8B
GAME DAY
1
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY JANUARY 20, 2000
KU
TIPOFF
COUNTDOWN TO TIPOFF
ATAGLANCE
Consider this: If Kansas beats Colorado Saturday, it will be 6-0 in big 12 Conference play and off to a better start in the Big 12 than last year's national championship team. Crazy to think about, huh? True, this season's conference schedule hasn't started as tough as last season's. The Jayhawks haven't dealt with any Michael Beasleys. But they have won three road games at Colorado, Iowa State and Nebraska, and pounded their two home opponents, Kansas State and Texas A&M. So it would still be quite the accomplishment. It would be the first Kansas team since 2005 to start the conference season 6-0.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior guard Sherron Collins Because if you don't,you might miss something spectacular. Collins has a special stretch or moment in almost every game.
Wednesday at Nebraska, it came when Collins leapt from the floor, raised his right arm and picked off a three-quarters court in-bounds pass to assure
Kansas victory at the end of the game. Last weekend at Iowa State, he scored 18 points in a 12-minute stretch. What will it be Saturday when Collins returns to Allen Fieldhouse? No telling, but it will be something.
Is Cole Aldrich slumping?
QUESTION MARK
Yes, at least a little bit. Aldrich scored eight points at Nebraska, which is the first time this season he hasn't reached double-digits. He also only corralled eight rebounds — two less than his season average entering the game. Self even said the game before, at Iowa State where Aldrich had 16 points and 12 rebounds, was one of Aldrich's poorest of the season. Let's be honest: The Jayhawks can beat the Buffalooes without Aldrich. But they're still desperate to get him going for the rest of the season.
HEAR YE, HEAR YE
"They know I'm not real pleased with them right now. I'm happy we won, but they know. That was not as focused of a group playing out there."
Kansas coach Bill Self after the 68-62 Nebraska victory
"tell our teams all the time, if you have pretty good players, you are usually going to win the games you play really well, but you've got to find some way to win those games where you don't play very well."
Kansas coach Bill Self
KANSAS CAN CONQUER Jayhawks look to go 6-0 in Big 12 play KANSAS VS. COLORADO 3 p.m., ALLEN FIELDHOUSE, Lawrence, ESPNU
Collins
(16-4) STARTERS
Sherron Collins, 5-foot-11 junior guard
Collins ranks third in scoring, with 20 points per game, and fifth in assists, with nearly five per game, in Big 12 Conference games. He has played phenomenally.
Taylor
Tyshawn Taylor, 6-foot-2 freshman guard
Tyshawn taylor, 8-foot-2 freshman guard Taylor added to his mounting problem in the game against Nebraska with six more turnovers. He has to make smarter passes.
Morningstar
Brady Morningstar, 6-foot-3 sophomore guard
Morningstar kept the Jayhawks afloat Wednesday against Nebraska with nine first-half points and a couple of hustle plays on loose balls.
★★★☆☆
Morris
Marcus started in the gaka, but only ended up playing He still should have recorded more than one rebound and fewer than two turnovers.
Marcus Morris, 6-foot-8 freshman forward
Aldrich
★★★☆☆
Cole Aidrich, 6-foot-11 sophomore center
Aldrich is better than he's played the last two games, but everyone goes through a rough stretch at some point. Look for him to break out of it Saturday.
★★★★
SIXTH MAN
Mario Little, 6-foot-5 junior guard
Little played a career- high 30 minutes against Nebraska. That means he's feeling healthier. That means opponents should be scared.
★★★☆★
Tomlinson
Case Keefer
Thorne
(9-10)
STARTERS
COLORADO
Nate Tomlinson, 6-foot-2 freshman guard
The good news for Tomlinson is that he can't perform any worse than he did the first time around. Boulder stat line: zero points, one assist, three fouls and seven turnovers in 33 minutes. Rugged.
Higgins
★★★★
Dwight Thorne II, 6-foot-2 junior guard
Colorado's second option has really emerged in the last few games. Since scoring 10 against Kansas, Thome is averaging 17.3 points per game. He needs to play as well as Higgins for Colorado to hang on the road.
Cory Higgins, 6-foot-5 sophomore guard
★★★★
Coach Bill Self noticed Higgins walking past as he addressed the media after the 73-56 victory on Jan. 17. Self raised his voice and said the Jayhawks would have been fine if they had kept Higgins off the free throw line. As assassin from the stripe, Higgins just smiled and kept on walking.
