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KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2017
Jackson's suspension derails KU in Big 12 tournament
Freshman guard Josh Jackson sits out against TCU after being suspended due to traffic violations.
AMIE JUST
@Amie_Just
Missy Minear/KANSAN
KANSAS CITY, Mo. For the first time since December, sophomore guard Lagerald Vick received the starting nod. And for the first time all season, freshman guard Josh Jackson was relegated to the bench to start a game.
Suspended for backing into a parked car and fleeing the scene without leaving contact information, Jackson stood under the basket in his crimson and blue warm ups, rebounding for his fellow Jayhawks during pregame.
His courtside demeanor was not sullen nor dejected, but supportive, as he both cheered and offered benchside advice. But Jackson serving as a de facto cheerleader didn't do the Jayhawks any favors, as No. 8 seed TCU upset top-seeded Kansas, 85-82.
"It showed," said senior guard Frank Mason III about not having Jackson on the court. "It was really tough out there [without him]. We could have used him for more points, more rebounds. We just missed his presence out there."
Vick had large shoes to fill, as Jackson averages 16.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Vick's numbers didn't come close. Vick finished the day with nine points and six rebounds.
Junior guard Svi Mykhailiuk stepped up in Jackson's absence, scoring 18 points. Thirteen of those came in the first half.
But Mykhailiuk would rather have Jackson on the floor.
"I wish he could have played," Mykhailiuk said.
"He would have helped us in everything."
Because of Jackson's absence, Self elected to play bigger than normal. With senior center Landen Lucas anchoring the fifth spot, sophomore forward Carlton Bragg Jr., freshman forward Mitch Lightfoot and junior forward Dwight
Coleby all rotated in for 19 minutes combined.
Those three combined for three points, three rebounds and three turnovers.
"Everyone on the bench had to step up and contribute and fill Josh's shoes," Coleby said. "I don't think we did the best job that we
possibly could have done."
Jackson didn't speak with the media after the game, but coach Bill Self spoke for him.
"He feels bad," Self said. "He feels bad. I'm not trying to minimize anything, but he did, you know, with the mistake, he went and took care of his business and did
that stuff. But it was a culmination of things because we had an incident — one other incident before. So certainly he feels bad and he could have handled it better. Certainly that's — it's a teaching moment not only for me, but also for our guys to learn and hopefully be better from it."
Indoor Championships a reality check for Jayhawks
▶ MATT HOFFMANN &
SHAUN GOODWIN
@MattHoffmannUDK
@ShaunGoodwinUDK
Sophomore pole vaulter Paulo Benavides vaults in the 2017 Javhawk Classic. Benavides cleared 17-foot-1, finishing first overall.
Andrew Rosenthal/KANSAN
The Kansas men's track and field team entered this weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, at No. 11 in the nation. The team left the meet at No. 27.
On the first day of competition on March 10, the Jayhawks competed in the pole vault, shot put, long jump and the distance medley relay.
The evening began with the pole vault, as three Jayhawks competed for the national title. This marked only the seventh time in 52 years that a school had sent more than two pole vaulters to the NCAA meet. The Kansas men's pole vault team was ranked No.1 in the nation heading into NCAAs, and all three Jayhawks managed to get over the bar at least once.
Senior Nick Maestretti and sophomore Paulo Benavides both cleared the opening height of 5.25-meters, claiming 14th- and 15thplace respectively in the field of 16 vaulters. Senior Jake Albright went one step further, as he cleared 5.35-meters on his second attempt, earning him an 11th-place finish. All three athletes earned second-team All-American honors, making them the 24th, 25th and 26th Kansas vaulters in history to do so.
Benavides also wrote his name in Kansas history, as he became only the 10th Jayhawk vaulter to win an indoor conference title as well as earning All-America honors in the same season.
Junior Nicolai Ceban was
the only men's athlete to earn a spot on the podium Friday night, as he finished seventh-place in shot put, improving upon his 15th-place finish last year. Ceban saw three of his tosses break the 63-foot mark, saving his best throw for last, as he launched the 16-pound weight 19.37 meters. His efforts earned him his first All-America honors, making him only the 14th All-American in Kansas history for the event.
The women's distance medley relay rounded out the night. Sophomores Riley Cooney and Nicole Montgomery and seniors Whitney Adams and Hannah Richardson finished the event with the second-fastest time in Kansas history. The effort, which led to the quartet finishing seventh, was less than
four seconds slower than the school record, which was only set one month ago by the same group.
The team's time of 11:5-35 saw them finish only 5.01 seconds behind winners Colorado in a highly-contested race.
Their effort earned All-American status for four Jayhawks for the first time in their careers, and only the second time Kansas has seen a women's DMR team earn such honors. The first time was in 2010 when a Kansas team finished sixth in the NCAA Indoor meet with a time of 11:11.46.
The team's highest individual finish came on Saturday, when junior horizontal jumper Barden Adams narrowly missed the podium in the triple jump. He finished
fifth.
"This has never been an easy meet and I guarantee every team here says they wish they could have done a few things better, and we're obviously included in that," coach Stanley Redwine said in a Kansas Athletics release.
While the team fell flat overall, Redwine was pleased with Adams' record-setting performance. His mark of 15.99 meters put him as the fifth All-American in the indoor triple jump in Kansas history.
"Barden had a great meet and he really stepped up. That's what this competition is all about — being both physically and mentally ready," Redwine said in the release. "He showed and proved today that he was mentally ready and physically prepared."
Freshman thrower Gleb Dudarev nabbed the team's second-best performance when he finished at sixth in the weight throw. He was also named an All-American despite fouling four times in six throws.
I guarantee every team here says they wish they could have done a few things better."
Stanley Redwine Kansas coach
Dudarev entered the meet as the top-ranked thrower in the Big 12, posting wins in each of his first three events,
"Our kids fought their hearts out but, unfortunately, they didn't place as high as we wanted them to," Redwine said in the release.
including the Big 12 Championship.
The men's 4x400-meter relay team finished third and No.11 overall with a time of 3:07.87. It was the third-fastest 4x400-meter relay time in school history.The group set the school record of 3:05.57 in February.
Kansas will split into three different squads for the first action of the outdoor season. The team will send contingents to three different meets in Austin, Texas, Emporia, and Palo Alto, California. Those meets are set to take place the weekend of March 29 through April 1.
As a whole, the women's team finished at No.52. It's the seventh time in the last eight years the team has scored at least one point, according to the release.
With Kansas set to host the outdoor Big 12 Championships in May, Redwine said he wants the weekend's performance to serve as a reality check.
"As we go into the outdoor season we have to remember this and remember this feeling of when you set goals and don't attain those goals," Redwine said in the release.
Edited by Omar Sanchez
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