6B
GAME DAY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY HANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2009
KU TIPOFF AT A GLANCE
This could be dangerous. If Kansas overlooks a trip to the Devaney Center, it could lose to Nebraska for only the second time in the past 20 meetings. Ask Missouri. The Tigers, who appear to be the class of the Big 12 North division along with Kansas, lost to the Cornhuskers by five at the Devaney Center to open conference play. Nebraska is a spunky team that does all the little things right. It leads the conference in scoring defense and is second in both steals and turnover margin. Sounds like a team capable of forcing the young Jayhawks into making mistakes.
Freshman forward Quintrell Thomas
Well, if there's an opportunity
PLAYER TO WATCH
to watch him. Thomas had played only one minute total in Kansas' first three conference games before logging seven Saturday at Iowa State. Thomas made
the most of his minutes with four rebounds, and Self praised his attitude and performance. Self said Thomas could play more in the future if the situation called for it. Against Nebraska, the most undersized team in the Big 12, a smaller forward might be helpful. The 6-foot-8 Thomas would gladly oblige.
Are Sherron Collins' best days yet to come?
QUESTION MARK
Hard to ask for much more than averages of 21 points and nearly six rebounds in Kansas' four conference games. But Collins hasn't shown any signs of slowing, either. He scored 26 points and had five assists in arguably his best game Saturday against Iowa State. If Collins comes into the Nebraska game with the same kind of energy, coach Doc Sadler and his cronies won't be able to concoct a way to stop him.
HEARYE, HEARYE
"Can we get to their shooters? That will be a big key because we will play bigger than they will for the majority of the game."
Kansas coach Bill Self
"This is one game I probably won't be the shortest person on the court. He's real fast, but I'm still fast. I can keep up with him. I've just got to give him a little more space because I want to make him shoot. I'll be able to contest his shot because he's so small."
Junior guard Sherron Collins on Nebraska guard Cookie Miller
Kansas' size advantage could help against smaller, faster Nebraska
HEIGHT SHOULD HELP
KANSAS (15-4) STARTERS
Collins
Sherron Collins, 5-foot-11 junior guard Collins can do nothing wrong lately as a player and a leader. An argument can be made that he's the second-best player in the Big 12, behind only Oklahoma's Blake Griffin.
Tyshawn Taylor, 6-foot-3 freshman guard
Taylor
Tyshawn Taylor, 6-foot-3 freshman guard The speedy Nebraska backcourt could give Taylor problems because he isn't used to playing against anyone nearly as fast as him. But he's still more talented than his opponents.
Brady Morningstar, 6-foot-3 sophomore guard
Morningstar
Morningstar is recording nearly three assists for every one turnover. That's the consistency Kansas needs.
NEBRASKA (12-6) STARTERS
Mario Little, 6-foot-5 junior guard
Self rotates players into this starting spot and Little's size and strengths appear to match up best against Nebraska. Defensively, this could be revealing, as Little will be guarding a Cornhusker guard.
101 102
Little
Miller
more center Aldrich set a career-high in rebounds against Syracuse earlier in the year with 16. Could he break it tonight against a tiny Nebraska frontline?
Cole Aldrich, 6-foot-11 sophomore center.
freshman forward
Marcus had six rebounds in the Iowa State game. That was the only positive — he also fouled out and committed three turnovers.
Aldrich
SIXTH MAN
★★★★
Marcus Morris, 6-foot-8 freshman forward
Cookie Miller, 5-foot-7 sophomore guard And the greatest name in the Big 12 goes to... Cookie Miller! Here to present the award to Cookie — whose name is Wendell — is his sister Peaches. That's right. Cookie and Peaches. Their mother must have been hungry.
Harley
Steve Harley, 5-foot-11 senior guard
The Devaney Center needs the Steve Harley Show to premiere Wednesday night. Harley isn't an Original King of anything, but he's a decent player and it will probably take a career game or some seriously funny stand-up for the Cornhuskers to emerge victorious.
Coach Doc Sadler's first signee, Henry is a decent left-hander with some range. He shoots 38 percent beyond the arc and averages 9.1 points per game.
