SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SWIMMERS SET TO COMPETE IN OHIO
The Kenyon Invitational will be the last meet of the fall season for the Jayhawks. SWIMMING AND DIVING 3B
SOONERS FACE TIGERS FOR TITLE
Oklahoma hopes to avoid an upset against Missouri on Saturday night. BIG 12 FOOTBALL | 8B
WWW.KANSAN.COM THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2008 PAGE 18
COMMENTARY
KANSAS 100, NEW MEXICO STATE 79
Freebies welcome in the fieldhouse
Outside Allen Field House Wednesday night, gusts of wind delivered the biting cold like a slap to the face. Inside, 8:12 remained in the first half when freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor sank his team's first free throw of the night.
The ball momentarily kissed the glass before caressing the net, representing just one of the 26 points Kansas had scored up to that moment in its 100-79 victory against New Mexico State. Afterward Taylor slapped hands with a few teammates — as players usually do after sinking a few freebies — and quickly headed up court to defend. Simple enough.
Suce, Kansas entered the game leading the Big 12 in free throw proficiency and it collectively hit 15 of 17 attempts (88.2 percent). Taylor went berserk against the Aggies, racking up a season-high 23 points. But him sinking seven of eight free throws, and his teams continued success in that area? Pretty routine stuff. As elementary as it gets. Kansas' 32-of-36 free throw shooting Monday night? A product of an exceptionally rough game. Sidebar material at best.
That is until you consider that one of the most fundamental procedures in basketball — one taught in the earliest levels of P.E. class — is largely the reason one more championship banner hangs in the Phog this season and was a factor in the only loss this year's team has experienced so far.
Consider first the one loss, a Nov. 25 89-81 overtime loss to No. 16 Syracuse in the CBE Classic final. It was no coincidence that the game was Kansas' worst night collectively in terms of free throw percentage. That night, Kansas enjoyed a 41-30 halftime lead having cashed in all five of its free throw attempts. The second half numbers virtually flipped in favor of Syracuse — 42-31 — as Kansas hit just four of 11 free throw attempts before the Orange forced overtime and eventually left Kansas City victorious.
The game was the first meeting between the two teams since the 2003 National Championship game — pure heartbreak to anyone around these parts. Kansas missed 18 freethrows that night. In a game decided by three points, no one with any hopes of sanity can claim that the Jayhawks' piss poor free throw shooting that night was not a deciding factor.
This brings us to April 7 of this year. That same, terrifying feeling of witnessing a championship slip away crippled all parts of Memphis and those decked out in blue and white in the Alamodome in San Antonio. On this night, Kansas hit 14 of 15 free throw attempts — four of which to seal it in overtime and bring home a title.
That penchant for making good on shots from the line has carried over to this team, and this year's Syracuse loss drove home its importance to Taylor and his teammates.
It is undoubtedly a strength Coach Bill Self isn't likely to take for granted any time soon.
"They're free throws. You're supposed to make them," Taylor said. "Now we know they can win games for us. We learned a hard lesson against Syracuse, but now we know we have to just focus at the line. I know I am."
Edited by Becka Cremer
There's plenty for this team to improve upon this year; clamping down on defense, playing tough yet smart and establishing all around depth and consistency. The list goes on as it does with any talented yet green team. But the fact that a Kansas player at the line this season has become synonymous with points shows that there is much to like about these guys too.
There are few virtues as uncommon to a raw, young team seeking an identity in December as precise free throw shooting. This team has that.
Kansas soars
Jayhawks hit century mark for sixth win this season
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
Tyshawn Taylor turned and looked straight at the end of the Kansas bench after he threw down a one-handed dunk with four minutes left in Kansas 100-79 victory against New Mexico State.
Taylor, a freshman guard, wanted to make sure Mario Little saw the play.
Little, an injured junior guard, teased Taylor repeatedly in practice Tuesday.
Little told Taylor he didn't think he could actually dunk. Taylor promised to prove him wrong.
"I told him I was going to show it," Taylor said. "I did."
Twice. Three minutes before, Taylor drove the lane for a two-handed jam. The two dunks were merely the exclamation points to add to the end of Taylor's career-night.
"I felt good today," Taylor said.
Taylor couldn't remember the last time he scored that many points. It was his most ever at Kansas and he never scored more than 21 points at St. Anthony's High School in New Jersey.
He scored 23 points with three assists and a steal.
Even when the rest of the layhawks didn't. Taylor scored 14 points during the first half of the game when the Aggies were like gum on the bottom of the layhawks' shoes. They would not go away.
The lajayhaws aided the Aggies' cause of staying in the game.
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 4B
Kansas kept piecing together small runs - 11-2, 8-0, 11-4 -but New Mexico State always recovered.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor flies toward the basket on his way to an emphatic slam during the second half of Wednesday's game against New Mexico State. Taylor hit eight of his 14 shots from the field and seven of eight from the freethrow line, scoring 23 points in the Kansas victory.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Morris shining in second halves so far this season
Junior guard Sade Morris takes the ball to the basket during Sunday's game against New Orleans. Morris scored all 17 of her points in the second half.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
When a player struggles for stretches to start a Kansas practice, coach Bonnie Henrickson makes a point to turn the situation into a game-like scenario.
"We say, 'hey listen, it's halftime,' Henrickson said. "It's the second half, let's turn it around."
No player has applied that message to games as noticeably as junior guard Sade Morris. Twice this season — most recently against New Orleans on Sunday — Morris has overcome sluggish starts with high-scoring second halves.
"I felt like I was doing the same in the first half. Shots just weren't falling. The more you go, the more it's going to happen."
In Kansas' second game of the season against Iowa, Morris scored all 17 of her points after halftime. And she performed well after the break again on Sunday, scoring 12 points in the second half against New Orleans after making just three of 11 shots in the first 20 minutes.
"I felt like I was doing the same in the first half. Shots just weren't falling," Morris said. "The more you go, the more it's going to happen."
So what changes in the 20 minutes between each half? Not much in terms of strategy or intensity, Morris said.
During her second half scoring outbursts, though, Morris appears more at ease driving toward the basket — something Henrickson consistently stresses.
"She's got great pace to the rim, she's just got to find rhythm around the rim to finish." Henrickson said.
SADE MORRIS Junior guard
But Morris has also made a habit of making shots early in the second half. After erratic shooting in the first halves against Iowa and New Orleans, Morris' early baskets provided a much-needed spark.
"You make that first one and it's like 'there you go, I'm unleashed, let's go.' Morris said. "I can keep doing."
what I'm doing because I know the next
shot I take is going down"
BOOGAARD OUT TODAY,
QUESTIONABLE FOR SUNDAY
After having her stress reaction reevaluated by a doctor yesterday, sophomore center Krysten Boogaard will miss today's game against San Jose State. She is questionable for Sunday's game at Marquette.
Boogaard, who is averaging 8 points and four rebounds in two games, has already missed two games because of the injury.
Edited by Scott R. Toland