ANSAN 2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JANUARY 26. 2009
KU 82, ISU 67
100
7A
T
BALL REWIND
Weston White/KANSAN
Western White/ARANSA Sophomore center Cole Aldrich fights to gain possession after an offensive rebound. Aldrich pulled down 12 rebounds against Iowa State Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum.
Aldrich's star not yet bright enough in Iowa
BY TAYLOR BERN
tbern@kansan.com
AMES, Iowa — Coach Bill Self had a postgame message regarding Cole Aldrich's performance: Don't let the box score fool you.
A quick glance through the numbers tells a dominate story, written with 16 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. But stats aren't enough, and Self said the sophomore center's game in Hilton Coliseum failed to meet expectations.
"I was on Cole because I thought that was one of his least effective games of late," Self said, "and the kid still gets 16 and 12." Centers everywhere dream of being that ineffective.
The production didn't upset Self, but it was the way it came. Aldrich played a sloppy first half, fumbling passes and missing easy shots. He entered halftime with four points on 1-of-4 shooting and three rebounds in 16 minutes. Also, Aldrich sometimes looked lost on the court despite Iowa State's lack of an inside presence.
Iowa State's trapping zone was part of the problem, but Self said the sophomore just wasn't making great decisions.
"He's getting better all the time, although I don't think he played near as smart in certain situations," Self said.
Following last Monday's blowout victory against Texas A&M, Self called Aldrich a "grizzled veteran" on his baby-faced Kansas squad. Never mind that freshman Aldrich was an after thought who averaged eight minutes per game - most of them in mop-up time - on Kansas' national championship team.
"I really think big fella is worn down a little bit," Collins said. "He probably needs some rest to get his legs up under him. Coach expects more out of him and I just think he was a little tired today."
Entering this season, junior guard Sherron Collins was the only proven scoring commodity. Right behind him was Aldrich, a 6-foot-11 beast with tons of
Self didn't even mention their eight combined fouls, which were a big reason Iowa State's Craig Brackins took 21 trips to the free-throw line.
Aldrichrarelyguarded Brackins because Self was protecting him from foul trouble and, by his own admission, Aldrich can't keep up with the speedy Californian.
Collins laughed at the Aldrich criticism. He supposed that Aldrich should have had 24 points and 18 rebounds, before offering a real reason for a perceived sub par game.
"It's so tough because he's kind of an outside-in guy, and I struggle a bit on the outside," Aldrich said.
potential but little experience.
Edited by Realle Roth
Asked about the Morris twins after Saturday's game, Self was dumbfounded.
Aldrich has started every game and averages 15.4 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Self will always take those numbers, but he needs even more from Aldrich because he's getting less from the rest of the frontcourt.
of them."
"I don't know" Self said. "Those two played 26 minutes and had two points and five turnovers. We've got to get better play out
COLLINS (CONTINUED FROM 12A)
won't be the Big 12 Player of the Week because that's already been decided"
Weston White/KANSAN
While Collins slowed on scoring for the rest of the game, Brackins never did. He scored Iowa State's first nine points of the second half.
Kansas tried everything to stop Brackins, but wound up as helpless as a camp counselor in a "Friday the 13th" flick. Freshman forward Marcus Morris fouled out trying to guard Brackins. Junior guard Mario Little and freshman forward Markieff Morris also matched up against Brackins and combined for seven fouls.
Diante Garrett (left) and Craig Brackins celebrate after Brackins drained one of his three pointers. Brackins finished with a career-high 42 points, two points shy of the Big 12's single game score record.
The layhawks tried to trap Brackins in the post. That didn't work either.
But Kansas still led 66-51 with nine minutes remaining before a scoring drought ensured for nearly three minutes. In that time, Iowa State scored nine points. Brackins capped it off with his third three-pointer to make the score 66-60.
"We got a little fumble with the ball," sophomore center Cole Aldrich said. "We needed some good possessions and good defense."
The Jayhawks got both. They halted Brackins by holding him scoreless for the next four minutes.
The Hilton Coliseum crowd roared and Self took a timeout.
and nine rebounds in the second half to finish with 16 points and 12 rebounds — threw down a put-
Aldrich - who had 12 points
Collins fired a pass to sophomore guard Tyrel Reed, who had 10 points, on Kansas' next possession. Reed set his feet behind the three-point line in the corner and released. Swish. 71-60.
back dunk in transition moments after Self's timeout.
"Sherron found Tyrel off of a good screen," Self said, "and he made the biggest shot of the game."
But Brackins didn't care about all of that. The celebration went on in the visitor's locker room.
