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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Jayhawks in shape to face Cougars tonight
STELLA LIANG
sliang@kansan.com
After playing in a game without much rhythm to start the season, the Kansas women's basketball team (1-0) turns its eyes to the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougars (0-1), coming to town today.
The lajaways are still trying to figure out how to play with their new-look team. In their opener against Oral Roberts, juniors Natalie Knight and Chelsea Gardner, the only two players with significant starting experience, proved to be consistent forces on the team.
In the two exhibition games and first regular season game, the Jayhawks have made a trend of going on a second-half run to create a comfortable lead between them and the opposition. Against Oral Roberts, the Jayhawks were up by 10 points at halftime and came out of the locker room on a 10-3 burst. Gardner recorded a double-double, the seventh of her career, with 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Knight contributed 12 points and dished out a career-high seven assists.
Kansas and Oral Roberts combined for 58 fouls, which stunted the rhythm of the game. Guard Asia Boyd also earned a double-double in the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kansas was fouled 33
times, which would usually signify an aggressive style of play.
After the game, coach Bonnie Henrickson said the opposite was true. She said her team was not aggressive enough and needed to work on attacking and driving to the basket more often.
SIU-Edwardsville started its season off with a 59-48 loss to Missouri on Sunday. The Cougars shot 33.3 percent from the field and made five less three-point baskets than Missouri.
The Cougars had three players reach double figures: forwards Jessie Wendt and Allyssa Decker, and guard Tierny Austin had 10, 11 and 12 points, respectively.
Despite losing the game, the Cougars outscored Missouri in the paint, 30-24. They took 21 three-point shots their last time out, but only connected on two of them. The Jayhawks need to find a way to stop the Cougars from getting into the paint area and force them to shoot long jumpers.
When these two teams met three years ago on Dec. 19, 2010, Kansas exploded into a 91-52 victory.
Kansas is in the middle of a three-game homeestand that will conclude against Creighton on Sunday, Nov. 17. The Jayhawks will matchup with the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars tonight at 7 p.m.
- Edited by Kayla Overbey
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Junior forward Chelsea Gardner's teammates help her up after a play during the game against Oral Roberts on Sunday, Nov. 10. Gardner recorded the seventh double-double of her career during that game. She will face the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars with the Jayhawks tonight at 7 p.m.
POTENTIAL
Football Notebook
Weis hopes to end on a high note despite disappointing season
MICHAEL STRICKLAND/KANSAN
Junior running back Tony Pierson (3) sheds a tackle during the Oct. 5 game against Texas Tech. Coach Charlie Weis hopes to use Pierson's big play potential to help the Jayhawk offense the last three games of the season.
BEN FELDERSTEIN
bfelderstein@kansan.com
WEIS SHAKES THINGS UP IN PRACTICE
Coach Charlie Weis made it very clear that this week's practice schedule was going to be very different. The team spent all of Saturday's practice focusing on first and second down offense and defense. Weis did not want any special team distractions getting in the way.
"There are two ways of handling things," Weis said when discussing his reasoning for mixing things up this week. "There is the 'oh well' way of handling it and then there is the 'finding another way to do it' method. I have never been much of an 'oh well' kind of guy."
Weis is putting all of his energy into West Virginia. West Virginia is coming off a disheartening loss against a solid Texas squad. Weis is preparing for a hungry and able Mountaineer team with a lot left to gain this season.
Lately, Weis has been stressing transitions. He wants his players to take their work in the classroom and transition that onto the
practice field, and then onto the playing field.
Charlie Weis has won three games in the last two seasons at Kansas. He is doing anything he can to change the environment of Kansas football.
WEIS IS 'ALL IN'
Charlie Weis is going into the rest of the season with an "all in" mentality. When asked if Kansas is embracing his spoiler role in a must-win game for West Virginia, Weis said that it is a must-win game for the Jayhawks, as well.
"I'm all in. I have all my chips on the table. I'm either going to double up, or I'm going to walk away empty-handed."
