger George Brett has been falsely advertising necklaces and bracelets as being able to help improve health and sports performance.
A lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Des Moines claims Spokane Valley, Wash-based Brett Bros. Sports International Inc. has falsely claimed its ionic Necklaces help customers relieve pain in the neck, shoulders and upper back, recover from sports fatigue and improve
focus. The company has also falsely claimed its bracelets, which include two roller magnets, would relieve wrist, hand and elbow pain, the lawsuit said.
Brett, who was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1999 after a 21-year career with the Kansas City Royals, has been president of the company since 2001 and appears in its advertisements.
The claims appeared on the company's website from 2008 to 2010, and still appear on the products' packaging, according to the lawsuit.
Associated Press
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks look to break losing streak during a crucial time
RYAN MCCARTHY
rmccarthy@kansan.com
The Kansas women's basketball team might have run into one of its toughest stretches of the season over the past few weeks.
It got blown out by the almostunbeatable Baylor, dropped a heartbreaker to Oklahoma and finally lost to the defensive stronghold Texas A&M.
When the team looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year, it knew as stretch might be make or break.
"Bonnie would bring it up how this is February, where you either get better or worse, "said senior forward Aishah Sutherland. "This is a time where we need to get better and start winning."
Now, the Jawhawks will focus on the task at hand: getting a crucial win tonight at 7 against Texas, another team on a three-game losing streak.
The biggest positive for Kansas was taking down Texas, 72-67, in Austin on Jan. 4 in its conference-opening
game.
Sutherland said that the team shared the ball really well, and everyone's shots were going in that night.
Currently, the 16-6 Jayhawks sit in fifth place in the conference and firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. The 13-9 Longhorns are at 3-7 in the conference and are hoping to move up from the bottom of the standings.
"We have a lot of confidence going in," said junior forward Carolyn Davis. "We're both at that point where we need a win. They are the bottom of the pack, and we're right in the middle looking to get back to the top."
"They'll come in here with great energy and great purpose and attention to detail as we will," said coach Bonnie Henrickson. "We should feel confident, but we should make sure that we get done and get off to a great start and play that way for 40 minutes."
Still, Kansas understands that Texas is not a team to overlook, even with early-season success.
The last time these two teams
matched up, the biggest key for Kansas' win was getting Texas junior guard Yonnie Anderson in early foul trouble. That's not a guarantee for Kansas this time, so it must pay attention to detail with all the Longhorn guards.
The other guards include senior Ashleigh Fontenette, sophomore Chassidy Fussell and freshman Cassie Peoples. They round out a talented backcourt.
Henrickson said all of them are explosive in transition and know how to find each other down court. Plus, they can score a lot of three-pointers.
The Jayhawks want to make sure they finish the last eight games in a comfortable position in the standings, but for now, the players are focusing on individual games.
"I think if we were undefeated, wed feel that same sense of urgency" Davis said. "The standings or rankings aren't really on our minds. We're just taking it one game at a time."
Edited by Taylor Lewis
KANSAS SEASON STATISTICS
Player PPG FG% FT% RPG MINS
C. Davis 17.5 .605 .708 6.0 29.0
A. Sutherland 12.6 .492 .659 9.1 31.6
A. Goodrich 12.5 .446 .677 3.9 36.6
M. Engelman 9.8 .392 .868 3.3 30.2
T. Jackson 4.1 .430 .650 2.8 12.2
N. Knight 4.9 .409 .633 2.7 29.1
C. Gardner 2.4 .528 .200 1.7 6.2
A. Boyd 2.4 .333 .750 1.0 7.7
B. Williams 2.2 .450 .625 2.1 10.2
C. Harper 2.6 .319 .615 2.0 13.2
D. Breaux 0.7 .231 .500 3.4 5.7
JESSICA JANASZ/KANSAN
Senior forward Aishah Sutherland dodges Texas Tech's defense during the second half of last month's game at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas is taking on Texas tonight and hopes to stop a three-game losing streak.
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