THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2009
FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2009
GAME DAY 7B
KU
TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
Kansas coach Bill Self is concerned. His young Jayhawks look invincible when they play at home, where they are 11-0 and win by an average margin of 21.5 points. On the road, Kansas is ordinary. Make that mediocre. The Jayhawkes have won away from Allen Fieldhouse only once this season — and that was a victory against Washington at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Self wants this team to embrace being the enemy and feed off the energy in opposing gyms as Kansas teams have in the past. The Jayhawks will have another opportunity Saturday at the Coors Event Center in Boulder, Colo.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior guard Mario Little
Little made
his first start of the season in the game against Kansas State. He seemed to get into a rhythm defensively and with his shot, as
Little
he scored eight points in only 13 minutes.
Kansas State's big lineup, which intended to beat Kansas up on the boards, forced Self to limit the 6-foot-5 Little's playing time in the second half. It will come as no surprise if Little makes his second start and gets more minutes to showcase his skills at Colorado.
QUESTION MARK
The Buffaloes have done as
Will Colorado prevent
Will Colorado prevent Sherron Collins from having a big game?
The Buffalofoes have done as good a job as anyone in the Big 12
But this is
ron Collins in the past. In four career games against Colorado, Collins is averaging eight points and two assists.
a different Sherron Collins than the one who played in those games. Now, Collins is the focus of Kansas' offense. He's scored 24 points or more in three of his past four games. If he does it again in Boulder, Colorado's chances of an upset will be greatly reduced.
HEARYE, HEARYE
"We've just been inconsistent, obviously away from a home. We'll find out more Saturday."
— Kansas coach Bill Self
"There is no turning back now. So I might as well go out there and give it what I've got."
Junior guard Mario Little on deciding to not take a redshirt
BUFFSAWAITINBOULDER
Jayhawks want to continue fast start in Big 12 with first road victory
KANSAS VS. COLORADO 2:30 p.m., COORS EVENT CENTER, Boulder, Colo., ABC
KANSAS (12-4) STARTERS
Collins
Sherron Collins, 5-foot-11 junior guard
Collins' only flaw this season has come when he tries to do too much offensively. Of course, an occasional turnover from a guy who is averaging nearly 19 points and five rebounds isn't much of a problem.
Taylor
Tyshawn Taylor, 6-foot-2 freshman guard
If Taylor plays as he did against Kansas State, he has the potential to be one of the best freshmen in the country. As is the case with most of the Jayhawks, however, consistency is an issue.
Tomlinson leads the team with 3.6 assists per game and also chips in 8.8 points per game. He's the first Australian to play basketball at Colorado.
Tomlinson
Dwight Thorne II, 6-foot-2 junior guard
Nate Tomlinson, 6-foot-2 freshman guard
Thorne is second in scoring (11.9 ppg), but second-to-none in athletic pedigree. His cousin, Acie Law IV, played basketball at Texas A&M, and his great uncle is Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks.
Morningstar
Brady Morningstar, 6-foot-3 sophomore guard
COLORADO (8-7) STARTERS
Morningstar was in the middle of one of his worst games of the season against Kansas State when he stepped up to hit a three-pointer that Self called the most important basket of the game.
Thorne II
Mario Little, 6-foot-5 junior guard
Little
It's not that Little has done anything wrong,but a lot of uncertainty still surrounds how ready he is to be a full-time contributor. Saturday's game should be revealing.
Get ready for some swats from Aldrich against the Buffaloes. He loves nothing more than blocking shots and he'll have opportunities Saturday.
Cole Aldrich, 6-foot-11 sophomore center
Higgins is Colorado's shining star and he also comes from an athletic family. His father, Rod, was drafted in the second round of the 1982 NBA draft. Rod was taken four spots ahead of Derek Smith, who claims to have invented the high-five while at Louisville.
Aldrich
Jackson-Wilson played just 12 minutes at Missouri and scored only four points. He's the only senior on the team.
