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Kansas women's basketball gears up for long home stand after SMU Thanksgiving Classic
ZOE LARSON/KANSAN
ZOE LARSON/KANSAN Chayla Cheadle drives toward the basket.
DYLAN SHERWOOD
@dmantheman2011
Kansas went 1-1 over the weekend, picking up a 66-58 win over Northern Illinois on Friday and falling to tournament champion SMU on Saturday, 73-64.
Going into the SMU Thanksgiving Classic last weekend in Dallas, the Kansas women's basketball team wanted to rebound after a 15-point loss to Arizona last Monday. The Jayhawks were guarded two games in the tournament, either playing in the consolation game or championship game after Friday's game.
Game 1: Aldridge does it again
Sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge went 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, tying a career-high 17 points. Her performance was key as Kansas notched a 66-58 win over the Huskies.
However, Aldridge was not the only major contributor against Northern Illinois. Junior forward Caelynn Manning-Allen collected her first double-double of the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds, a game-high mark among all players.
Through the first quarter, there was little action between the layhawks and Huskies. However, Kansas began to pull away late in the second quarter. Kansas went on a 10-0 run in a two-and-a-half-minute span late in the quarter to push the lead to 18 points at the halftime break.
The closest the Huskies were after that was eight points with 2:30 left in the game at 60-52, as Kansas went on to win fairly comfortably.
Game 2: Comeback nearly completed
After a win on Friday, Kansas took on host SMU for the tournament championship on
Saturday. Trailing 9-0 early, the Jayhawks boosted a 9-0 run of their own but were behind, 43-24, at halftime.
The young Kansas team outscored the Mustangs, 40-30, in the second half but fell, 73-64, in its second loss of the season. Sophomore guard Chayla Cheadle came off the bench scoring a season-high 17 points in 29 minutes of play. Manning-Allen, who was also named to the SMU Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team, improved on her career high in points with 14.
Foul trouble haunted the Jayhawks as five players each had three fouls before halftime. Two players, freshman guard Aisia Robertson and Cheadle, pouled out late in the game.
Starting on Wednesday, Kansas will play six quality opponents, all at home, starting with Creighton. This will be the start of a six-game home
Home sweet home
stand before Big 12 play begins on Dec. 30 in Norman, Okla., against Oklahoma.
The Bluejays (4-2) will come into Allen Fieldhouse after going 2-1 in the Lone Star Showcase in Austin, Texas, with their only loss coming to the No. 19 Northwestern Wildcats. Creighton was also defeated by Drake last week.
Kansas will host St. John's UMKC, Navy, Washington State and Oral Roberts to round out nonconference play. The next six teams have a combined record of 19-13, and the best team is Washington State, which is currently undefeated at 6-0.
Kansas knows what it takes to play on the road, so playing back at home should be able to return some confidence to this young team.
Kansas (3-2) begins the homestand on Wednesday against Creighton at 7 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.
KU's special teams blunders lead to a lopsided loss in Sunflower Showdown
- Edited by Jackson Vickery
SHANE JACKSON @jacksonshane3
When head coach David Beaty took the job at the University of Kansas, he knew the daunting task he had in front of him. A program in complete turmilu after two coaching whiffs was now in the hands of a rookie head coach.
With all those things considered, Beaty set out three achievable goals prior to the start of the season; no wins were promised. Instead Beaty
sought out to be amongst the conference best in turnover margin, penalties and special teams.
This season the Jayhawks fell short on all three goals, ranking towards the bottom in both turnover margin and special teams. The latter was a key component in Kansas' 45-14 defeat on Saturday against its in-state rival Kansas State. The loss gave the Jayhawks their first winless season since 1954, as they finished 0-12 on the year.
"Special teams played a big role in tonight's game," Beaty said. "You take those two blocked punts away and a couple poor punts after that — it had a huge affect on the game. It affected us mentally."
On the very first possession, the Jayhawks offense sputtered, going three-and-out. Things took a turn for a worse when junior Matthew Wyman muffed the snap and was drilled on a punt; the Wildcats pounced on the loose ball.
The very next play, Kansas
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
State took a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard rushing touchdown.
"It was a rough start; it's hard to get back once one thing goes wrong." Wyman said. "I just dropped the snap. I don't know if it was nerves or the ball was dry; I just didn't see the ball in my hands."
With 6:30 to go in the first quarter, Kansas State made it 21-7 on another blocked punt. This time, the Wildcats jumped on the ball in end zone for the special teams score.
"That's disappointing to end the year with a punt being blocked in a game," Beaty said. "As much time as we put into it, that might be the one of most disappointing things I have experienced as a coach this year."
Junior kicker Matthew Wyman attempts a point after touchdown against Kansas State on Nov. 28. Earlier in the game, Wyman muffed a long snap and also had a blocked punt.
It wasn't until the third try that Kansas was able to successfully get a punt off.
"Everyone screwed up during the game," sophomore linebacker Joe Dineen said. "It just sucks because when the punter screws up its so blatantly obvious. The punts that he didn't get off were not the difference in the game. It was a team effort."
But the pressure was still there, and Wyman shanked the punt. The ball soared out of bounds for a net gain of 21 yards. Three plays later, Kansas State made it 28-7 on a Glen Gronkowski touchdown run from eight yards out.
"I was fighting myself the rest of the game to get my mind back into it," Wyman said. "I was definitely nervous after the first time. It just wasn't my day punting."
However, it wasn't just Saturday that Kansas struggled in that area of the game. In fact the Jayhawks have been dismal
All three special teams blunders came in the first quarter alone, which led to an enormous early deficit that the lay-hawks were never able to overcome on Senior Day. For the game, Kansas punted six times for an average of 24.5 yards per punt.
in that department all year.
Until Wyman began double dipping as kicker and punter, Kansas boasted the worst扑unting team in the nation. No punter on the lahayws roster had a higher average than 34 yards per punt.
Even when Kansas made the switch to utilizing its kicker in the punt game, the area only slightly improved. Wyman finished the year with an average of 40.5 yards per punt.
"The whole punting game is new to me." Wyman said. "I'm still learning the Big 12 game. It sucks because kicking definitely has its up and downs. I'm doing what I can to help the team, today I just didn't perform."
But it wasn't just the punt game that struggled in the special team department.
The Jayhawks were inconsistent in the kicking game all season. Kansas made just 6-of-11 field goals all season long. The Jayhawks booted through four of their six field goals in the first two games of the season.
The return game did not fare much better either. Aside from the 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by freshman running back Ryan Schadler in the season opener, the longest return of the season for the Jayhawks was just 26 yards.
For the season, Kansas ranked dead last in the conference in punt returns and in the bottom tier in kick returns.
Now, the special teams do not deserve sole blame for the 0-12 campaign. Nor do they deserve a majority of the blame.
However, Saturday highlighted it as an area that Kansas needs to improve on in the offseason. If Beaty plans to be competitive in the conference down the road, he needs to achieve all three of his realistic goals he set prior to the start of the season.
That starts with the special teams unit.
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