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KANSAN.COM
SPORTS
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Derailing slightly, KU looks to get back on track
CAROLINE FISS/KANEAN
Perry Ellis shoots the ball against his defender, Harvard's Evan Cummings.
SHANE JACKSON
@jacksonshane3
Since returning from a championship performance in Maui, Kansas hasn't looked the same, despite picking up a pair of wins.
The excitement of freshman forward Cheick Diallo's debut masked a poor first-half performance against Loyola in the first game back from Maui. Then, on Saturday against Harvard, Kansas struggled to bury an inferior opponent, even in the confines of Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks still came away with a win, but it was far closer than they wanted, beating the Crimson 75-69 move to 6-1.
"We had some individuals that didn't have great games, but as a team I don't think we played awful," said Kansas coach Bill Self. "I thought our defense was pretty good. We have to do some things to tighten up. We certainly can play a lot better."
One of those players is senior forward Perry Ellis. Ellis has struggled in his two games back from Maui. Both he and Self insist it has nothing to do with his hip, but Saturday showcased something is wrong.
"He hasn't been the same
since we got back from Maui," Self said. "I'm not speaking negatively about his game — I love his game. He just hasn't been himself. I don't know if he's got the flu bug or something going on."
On Saturday, Ellis logged 27 minutes and grabbed four rebounds. His four rebounds was the second lowest mark of the season. As a result, Kansas was outrebounded by eight.
In terms of scoring, Ellis only totaled 12 points against Harvard on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor. After scoring at least 16 points in three of the first four games, Ellis has failed to score 16 points in three consecutive games. That is largely because of his inability to be aggressive on the offensive end.
"He's got to become more aggressive, more of quick-twitch athlete," Self said. "He's not right now. We know he can get that back. That is something we will bank on him doing."
Another player looking to rebound from the game against Harvard is junior guard Wayne Selden Jr. Selden has been scorching hot on the offensive end for the early part of the season, leading the team in scoring with 16 points per game.
However, against Harvard, Selden battled with foul trouble and was unable to stay on the floor. As a result, he logged 22 minutes and scored nine points. It was the first time all year he did not have a double-digit scoring effort.
"It affected us a lot. We need him out there," said junior guard Frank Mason III. "He's a third-year guy, he knows what coach (Self) wants, and he's been through these types of situations. We really missed him out there."
If both Ellis and Selden can get back on track and lead the team, Kansas should have no problem handling Holy Cross on Wednesday. Holy Cross boasts a 3-5 record on the year, with a 1-3 mark on the road.
The Crusaders are averaging 63.3 points per game thus far. They are led by junior forward Malachi Alexander, who averages 11.1 points per contest on 50 percent shooting. He also is constantly on the floor, logging the most minutes per game with 34.6.
Holy Cross topped Harvard earlier this season by a score of 50-49 on Nov. 29 at home. Still, if veterans like Selden and Ellis can get back to form, Kansas should have no problem in this nonconference matchup.
Kansas falls to St. John's in nonconference test
- Edited by Derek Skillett
DYLAN SHERWOOD @dmantheman2011
On an afternoon where former Kansas women's basketball player Lynette Woodard was honored with the 2015 Naismith Outstanding Contributor to Women's Basketball Award, Kansas was looking for its fifth win of the season, with three wins already coming at home in Allen Fieldhouse.
The St. John's Red Storm came to Lawrence on'a five-game winning streak and upended the Jayhawks on Woodard's return to Lawrence, 86-71. St. John's forced Kansas into 11 first-half turnovers, which led to 16 points in the first half alone. The Jayhawks limited their turnovers to seven in the second half.
Overall, Kansas coach Brandon Schneider said he knew St. John's was going to be a test for his young team.
“[St. John's] was really athletic,” Schneider said. “That is a Big 12-caliber opponent [Kansas] just played. That's the type of athleticism we will face for 18 games when we get into league play. All the little things we have to do a much better job of.”
Kansas suffered its first loss at home against a quality opponent that received votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
"We made quite a few poor decisions with the basketball, and it kind of exposed us offensively," said sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge.
Aldridge compared Sunday's game to the second game of the season against Memphis. She said she felt like that game was better than Sunday's game against St. John's.
Kansas hasn't been tested too much throughout this season. The layhawks' first two games of the season against Texas
Southern and Memphis were somewhat challenging,but the team largely controlled them, winning by seven and nine points, respectively.
Kansas ultimately failed its first true road test against Arizona on Nov. 23. The Jayhawks could not get anything going in the second half and fell by 15 points.
Kansas played one of its best games of the season against Northern Illinois on Nov. 27, winning 66-58 and leading throughout the game, but the next day SMU challenged the Jayhawks early, and they responded. Kansas almost overcoming a 19-point deficit, but lost to SMU.
Because some of the games were less challenging, it was crucial for the Jayhawks to play a strong team at home, and that's exactly what they did.
And now they have to learn. Playing at home the next four
And now they have to learn.
games, the Jayhawks will look to improve going into Big 12 Conference play starting on Dec. 30 at Oklahoma. And one area they'll have to improve will be toughness, Schneider said.
"I think there were a lot of instances where [St john's] looked like the tougher team," Schneider said. "We had some instances where we could categorize ourselves as being soft today."
Kansas (4-3) will have a short turnaround to play its third of a six-game homestand on Thursday as University of Missouri-Kansas City will come to Allen Fieldhouse for a 7 p.m. game.
- Edited by Madeline Umali
MISST MINEAR/KANSAI
Sophomore guard Chayla Cheadle looks to pass the ball from the floor. Kansas lost to St. John's 86-71.
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