B10
STARTING FIVE
CHAMPIONSHIPS BY THE DOZEN
BEN MCLEMORE
reshman guard After redshirting his first year, McLemore emerged as the teams offensive leader and was named First Team All Big 12 and Second team All American. McLemore lead the team with 15.9 points per game and a .420 three point shooting percentage.
KEVIN YOUNG Senior forward Young quietly finished second on the team in rebounding and steals his final year as a Jayhawk. The Loyola Marymount transfer had his best game against Temple with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
KEVIN YOUNG
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TRAVIS RELEFORD
Overshadowed by McLemore and Withey Releford was a crucial part of this team both offensively and defensively. Releford made both Big 12 Second Team and Big 12 Defensive Team with 11.9 points, 1.3 steals and shot a team leading.659 on his two-pointers.
ELJAH JOHNSON Senior guard
File Photo/KANSAN
Johnson took a small step back from his junior year as his points per game decreased and his turnovers took a big jump to 3.1 per game. Despite that, Johnson still was an All Big 12 Honorable Mention.
Senior forward Withey earned a plethora of awards his senior including co-National Defensive Player of the Year, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. and Second Team All-American. Withey averaged 13.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.9 blocks per game.
JEFF WITHEY
AT A GLANCE
Ranked No.7 coming into the year, Kansas started the year 19-1 and saw their ranking rise to No. 2. In the postseason, Kansas won their first two games by double digits, including a win against North Carolina, before being knocked out by Michigan in overtime 87-85.
KANSAS 97
JAN.9,2013
IOWA STATE 89
▶ BLAKE SCHUSTER
originally published in 2013
t's a rare occurrence when Allen Fieldhouse goes silent, but for a moment against Iowa State it did.
When Ben McLemore smoothly lifted off James Naismith Court to launch his game-tying three with 1.3 seconds remaining in Kansas' Big 12 opener no one in Allen Fieldhouse could quite put a voice to what was unfolding.
Who would have fathomed Iowa State marching into Allen Fieldhouse and holding a lead until the bitter last seconds?
Or that the Cyclones would knock down an unimaginable 14 three-pointers?
Or that Kansas could go more than eight minutes without a field goal?
So when McLemore launched the Jayhawks' last effort to hang onto a 30-game winning streak at home, every patron grabbed a last breath of the victorious air and held it in case there wouldn't be another, silenced by
"We got lucky," Kansas coach Bill Self said of the Jayhawks' 97-89 overtime victory.
how it ever came to this point.
But McLemore was ready for the shot. After quietly putting up 13 points in the first half, the freshman started making explosive plays with Kansas behind late in the second.
It started with a four minute stretch where McLemore scored 10 points
Lemore scored 10 points - four of which came on one possession as he was fouled while sinking a three.
The shots just kept falling for McLemore, one after another and from no spot in particular. It wasn't that he couldn't miss, it was that he didn't.
"I haven't seen too many perimeter players ever take 12 shots and get 33 points," Self said of McLemore. "This was Ben's night."
KANSAN.COM
And on Ben's night, with Kansas trailing 79-76 and eight seconds remaining, the last attempt
wasn't going to anyone else.
Naadir Tharpe kicked off the infamous Kansas "chop" play - the same play that set up Mario Chalmers for his National Championship tying shot in 2008 and the same play that failed two months ago against Michigan State.
"It reminded me of the Michigan State game with me not taking that shot," Johnson said. "I was thinking maybe I've got to check myself this time and make sure it's not my shot."
Tharpe dribbled up the right side of the court, handed the ball off to Elijah Johnson as he cut to his left and let Johnson find the next option.
It wasn't, and instead Johnson found McLemore, whose defender had sagged off. Without hesitating, the freshman let it fly.
"This is about to hit off the glass," Naadir Tharpe recalled thinking.
"He didn't call glass," Self said.
Then silence.
Intended or not, the shot kissed the backboard and fell straight in, just like McLemore's previous four attempts behind the arc on the night.
"I called bank," McLemore said after.
Yet this wasn't like his other shots. This one set off a blast of emotions that Kevin Young could only compare to last year's 19-point comeback against Missouri as Kansas fans began breathing again.
"It was a great screen from Elijah," McLemore said. "I just shot it and it felt good coming off my hand."
The Jayhawk faithful kept their rowdy demeanor until there was no doubt Kansas had locked up another victory.
And after a moment of silence everyone had something to say, including one Kansas fan who barked a question at the Cyclones as they walked off the floor.
"Was it loud enough for you?"
BY THE NUM-
BERS
53 - Jeff Withey left Kansas as the all-time leader in blocked shots, 53 more than the next highest shot blocker, Greg Ostertag.
247 - Kansas blocked 247 shots this season, the most in school history.
.737 - Kansas' team. .737 free throw percentage is the highest team total in school history
NEWS:
Pope Benedict XVI retires as the first pope to resign since 1415.
Edward Snowden is granted asylum in Russia. The Baltimore Ravens defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31, in Super Bowl 47.
The Louisville Cardinals defeat the Michigan Wolverines, 82-76, in the NCAA Basketball Championship.
POP CULTURE
"Thrift Shop" by Macklemore finishes as the top song of 2013.
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" is the top grossing movie of the year.
NOTABLE DEATHS
James Gandolfini
Nelson Mandela
Paul Walker
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