THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2012
PAGE 9
NBA
Checking in with some Jayhawks in the NBA
MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
- Far removed from the Legends of the Phog, a spectacle of nostalgia and clutch shooting at Allen Fieldhouse.
and the lockout, a temporarily mended disagreement, the NBA finds itself one month away All-Star weekend. Here's a quick look at some Jayhawks who are still going strong in the league.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rush has been one of the first options off the bench for first-year coach Mark Jackson. He's hitting 54.5 percent of his three-point shots this season, second only to Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen, the all-time leader from behind the arc.
Best game of the season: 92-78 victory vs. New York Knicks on Dec. 28
19 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pierce has endured the slowest start in Boston since Allen and forward Kevin Garnett came to town. The Celtics are just 7-9 and four and a half games behind the 76ers for the Atlantic Division lead. Regardless, Pierce has proven that he's still got something left at age 34. His 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game speak to his well-rounded abilities.
Best game of the season: 100-92
Best game of the season: 100-94 victory at Washington Wizards on Jan. 22 34 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, three steals, 12-15 free throws
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Morris has found a comfy spot in the rotation for the Suns, a team trying to both rebuild and cling to folk-hero point guard and ticket-seller Steve Nash. Morris works well with Nash because of his ability to spread the floor with his outside shooting.
He has been big part of a needed rebounding force for a thin front court. He's 10th among all rookies with 21.2 minutes per game.
Best game of the season: 109-93 victory against Milwaukee on Jan. 8.
Best game of the season: 109-93 victory against Milwaukee on Jan. 8
13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, one steal, 30 minutes played
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Collison joins fast-rising guard James Harden as a cog of one of the best second units in the NBA. The Thunder have the second best record in the league, and while Harden, forward Kevin Durant and guard Russell Westbrook are the primary reasons, role players like Collison do the dirty work that doesn't always show up in box scores but carries contenders.
**Best game of the season** 108-96 victory against San Antonio on Jan. 23.
Best game of the season: 108-96 victory against San Antonio on Jan. 8 12 points (six of seven from the field), 10 rebounds, two assists
Chalmers has the fourth most favorable plus/minus rating in the NBA, which shows how much of difference he makes when in the game. He's not at the helm of the Heat, but he's also the fourth option on the title favorite, averaging 11.6 points and 4.4 assists per game. Best game
Best game of the season: 116-109 triple-overtime victory at Atlanta on Jan. 5 29 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, three steals, one block, 49 minutes played
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Shot charts against Texas A&M
Johnson, Teahan aren't making threes
KORY CARPENTER
kcarpenter@kansan.com
With the departure of Tyreir Reed and Brady Morningstar and the ineligibility of freshman guard Ben McLemore, the three-point shooting threats for Kansas entering this season were noticeably thin. The team seemed to count on senior guard Conner Teahan and junior guard Elijah Johnson to knock down jump shots and open up the floor for junior center Jeff Withey and junior forward Thomas Robinson. Even with a 17-3 record and a No.5 ranking in the latest polls, the three-point shooting has been off and on for most the season. And lately, it's been mostly off.
- "We're just shooting the ball so bad," coach Bill Self said after defeating Texas A&M Monday. "I mean,
In the 64-54 victory against the Aggies, Kansas was 4-for-20 from beyond the three-point line. In seven Big 12 games, the Jayhawks
are shooting 32.8 percent from the three-point line. Those numbers can largely be attributed to Tyshawn Taylor, a seemingly unlikely three-point threat. Since conference
good gosh. If it's not for Tyshawn here of late, who's making shots?"
"That's the coaches fault if they're shooting the shot you want and they don't go in," Self said. "And that's basically what they're doing for the most part."
can be considered good attempts.
play began, Taylor is fifth in threepoint shooting percentage (.40) and eighth in threes made (14). Teahan and Johnson are absent from both lists on the Big 12 website, which rank just the top 15 in each category. But the shots the duo are taking
"I mean, good gosh. If it's not for Tyshawn here of late, who's making shots?"
BILL SELF Coach
Johnson has strug-
gled the most, shoot-
ing just
28.8 per-
cent from
beyond the
arc with 111
attempts.
He's had a few great nights from deep, including a 4-for-8 performance in the UCLA victory in the Maui Invitational as well as a 5-for-7 afternoon against Ohio State last month. But as of late he's struggled to connect on a consistent basis,
sinking more than one three-pointer on just one occasion in Big 12 play as well as an 0-for-6 performance against Texas A&M.
"I thought Elijah went kind of haywire, brain dead in the first half with a couple he clipped off" Self said. "But for the most part, those are shots we want to take."
With the somewhat surprising three-point efficiency from Taylor and the All-American season from Thomas Robinson, the shooting difficulties haven't proved too costly yet.
"We're better shooters than that," Self said. "Conner and Elijah are good shooters, we're just not making them right now."
1
Edited by Jeff Karr
BIG 12 BASKETBALL
Star freshman Nash keys upset over Tigers
STILLWATER, Okla. — Freshman swingman Le'Bryan Nash scored a career-high 27 points, Brian Williams added a career-best 22 and Oklahoma State knocked off No. 2 Missouri 79-72 on Wednesday night.
Nash, a
McDonald's All-
Nash
American, scored 13 points during a 17-4 burst that sent the Cowboys into the lead in the final 4 minutes and the Tigers (18-2, 5-2 Big 12)
Nash hit a jumper and a 3-pointer to get it going, then nailed another 3 from the left side to give the Cowboys (10-10, 3-4) a 65-64 lead with 3:23 to play. He connected on another 29 seconds later and ran to the opposite end of the court when Missouri called timeout to encourage a student section that was already hopping up and down to bring it on
didn't have a response.
When the clock hit zero, the students rushed the court and huddled around Oklahoma State's players at midcourt.
Ricardo Ratliffe had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead Missouri.
Associated Press