Sek Henry, 6-foot-2 junior guard
Ade Dagunduro, 6-foot-5 senior guard
Dagunduro parlayed a successful year at Antelope Valley Community College into a scholarship at the same school where his brother, Olatokunbo, lettered in football. He scored a career-high 20 points against Missouri, the only other Big 12 school he considered out of community college.
Morris
Henry
Case Keefer
Chris Balham, 6-foot-8 junior forward
Dagunduro
Balham is a strange cat. In five Big 12 games, Balham, a Kansas City, Kan.. native, has started every game but averages just 1.4 points and two rebounds in 10.8 minutes. Balham seems to be the token tall guy in a pint-sized starting lineup.
Balham
SIXTH MAN
Paul Vanderl, 6-foot-2 senior guard Velander's 49 made three-pointers are one fewer than the next highest number of attempted threes from a Cornhusker. He dials in 47 percent from long distance and plays starter's minutes. After an unusually cold night against
Oklahoma State — he hit one of eight pointers —
  expect Velander to attempt at least 10 treys.
Velander
Taylor Bern
NU
TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
Nebraska is pretty good on its home court, which is why Saturday's 76-74 overtime loss to Oklahoma State was a bit surprising. And devastating. The undersized Cornhuskers suddenly forgot how to shoot in overtime, missing all five of their shots. Nebraska's win against Missouri to open conference play proves that coach Doc Sadler's bunch has the talent to compete in the weak Big 12 North. But slip-ups like the Oklahoma State loss will cost Nebraska come tournament time unless it can win a big one like tonight's game.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Senior guard Steve Harley On a team without any big stars, Harley is the best player
because of his versatility. He plays the most minutes per game (31,6), scores the most points per game (12,1), ranks second in assists (40) and free-throw
Tyshawn Taylor
Harley
attempts (63), and pulls down the third-most rebounds per game (3.6). He's also an excellent defender who can make steals without committing too many fouls. Harley isn't a great player, but he's the best thing going for Nebraska.
QUESTION MARK
Can Nebraska force 20 turnovers?
The Cornhuskers average 9.1 steals per game, which is secondbest in the Big 12. They also shoot 37.9 percent behind the threepoint line, good for third in the conference.
Nebraska won't beat Kansas in the paint — 6-foot-6 Tony McCray is the tallest player to average more than 10 minutes per game. But if the Huskers can use a junk defense to create an ugly, turnover-ridden game, then maybe they can hit enough threes to keep it close.
HEAR YE, HEAR YE
"As soon as I retrieved possession, they were swiping at my hands. I was hoping we would get the call, but we didn't."
— Nebraska guard Ade Dagundur about the last play of Saturday's loss to Oklahoma State.
Ryan Anderson intentionally missed a free throw and Dagundur grabbed the rebound but lost the handle on the ball.
"I would rather get beat by 50 than to lose by two points on a last-second shot."
— Nebraska guard Cookie Miller after Saturday's loss to Oklahoma State
BIG 12 SCHEDULE
Game Time (CT) Channel
Kansas State vs. Missouri 8 p.m. FSN
Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech 8 p.m. ESPNU
DEVANEY CENTER WILL BE SILENT IF...
PHOG ALLEN WILL ROLL OVER IN HIS GRAVE IF...
Mario Little adds to his streak of consecutive field goals. Little has made 11 straight shots, dating back to the victory against Kansas State to open conference play. The Cornhuskers already face a daunting task in slowing Collins and Aldrich. Get Little going and the Cornhuskers might become overwhelmed. Little, however, predicted he would finally miss a shot against Nebraska. The streak can't last forever, but another game would be nice for the Javahacks.
Kansas can't contain another power forward, Iowa State's Craig Brackins wound up two points shy of a conference record for points with 42 in Saturday's game. The difference is Nebraska doesn't use a true power forward and doesn't have any as talented as Brackins. But 6-foot-4 guard Ade Dagunduro plays in the spot and might be the Cornhuskers' best option. He has averaged 12 points and four rebounds and could be a matchup problem for Jayhawk power forwards such as Marcus Morris.
COMING SCHEDULE
Prediction:
KANSAS 69, NEBRASKA 64
Date Opponent TV Time
Jan. 28 at Nebraska ESPN2 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 31 COLORADO ESPNU 3 p.m.
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.
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