The Kansas football team has been mathematically eliminated from bowl contention. "The Saturday after Thanksgiving is our bowl game," Weis said. They have three Big 12 games remaining on their schedule. Weis said that these next three games are the Jayhawks playoffs.
PIERSON LOOKS TO ADD
EXPLOSIVENESS TO
JAYHAWK OFFENSE
Junior unning back Tony Pierson
returned to the field last week against Oklahoma State. Pierson led all rushers with 87 yards on just six carries.
Pierson undoubtedly adds an extra element to the Jayhawk offense and Charlie Weis understands that. The Jayhawks have not been able to pick up large chunks of yardage through the passing game this season.
"Whenever Tony touches the ball and we get him in space, you can see that's like our passing game," Weis said. "That's where we get our chunks."
Pierson admitted to feeling dizzy at points during last week's game against Oklahoma State. "He was scared," Weis said. "Tony was afraid of taking another big hit and getting another concussion."
Pierson has that big play potential that not a lot of the other players on the roster posses. His health and production are crucial to Kansas' success in the last three games of the season.
- Edited by James Ogden
MEN'S BASKETBALL
VanVleet leads No.16 Wichita State past Western Kentucky
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WICHITA — Fred VanVleet didn't have enough energy to be excited after No. 16 Wichita State's latest win.
VanVleet scored 17 points and Kadeem Coleby had 13 to lead the Shockers in a 66-49 victory over Western Kentucky early Tuesday morning.
"It's pretty late," VanVleet said after the matchup that tipped at midnight locally and finished at 2:09 a.m. "And it took a lot of mental and physical focus for this game."
Cleanthony Early finished with 11 points and nine rebounds for
Shockers coach Gregg Marshall spent the long day before the game putting his team through two walkthrough and video sessions. Much of the preparation went out the window at halftime, with the team shooting 38.6 percent and leading just 30-28.
the Shockers (2-0) while Tekele Cotton added 10 points. Before the game, Wichita State unveiled the banner to commemorate its run to the Final Four last season.
we were impatient, itchy, off-kilter in our motion offense in the first half," Marshall said. "So in the second half, we went to more of a ball-screen offense and it worked
well."
"We had three or four defensive breakdowns right out of the gate." Hilltoppers coach Ray Harper said. "And it got away from us in the first five minutes."
Wichita State scored the first nine points of the second half to take control.
Caden Dickerson's 3-pointer pulled Western Kentucky to 51-42 with 8:44 to play, but Cotton scored the next four points for the Shockers to stem the tide.
Western Kentucky, which shot 7 for 30 in the second half, didn't get within 10 points again.
"We didn't defend as well as they
Wichita State, which finished with 12 blocks and had a 36-14 edge on scoring in the paint, jumped out to a 6-10 lead to excite the sold-out crowd.
T. J. Price and Aleksej Rostov scored 12 points each to lead Western Kentucky (0-1).
Western Kentucky survived the rough early stretch and turned the rest of the half into a grudge match of runs. Price put Western Kentucky on the board with a 3-pointer that started a 12-4 run, capped by Kevin Kaspar's three, for a 12-10
Wichita State answered with seven straight points, four from VanVleet, before Western Kentucky countered with nine straight, including Ben Lawson's slam and Kaspar's three for a 21-17 lead with 5:48 left in the period.
The Shockers followed with an 11-1 run, highlighted by two circus layups from VanVleet, before Price bounced in a three at the buzzer to pull the Hiltoppers within two.
did," Hilltoppers forward Aaron Adeoye said. "They stayed disciplined and we didn't."
Wichita State came out strong in the second half. Ron Baker made a corner three and Coleby had three straight baskets, including two em-
TH
lead with 11:22 remaining in the half.
"Yeah, I brought it here," he said. "Guys are stalking them out. We're looking for them now. You can't just drive us for easy shots."
Through the first 11 minutes of the second half, Western Kentucky had just four baskets — all by Rostov.
Coleby, a senior transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette, was willing to take credit for the blocked shots, even beyond his three.
phatic slams.
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