Volume 126 Issue 52
kansan.com
Monday. November 25, 2013
COMMENTARY Black begins to accept new role
Welcome to Kansas basketball, Tarik Black. We've been waiting to
We've been waiting to see what you can do. It's not that anyone thought you couldn't play. Or that Lawrence wasn't the right place for you. It just took a few games to learn your new ground. That's understandable.
When a player is nearing 1000 points in college basketball, you're supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt. It was just expected that Black would return the benefits right from the start.
Black's six points and four rebounds against Towson looked much more impressive in person than they do on the stat sheet. His thunderous dunks in the opening minutes of the Kansas victory sparked an onslaught of scoring from above the rim.
This is what Jayhawks fans envisioned when Black transferred from Memphis after last season. This is the Tarik Black who 'Tigers' coach Josh Pastner raved about. The Tarik Black who fits perfectly into Bill Self's high-low system.
This is what was supposed to happen from day one. Black joins the Jayhawks, opens up room to score in the paint and grooms guys like Joel Embiid and Jamari Traylor to fill his spot next year.
It wasn't even shocking when in training camp Self announced that Black would have the chance to play as much as he wanted. It was almost expected.
And this wasn't the type of trouble you play through. Not with how deep the bench is for the lavhawks.
Instead, the new rules got to Black. Hard as he fought to clear the paint, he couldn't stop drawing calls. Black got into foul trouble during the preseason, he got into foul trouble during the Champions Classic and he got into foul trouble against Iona.
You could sense the frustration mounting for the big man. Game after game, he came out looking to make a difference on the floor only to end up on the bench by the first media timeout.
Things get a little tougher when your backup goes 7-7 from the field and picks up 13 rebounds like joel Embibid did against lona.
So against Towson, Black fought to show off what he transferred to Kansas to do in the first place: share some of the spotlight.
"As a basketball player I don't plan on coming out there and sitting on the side line," Black said after Kansas defeated Towson 88-58. "I was able to get on the court and do what I needed to do."
What he needed to do was clog up the paint on offense and defense. He accomplished that with a thunderous dunk in the opening minutes after stealing the ball from the Tigers' Marcus Damas.
From there Black was officially activated and he seemed to play without over-thinking or worrying for what was likely the first time all season.
"It got everything going." Black said of his opening dunk. "I feel that's what sparked everything because on the next play Wayne (Seiden) came down and had the two-handed dunk. It got the energy flowing and gave us the fun we want to have this year."
Edited by Paige Lytle
LOBRENCE, KS
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Towson guard Mike Burwell tries to avoid Kansan defenders Wayne Selden Jr. (left) and Naadir Tharpe (right) as he drives to the basket during Friday's game.
DUNKS GALORE
High-flying Jayhawks lob their way past Towson
BLAKE SCHUSTER bschuster@kansan.com
"Lobrence, KS." cut out in huge white letters.
High in section 21 of Allen Fieldhouse - the last few rows of student seating - the sign went up.
The Jayhawks took the court at the same time the sign debuted and barely noticed, but the rest of the crowd was enthralled.
It was either an ominous warning for Towson, or someone tipped those students off to the Jayhawks game plan: Go up, throw down and repeat.
For the first 20 minutes that's all Kansas seemed to do. A quick pass from Naadir Tharpe, or a dunk from Tarik Black, Wayne Selden Jr, or Andrew Wiggins. It was a pick your highlight type of
mgnt as No. 2 Kansas defeated Towson 88-58.
"We were aggressive, ran the floor, threw lobs and played hard," Wiggins said after a team leading 16-point performance. "It's our nature. We just always think attack and drive. We play for each other."
Kansas was on the cusp of an explosive performance, especially after clobbering lona with alley-oops in the second half last Tuesday. In that game the Jayhawks outscored their opponent by 20 points. Against Towson, they upped that to 30 – at one point leading by 39.
Every other top five team has recorded a victory of 30 points or more in this young season - a bar that's expected to be met against lesser challengers.
None of which is to say that
Kansas hadn't played a good game yet, only that it hadn't played a complete game. That much was quashed as the jayhawks shoved aside the Tigers. Bullied them out
"If there's a better team in the country I'd like to find out who they are, but I wouldn't like to play them."
PAT SKERRY
TOWSON HEAD COACH
of Lawrence like a group of kids who wouldn't let anyone else play with the toys in their clubhouse. "They were locked in tonight," Towson coach Pat Skerry said. "If there's a better team in the
country I'd like to find out who they are, but I wouldn't like to play them."