Afterward, Self said Brackins was as good as any player in the country. Camera crews surrounded Brackins and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
"We're getting better," Self said. "Sherron got us off to a good start and we never trailed in the game. We're growing up."
Edited by Chris Hickerson
VIEW FROM PRESS ROW
IT WAS OVER WHEN ...
Sophomore guard Tyrel Reed made his second three-pointer of the game with four minutes remaining. Iowa State had cut the Kansas lead to six less than a minute before and Hilton Coliseum was as loud as any venue in the country. After Reed's three, it became as silent as a Catholic church during The Eucharist. It made the score 71-60 and effectively doomed Iowa State.
GAME TO REMEMBER ...
Junior guard Sherron Collins
Collins
When the play-by-play guy on national television says the only way to stop Collins is by using a two-by-four, well, that's a fair indicator Kansas' point guard is having a good day. The comment was made during Collins'tear in the first half where he scored 18 points in 12 minutes. Collins tailed off as the game went on, but still scored eight more points and had five assists. More importantly, he put the Jayhawks in a position to win.
GAME TO FORGET ...
Freshman forward Marcus Morris
Morris
This spot seems to be reserved for one of the two Morris twins every game. Marcus will want to forget about Saturday. He failed to score and fouled out in 19 minutes of playing time. Craig Brackins exposed Marcus, who also committed three turnovers, defensively. Marcus did grab six rebounds, which is important to Kansas coach Bill Self, but that wasn't valuable enough to make up for the rest of his shortcomings.
STAT OF THE NIGHT ...
42. What else but the number of points Iowa State sophomore forward Craig Brackins scored? He went 17-for-21 from the freethrow line and 11-for-19 from the field. It was the seventh most throw ever scored against Kansas.
PRIME PLAYS
FIRST HALF
19:47 — Sherron Collins took the opening tip and drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key. With the shot, Collins eclipsed 1,000 career points. He's the 51st Kansas player to reach that mark.
11:23 — Iowa State's Jamie Vanderbeken hit a three-pointer to bring his team within 20-17. The shot capped a 12-5 run and it was as close as the Cyclones would get for the rest of the game.
0:00 — Iowa State stormed back at the end of the half, but Brady Morningstar's buzzerbeater gave Kansas the momentum into the locker room. After missing a trey, Morningstar grabbed the rebound and tossed in a floater to beat the clock.
8:07 — Collins made a jumper to put Kansas up 27-19. The shot gave Collins 18 points in the first 12 minutes, but he failed to score the rest of the first half.
SECOND HALF
4:25 — Tyrel Reed does one thing and he does it well: hit big threes in big situations. After Aldrich's put back dunk hushed the crowd, Reed's three from the corner killed the Hilton Magic.
12:42 — In a highly entertaining sequence of events, Cole Aldrich took a pass from Morningstar and galloped from the top of the key for a dunk. Watching Aldrich handle the ball 30-feet from the basket is pure joy.
11:00 Markieff Morris hit a jumper from 15 feet. Morris' only points of the game put Kansas up 64-47, its largest lead of the contest.
6:34 — With all of Hilton behind him, Craig Brackins nailed a three-pointer to make the score 66-60. The Coliseum erupted and coach Bill Self took a timeout. However, Brackins failed to make another field goal.
GAME NOTES
It wasn't much of a trip for Harrison Barnes. The 6-foot-6 guard is from Ames, Iowa.
THE COURTING OF BARNES
Barnes didn't pay much attention and instead focused on the court or fiddled with his cell phone. Kansas and Iowa State are both recruiting Barnes. According to Rivals. com, Barnes has already received at least 20 scholarship offers from schools across the country, including North Carolina, Duke, UCLA and USC.
The hometown crowd at Hilton Coliseum made it clear that they want him to stay home for college. The student section started chanting, "Harrison Barnes" and "We want Barnes" during timeouts.
One of the nation's best high school junior basketball players attended the game and sat behind the south basket.
Junior guard Mario Little scored nine points and went 4-for-4 from the field off the bench.
A BIG SCORER
"I'm going to miss probably next game," Little said. "I don't know"
It's significant because Little has now made 11 consecutive field goals dating back to the Big 12 opener against Kansas State. But Little isn't expecting the streak to last too much longer.
COLLINS REACHES MILESTONE
It took less than 15 seconds for junior guard Sherron Collins to score his 1,000th point as a Jayhawk in the victory.
Collins had 999 coming into the game and made a threepointer at the top of the key 13 seconds into Saturday's game to pass the threshold. He became the 51st player in Kansas history to accomplish the feat.
Collins said he would have preferred to reach 1,000 at Allen Fieldhouse, but was happy to put the distraction behind him. Congratulatory text messages awaited him on his cell phone when the game ended.