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KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | MONDAY, FEB. 8, 2016
Kansas looks to move into first place in the Big 12 at home against West Virginia
Forward Perry Ellis scores against West Virginia last year on senior night. Tuesday, the Jayhawks will face off against West Virginia in Allen Fieldhouse.
File Photo/KANSAN
▶ SCOTT CHASEN
@SChasenKU
After dropping three straight Big 12 road games, a win against the TCU Horned Frogs by any margin would've taken a large weight off the No.7 Kansas Jayhawks' shoulders.
However, it wasn't just any win.
The Jayhawks came out and dominated the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, Texas. The team rode performances from sophomore guard Devonte' Graham and senior forward Perry Ellis in the victory, which ended up being a fairly significant win, in terms of the race for a 12th-consecutive Big 12 championship.
After all, following the Jayhawks' win, the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners fell to the Kansas State Wildcats. The Sooners' loss gives the Jayhawks a chance to get back into first place with a win on Tuesday.
Still, the task won't be easy.
They'll face off against a No.14 West Virginia Mountaineers team that already holds a win over the Jayhawks this year. But taking down Kansas at home is a completely different monster.
The Jayhawks have lost only three home games since Feb. 11, 2007, going 148-3 in that stretch. However, there have been a few games in that 148 that have
been a little too close for comfort.
Josh Selby's debut went down to the wire. The team needed a banked three by Ben McLemore just to get to overtime against Iowa State and trailed by double figures against Missouri and Florida. And just a few games ago, on Jan. 4, it took three overtimes for Kansas to beat Oklahoma.
But one of those games that seems to escape everyone's mind came last year on Senior Night. The Mountaineers, who had already beaten the Jayhawks in Morgantown, W. Va., led by eight in Allen Fieldhouse with less than two minutes to play.
However, forward Jamari Traylor and guard Frank Mason III would combine for 20 points in the remaining two minutes plus overtime, as the Jayhawks pulled off the impressive comeback.
On that day, the Mountaineers had a gameplan that was nearly good enough to win. One year later, they're back to finish
the job.
West Virginia heads to Allen Fieldhouse in sole possession of first-place of the Big 12. The Mountaineers are led by junior forward Devin Williams, who comes into the game with a bit of momentum, after a sort of midseason slump.
In his last three games, Williams is averaging around 15 points and 13 rebounds per game, posting two double-doubles, his ninth and 10th of the season. However, after a strong start to the year, his
production has tailed off as of late.
With Holton's suspension, the team is missing
And the same could be said for the team as a whole. After starting the year 15-1, the Mountaineers are just 4-3 in their last seven games. And it won't be getting any easier for them, as the team may be without usual starter Jonathan Holton, who was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules prior to the team's game against Florida.
a decent scorer and good rebounder, but, perhaps most importantly, it's missing another body. Because of the way West Virginia attacks opponents on the defensive end, the team is prone to fouling. In fact, out of 346 teams, only two — The Citadel and Washington — commit more fouls per game than West Virginia.
For that, and the energy it takes to be able to put on a full-court press, every player is important. Each body provides -15 more minutes of energy and five more fouls, along with whatever production comes on the offensive end on a night-to-night basis.
Regardless, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said after the team's last game that he doesn't know when Holton will be back.
It isn't the end of the world, as the Mountaineers are still a good team, not to mention Holton was kind of a dud in the last meeting between the two teams, which the Mountaineers still won. But it certainly doesn't help the team's cause either.
In Allen Fieldhouse, you need every break to go your way to win. Oklahoma learned that in three overtimes; Kentucky learned that this last week.
And that's what the Mountaineers will be up against on Tuesday.
- Edited by Skylar Rolstad
Kansas swimming team defeats Iowa State for second road-meet victory
► ERIK NELSON
@erikthefan
The Kansas swimming team had been average at best away from Robinson Natatorium, with just one win in three meets during the season. On Friday and Saturday, it would be the team's last chance to improve its road record, facing Big 12 rival Iowa State in Ames, Iowa in the last meet of the season.
This was also the last regular season meet of the season. Usually, meets take just one day to complete, but this one took two, as the 16 events were split up.
