THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2011
PAGE 3B
FRESH TALENT AND EXPERIENCE
KORY CARPENTER
kcarpenter@kansan.com
At a glance, Tuesday night's matchup between No. 12 Kansas and No. 2 Kentucky in the famed Madison Square Garden looked to be a battle of polar-opposite rosters. It was seen as the talented but young Wildcats — many of them just months removed from the McDonald's High School All-American game — against the seasoned veterans of Kansas.
Except that it wasn't.
Yes, Kentucky has a staggering five McDonald's High School All-Americans on its roster, and yes, three of those are freshman. But sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones played 1,078 and 1,196 minutes last year, respectively. Senior starting point guard Darius Miller also played a lot of minutes last season, finishing with 1,178. That bests Kansas' two most experienced players, Tyshawn Taylor (977) and Thomas Robinson (482), and dwarfs anyone else in the Kansas rotation.
While a handful of Kentucky freshman experienced their first big-time college game in the 75-65 Kentucky victory, it wasn't much different for many of the Jayhawks. Even Thomas Robinson, who was pegged by CBS as a pre-season First Team All-American, only averaged 14.6 minutes per game last season.
Both teams showed the effects of inexperience in the first half with errant passes, shaky dribbling and poor shot selection. With a 28-28 tie in the waning seconds of the first half, Tyshawn Taylor dribbled past half court. He began to make a move on a Wildcat defender but seemed to trip over his own feet, losing the ball as the final seconds ticked off the clock and leaving the half-time scored tied. Kentucky's freshmen committed more than their fair share of mistakes in the first half as well, but Kansas wasn't able to take advantage. The first 20 minutes looked like most early-November games do: extra sloppy with a case of not-sure-how-to-play-together-yet for both teams.
In the second half, as Kansas continued to struggle on offense, Kentucky's talent woke up. The Wildcats opened up the half with a 13-2 run and never looked back. Kansas mistakes turned into Kentucky dunks in seconds. The Jayhawks shot just $3.9 percent from the field and drives to the basket were met with the long arms of 6-foot-10 Anthony Davis and 6-foot-9 Terrence Jones, both future pros who wreaked havoc on the Kansas offense for much of the night.
Kentucky coach John Calipari told ESPN that he doesn't have a good team yet. But as everyone found out, sometimes talent just takes over.
It won't be the last time Kentucky's uberathleticism simply overwhelms an opponent this season, and luckily for Kansas and its fans, the Jayhawks won't see a team more talented than their opponents on Tuesday night.
- Edited by Sarah McCabe
GOLF
Tiger meets former caddie after volatile split
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELBOURNE, Australia
MELBOURNE Tiger Woods, in the same group as former caddie Steve Williams for the first time since their acrimonious split, has teed off for the Americans at the Presidents Cup.
Woods
Williams, fired by Woods in July, is on the bag of Adam Scott, who is partnering K. J.
Williams
Choi for the Internationals against Woods and Steve Stricker in one of six foursomes (alternate shot) matches Thursday.
Two weeks ago, Williams made a racial slur against Woods at a caddies party in Shanghai. Williams apologized, but their on-course meeting has been one of the most-anticipated pairings of the Presidents Cup.
Woods and Williams shook hands on the first tee and Woods later hit his tee shot straight down the fairway at Royal Melbourne.
The Internationals took the early lead in three matches and the Americans in two, while Woods' match was all square after the first.
The biggest early swing came in the match involving Americans Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson,
Watson and Simpson are Presidents Cup rookies, while Els once shot a 60 on the composite course at Royal Melbourne to win the Heineken Classic in 2004.
Jason Day made a 12-foot birdie putt on the opening hole to help give him and fellow Australian Aaron Baddeley an early 1-up lead over Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar after four holes.
who were 2 down after three, but won three holes in a row to take a 1-up lead over Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa after seven holes in the opening match of the day.
Another Australian, Geoff Ogilvy,
made a 30-foot birdie putt to help
give him and partner Charl Schwartz-
zel a 2-up lead after six holes over
Bill Haas and Nick Watney of the
FOOTBALL
The Big 12 conference has reprimanded Kansas defensive coordinator Vic Shealy and senior linebacker Steven Johnson for public criticizing a face mask penalty called on Anthony Davis after Saturday's game against Baylor.
Big 12 reprimands Shealy and Johnson
The play took place at the end
Davis
Shealy
of the first half and allowed Baylor to kick a field goal and go into halftime trailing the Jayhawks 17-3. Kansas eventually fell to Baylor 31-30 in overtime.
— Mike Vernon
United States.
"Both individuals violated Conference rules that prohibit coaches, student-athletes, athletic department staff and university personnel from making public comments about game officials," said Big 12 intercommissioner Chuck Neinas. "Consistent with our precedent for such violations, they are being issued a public reprimand."
Hunter Mahan made a short birdie putt on the first to give him and David Toms the lead over the Internationalers' K.T. Kim and Y.E. Yang of South Korea. Retief Goosen and Robert Allenby of the Internationales took a 1-up lead over Phil Mickelson and Jim Furryk after three holes.
The Americans are looking to win the Presidents Cup for the fourth straight time. Royal Melbourne was the site of the International team's only win in 1998.
Officials said Thursday that Friday's fourball competition would be moved up to midmorning tee times due to the threat of inclement weather in the afternoon. Five foursomes and five fourball matches are scheduled Saturday, with 12 singles matches Sunday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tiger Woods of the U.S. team tees off during a practice round prior to the start of the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday.
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