Kansas toyed with the rim, the 3-point line (7-16) and of course the Tigers, whose plan of attack blew up in the first few minutes.
"The plan was to get into a half-court defensive war and then try to push it." Jerrelle Benimon said who led Towson with 21 points. "We weren't making shots so we couldn't really keep them out of transition."
Which is what made the "Lobrence" sign so timely. After every missed Towson shot, and every failed attempt by the Tigers to crash the glass, Kansas started running.
An outlet pass from Joel Embiid, a dunk by Andrew Wiggins, or Andrew White III, or Tarik Black or Wayne Selden Jr. and
jump back on defense. It was like watching a dog fall for the same trick again and again.
The Jayhawks combined for 19 assists while scoring 29 points on the fast break. Towson mustered just eight points in transition.
"I'd like to say I've been working with him," Kansas coach Bill Sell said of Embild's passing. "It's instinctive. He's just smart like that. He understands, he's got feel. He was good at it tonight."
So the Jayhawks kept going up. Soaring over the floor while their opponents helplessly looked on down below.
Maybe those kids holding up the sign knew what was coming. Or maybe they were just damn lucky.
"We looked athletic," Self said. "I think that the first time all year."
Edited by James Ogden
FOOTBALL
Fridged temperatures stiffen Kansas offense
CONNOR OBERKROM
coberkrom@kansan.com
After a cold night in Ames, Iowa, Kansas once again finds itself in the cellar of the Big 12.
The field at Jack Trice Stadium was icy, close to the second coming of the frozen tundra: Lambeau Field. Taking any misdirection on the field almost always resulted into a stumble-fest, where getting full traction on the field was near impossible.
The temperature was frigid the whole night, plummeting to a wind chill of -7 degrees in the second half, but a lot more things went unfavorably for Kansas than merely the field conditions.
EMILY WITTLER/KANSAN
"We lost 34-0," senior offensive linemen Gavin Howard said. "The field wasn't the reason we got killed."
Freshman quaterback Montell Cozart takes a snap during Saturday's loss against Iowa State. Cozard was 4-12 passing totaling 20 yards.
Head coach Charlie Weis certainly saw the field as an obstacle, but didn't see it fit for an excuse of why Kansas got walloped 34-0 by Iowa State.
"I really didn't feel like the weather itself was a factor." Weis
Coupled with the scary cold weather was the dangerously futile Kansas offense, which had five drives inside Iowa State's territory in the first half but failed to muster any points. This was Kansas' first shutout on the wrong end Texas defeated the Jayhawks 43-0 in 2011.
said. "I thought the field was a factor. But both teams played on the same field, obviously Iowa State did a much better job of handling the field."
In Montell Cozart's first road start as a Jayhawk, he struggled and had statistically his worst game of the season. Cozart saw some lanes open early on, but two mistakes in the first half spelled out the freshman quarterback's rough night.
Kansas was driving inside of Iowa State's territory and had a third down to push the ball into the red zone. On a 3rd-and-10, Cozart tucked it and dashed toward the sidelines, but as he neared the first down marker, he stepped out of bounds just a yard short.
Cozart had an open cutback lane, but never saw it. Weis challenged the spot and lost, and one play later James Sims was stuffed on fourth down as Kansas again failed to muster anything.
The next blunder came when Cozart overthrew his receiver by a few yards at the end of the half resulting in an interception. Iowa State was only up 10-0 at the break, but missed opportunities defined the half.
Cozart finished the game four of 12 for 20 yards and after Weis figured that running to the outside wasn't working partly due to the field conditions, Cozart was yanked for Jake Heaps midway through the third quarter.
Kansas totaled just 279 total yards and was three-16 on third downs as it saw itself fall in last place in the Big 12 once again. A win versus Kansas State next weekend is the only thing that will change that.
Iowa State, which didn't have much impediments of moving the ball, struck first guided by a 58-yard pass from Grant Rohach
Weis mentioned that this loss will only be emotional blow for one day and that it will be well
Iowa State had its second largest scoring output of the season and compiled 502 yards of total offense.
to ISU running back Aaron Wimbley who ran past an exposed Ben Heeney pass coverage with no help behind him.
aware in preparing for the Sunflower Showdown.
"Anytime you're playing your arch rival, it shouldn't take much to rally the troops." Weis said. "If it does then you really have a problem."
- Edited by James Ogden