In all, Kansas won 10 out of 16 events during the
two-day competition and defeated Iowa State by a score of 172.5-127.5. This was Kansas' third consecutive win and first road win since Oct. 31 against TCU. The Jayhawks finished the season with a record of 9-4.
"Today was really good," head coach Clark Campbell said in a KU Athletics press release. "We haven't performed well on the Saturday session of this meet in a number of years, and I was really pleased with how they came out today. Everyone came out strong and ready to compete, which was great to see after yesterday's swim."
On Friday, Kansas won all but two of the eight
events of the first portion of the two-day meet. Freshman Libby Walker won two events, the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly. Walker finished the freestyle race with a time of 10:17.95, and her time for the butterfly was 2:04.03. The score at the end of day one was Kansas 90.5, Iowa State 59.5.
The next day, each team won four events. Kansas senior Chelsie Miller won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:00.67, and finished fourth in her final career individual race, the 200-yard individual medley. She recorded a time of 2:08.16, nearly four seconds slower than the winner of the race, Iowa State senior Kasey Roberts.
Kansas concluded the meet with a bang, winning the 400-yard freestyle relay. The A relay team of freshmen Breonna Barker and Haley Bishop, junior Yulia Kuchkarova and senior Haley Molden, recorded a time of 3:29.46.
Kansas will have a few weeks of break before the Big 12 championship in Austin, Texas, which will take place Feb. 24-27.
This was also the final career regular season meet for seniors Miller, Molden, Laura Bilsborrow and Bryce Hinde.
- Edited by Skylar Rolstad
Senior Chelsea Miller races against Missouri State and Denver University during a meet in Oct. 10th. The team ended the year with a 9-4 record.
Missu Minear/KANSAN
Kansas softball will start 2016 season with young rotation, new pitching leadership
Missy Mineer/KANSAN Pitcher Alicia Pille throws a pitch at Arrocha Field on Friday. In 2016 the Jayhawks will be without Pille, who was a staple of the roation in 2015.
► NICK COUZIN
@Ncouz
This week marks the beginning of February, which means only one thing at Rock Chalk Park — it's softball season. Following an impressive 8-0 record in the preseason, the softball team spoke to the media to discuss its upcoming season.
The big talk of media day was the team's newfound youth, now that Maddie Stein, all-time leader in RBIs, and Alicia Pille, all-time leader in ERA, graduated. This turns the attention to seniors like Chaley Brickey and Briana Evans to lead the new faces of those like freshman pitcher Alexis Reid.
However, this is not an
entirely new situation for the team, Kansas coach Megan Smith said.
"Pitching is definitely going to be different," Smith said. "When you have someone like Alicia Pille for four years, you know what you're getting and how solid she is [...] It's exciting to see what will happen with these new girls. I had the same thing happen four years ago when Pille was a freshman, and now we're going to do the same thing with Alexis Reid and see what she does."
With Pille gone, the new leader of the pitching staff is junior Sophia Templin, a De Soto native. Templin acknowledged her growing role on the team, adding that she has some preseason jitters
that need to be worked out.
However, Templin does not think that's a bad thing.
"The dynamic of the pitching staff is a lot different this year than it has been in years past. We have always had a bigger group of veterans, and I think I am in a position that I wasn't in last year," Templin said. "It's exciting, but also a little nerve-wracking moving into the season. But I think we are ready to do it as a group."
With Templin at the head of the rotation, and entirely new faces like Reid, the pitching staff will be much different than previous seasons.
"I think our movement as a staff is widespread. I think it should be pretty exciting," she said. "I think every pitcher we have on the staff is completely different. It should be pretty interesting how we tackle games."
And while many were excited to talk about the changes to the team, Reid said she was just ready for one thing — the season.
"I've been waiting four or five years to finally get to this place, and I think it's really exciting," Reid said. "It's great to finally start [20161]
The confidence from the young ace and the rest of the pitching staff will bode well as Kansas travels to Jacksonville to play its first opponent of the season, North Carolina State. Feb. 12.
- Edited by Matthew Clough