Higgins
Jermyl Jackson-Wilson, 6-foot-6 senior forward
Austin Dufault, 6-foot-8 freshman forward
Against Missouri, Dufault played 31 minutes but didn't make one trip to the free-throw line. That must change on
Saturday.
Jackson-Wilson
SIXTH MAN
Markieff has fouled out in two of the past three games and recorded four fouls against Kansas State. Those problems should be solved by the 17th game of the season.
Markieff Morris,
6-foot-9 freshman
forward
Morris
SIXTH MAN
- Case Keefer
An Overland Park native, Crawford went to Wake Forest before transferring to Colorado. His father, Steve, played baseball for the Red Sox and Royals.
Casey Crawford, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward
Crawford
Tyshawn Taylor
— Taylor Bern
CU
TIPOFF
AT A GLANCE
As the only Big 12 team struggling to keep its head above .500, Colorado doesn't really strike fear into an opposing team. The Buffaloes scheduled cupcakes in nonconference play, but their sweet tooth turned into a cavity with a home loss to Montana State and neutral-court setbacks to Vermont and SMU. All those teams rank lower than No. 150 in RPI, according to ripatrats.com, with SMU checking in at No. 273. Coach Jeff Bzdellik's crew opened conference play on Wednesday with a 107-62 defeat at Missouri. A loss on Saturday would level the Buffs at 8-8.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Sophomore guard Cory Higgins
Higgins is a lanky guard with
some range who leads Colo-
Higgins
radio in scoring (17.5 points per game), rebounding (6.3 rebounds per game) and steals (28). He's also an expert at drawing fouls — his 107 free-
QUESTION MARK
throw attempts rank second in the conference — and lethal once he gets to the line, hitting 84 percent. Higgins is young, but he's not inexperienced. He started every game last season and he's handled the role as Colorado's leader well so far. The Bufs still aren't very good, but Higgins makes them a threat in close games.
Is three days enough time to recover from a 45-point loss?
The Buffalooes started Big 12 play in embarrassing fashion. At Missouri, Colorado shot 24 percent in the first half, then allowed Mizzou to hit 72 percent of his shots in the second half.
The result? A whopping 107-62 defeat with no positives except that it can't get any worse. Colorado is very young — it has one senior — and youth tends to dwell on big mistakes.
The Buffaloes must shake that one off and keep Saturday's game respectable to move forward in a positive manner.
HEARYE, HEARYE
"What you take away from this game is a red face and a red behind. Because you got your butt whupped."
Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik, following Wednesday's 107-62 loss at Missouri
"We didn't counter their run with a run of our own. When they put us in the hole it was hard for us to get out of it."
Junior guard Dwight Thorne II on Wednesday's defeat
BIG 12 SCHEDULE
Time Time (CT) Chan
Missouri vs. Iowa State 12:30 p.m. KMCI (15)
Baylor vs. Oklahoma State 12:30 p.m. N/A
Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma 1 p.m. ESPN
Texas Tech vs. Texas 3 p.m. KMCI (15)
Nebraska vs. Kansas State 5 p.m. Metro Sport
COORS EVENT CENTER WILL BE SILENT IF
SILENT IF...
Kansas opens on a run resembling its 18-0 start against Kansas State. The Wildcats had enough talent to get back into the game in the second half. The Buffaloes do not. If the Jayhawks come out scorching and push an up-tempo pace, the Buffaloes plans will be ruined.
PHOG ALLEN WILL ROLL OVER
IN HIS GRAVE IF ...
COMING SCHEDULE
Colorado is the team that puts together a monstrous run. In Kansas' two true road games at Arizona and Michigan State, it has been doomed by a prolonged lapse in the middle of the game. Kansas allows games to spiral out of control when it doesn't have the Allen Fieldhouse environment to bail it out. That needs to change.
Prediction: KANSAS 89, COLORADO 75
Date Opponent TV Time
Jan. 19 TEXAS A&M ESPN 8 p.m.
Jan. 24 at Iowa State ESPN 1 p.m.
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.