Jermyl Jackson-Wilson, 6-foot-6 senior forward
Jackson-Wilson occasionally breaks out for a big game, but mostly he takes just a couple shots and is lucky to hit one. Don't expect him to figure into the outcome of this one.
Jackson-Wilson
★★★☆☆
Austin Dufault, 6-foot-8 freshman forward
Markieff Morris
Like Jackson-Wilson,
Durault struggles to have an effect game-to-game. Because of that, Colorado often shuttles in different groups of big men and usually none play long enough to get into a rhythm.
★★☆★★
Dufault
Casey Crawford, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward
SIXTH MAN
One of Colorado's many problems is a lack of depth. Crawford is normally the first guy off the bench, but he hasn't played a quality game this month. The Buffs have tried a few other guys, but no one brings much spark to the lineup.
Crawford
Taylor Bern
CU
TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
Since Colorado and Kansas last met, the Buffalooes matched wits with the bottom barrel of the Big 12 and emerged 1-2. Colorado lost at Texas Tech and suffered an agonizing 77-75 overtime loss at home to Kansas State. However, coach Jeff Bzdelik did right the ship a little with a 55-49 victory over Iowa State. So fresh off its first conference victory of the year, Colorado comes to Allen Fieldhouse with little hope of winning but a chance to maybe play a little better than the game in Boulder.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior guard Dwight Thorne II
If Cory Higgins is the straw that stirs the drink, then Thorne is the tiny umbrella that makes it look
tropical. Against Kansas State, Thorne exploiled for 30 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He also scored 13 against Texas Tech and nine in the Iowa
Thorne
State victory. He's very athletic and sometimes plays more aggressively than Higgins. Both guys get to the free throw line a lot. Higgins usually makes his, and the difference for Colorado is whether Thorne can always follow suit.
QUESTION MARK
Will Cory Higgins ever sit down?
The Magic 8 ball says no, but that's no reason not to keep an eye on Higgins throughout Saturday's game. The sophomore averages 37.1 minutes per game.
He played all 40 when these teams met in Boulder and all 45 of Saturday's overtime loss to Kansas State. He's by far Colorado's best player, so it's not a surprise that he plays so much. But it just seems like guys who play that many minutes break down now and again. Maybe he's due.
HEAR YE, HEAR YE
"Our intent was to two-time him, but he caught the ball so deep and he's so quick that the two-time could not get there."
"It took a lot for it to kick in. We became desatec to make plays."
Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik on Iowa State's Craig Brackins
Junior guard Dwight Thorne II following Colorado's first conference victory
BIG 12 SCHEDULE
Time (CT)
Game
Oklahoma vs. Iowa State 12:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M 1 p.m.
Kansas State vs. Texas 3 p.m.
Baylor vs. Missouri 5 p.m.
Nebraska vs. Texas Tech 7 p.m.
Channel
Big 12 Network
ESPN
Big 12 Network
Big 12 Network
Big 12 Network
ALLEN FIELDHOUSE WILL ROCK IF ...
PHOG ALLEN WILL ROLL OVER IN HIS GRAVE IF...
Sherron Collins tells it to. Collins does everything for this team. Scores, Passes, Steals, Leads. Even interacts with the crowd. Colorado prefers to play sloppy so this game has a chance to drag. If Collins sense that the crowd has disappeared, he'll prompt it to get up and make noise. Collins will get his wish, too.
COMING SCHEDULE
Kansas doesn't blow out Colorado. The Jayhawks need to win by at least 20 points at home against the Big 12 Conference's worst team. And the margin will likely be larger than that. Kansas beat Colorado by 17 points at the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo., despite a lackadaisical performance. If Kansas plays a complete game, it is 30 points better than Colorado.
Prediction:
KANSAS 92, COLORADO 65
Date Opponent TV Time
Feb. 2 at Baylor ESPN 8 p.m.
Feb. 7 OKLAHOMA STATE ABC 2:30 p.m.
Feb. 9 at Missouri ESPN 8 p.m.
Feb. 14 at Kansas State ABC 2:30 p.m.
Feb. 18 IOWA STATE Big 12 Network 7:00 p.m.
Feb. 21 NEBRASKA Big 12 Network 3:00 p.m.