THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2013
PAGE 3B
KANSAS 91, WEST VIRGINIA 65
NT/KANSAN
MEN'S BASKETBALL REWIND
in 2008, and 3.7
at Loyola
record for
difficult
stow and
Jayhawk
bring his
himber 10,
killinger,
Buckeyes
educing
to their
season's
ae did just
the last.
McCarthy
ANT/KANSAN
f Kansas'
elegas finish
2.9, points,
ennein fin-
his junior
all rated
acting come
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
Freshman guard Ben McLemore is fouled as he drives to the basket against West Virginia on Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhaws defeated the Mountainers 91-65. McLemore was 7-9 on free throw attempt, scored a round of action 36 points.
Feb. 25.
ter with 29 inints. After
3-pointer
nassan's next
He scored
washed with
Oklahoma State
Big 12.
ffrey Calvert
Unselfish play allows McLemore to break record
GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
It was one of those games where, at some point, all the baskets just start to look the same.
Freshmanguard Ben McLemore, who is already squared up to the basket, receives the ball somewhere behind the 3-point line. Nominally, McLemore shoots the ball, but really he creates art with that smooth jump shot. Allen Fieldhouse is just his canvas.
"I personally think that Ben is probably the person who deserves to do that out of anybody I ever played with," Johnson said. "You would think that he was the worst player in the gym the way he approaches it every day."
After the game, Johnson reinforced Self's point.
Unlike the last time the Kansas freshman scoring record was broken, Self got to enjoy this one. Manning scored 35 points in 1985 in an 88-79 victory over an Oklahoma State team that featured Self, a senior at the time. Coincidentally, both Manning and McLemore's freshman records came on March 2.
"I played the backline of the 2-3 zone," Self said. "I think he got like 20 on me, but not all 35." McLemore finished with 19 points in the first half. Seven of those points came from free throws. His half was visually quiet until a tomahawk dunk along the baseline with a minute left in the first half. The dunk was almost identical to the one he had the previous Saturday against TCU.
On Thursday, coach Bill Self said one of the things he likes about this Kansas team is how unselfish it is. The seniors are more than happy to let McLemore get his points because he's the jayhawk's most skilled player.
"He did a good job reading screens today, but we also did a good job screening for him," coach Bill Self said. "We ran some stuff to make sure to get Ben the first opportunity to get some looks and we need to probably do more of that. We've done it, but he's starting to understand more how to free himself."
No one could accuse him of a quiet second half, however. He shot 7-8 from the field and 3-3
McLemore broke Danny Manning's freshman single-game school record of 35 points, besting the Jayhawk legend with a jumper with 5:37 left that gave him 36 points in Kansas' 91-65 victory over West Virginia Saturday. He became the first Jayhawk freshman to score 30 points three times in a season.
"Elijah just kept feeding me and I made open shots," McLemore said. Johnson did most of the feeding Saturday, finishing with 10 assists to complement his 12 points.
45|46—91
from behind the arc in the final half. For the game, McLemore shot 12-15 and 5-6 from 3-point range to improve Kansas' record to 25-4 and 13-3 in the Big 12.
"I'm sure you guys thought he looked a lot more aggressive, but he still only took 15 shots," Self said. "That's as efficient as I've seen a guard be."
Virginia on the fast break, where they outscored the Mountaineers 18-4. Kansas finished with six alley-oops, three of them in transition.
Perhaps the most memorable one came long after the game had already been decided. Sophomore point guard Naadir Tharpe found Johnson in transition, and he punished the rim with a one-handed dunk while getting fouled. Once he landed on the ground, Johnson
But McLemore wasn't the only Jayhawk to put on an offensive show. Kansas wore down West
flexed his muscles.
"I didn't even realize I did it," Johnson said. "That's just how I felt at the time. It dawned on me like that was too strong."
Edited by Tara Bryant
Kansas
NEVER HIDE from free RayBans!
West Virgina 31 | 34 - 65
JAYHAWK STAT LEADERS
Points
MCLEMORE 36
Rebounds
WITHEY 10
Assists
JOHNSON 10
KANSAS
Player Pts FG-FGA Rebs A T0's
Kevin Young 6 3-4 2 4 1
Jeff Withey 14 7-8 10 0 0
Elijah Johnson 12 4-8 5 10 4
Ben McLemore 36 12-15 7 4 2
Travis Releford 6 2-8 0 2 2
Naadir Tharpe 8 3-5 0 6 0
Rio Adams 2 1-2 0 0 0
Evan Manning 3 1-2 0 0 0
Totals 91 34-60 36 29 11
WEST VIRGINIA
Player Pts FG-FGA Rebs A TD's
Deniz Kilicli 7 3-5 5 4 5
Kevin Noreen 2 1-4 5 1 2
Juwan Staten 3 1-4 3 7 1
Eron Harris 11 4-17 5 1 0
Matt Humphrey 3 1-3 0 0 1
Dominique Rutledge 17 4-10 13 0 3
Jabarie Hinds 0 0-5 2 0 2
Aaron Brown 0 0-1 0 0 0
Totals 65 22-67 41 13 15
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Senior guard Elijah Johnson demonstrates that he's "too strong" after an alley-oop in Saturday's game against West Virginia. Johnson scored 12 points and had 10 assists in the 91-65 win.
"I love this kid, man and I never tell him. I think he knows, but I've learned a lot from him. I could honestly say I've learned a lot from him."
QUOTE OF THE GAME
Senior guard Elijah Johnson on freshman guard Ben McLemore
Johnson
KEY STATS
08-09
29
9
The last season Kansas scored 90 or more points in two-consecutive B12 games.
The number of assits Kansas had against West Virginia. The most since a win against Towson on Nov. 11,2011.
The number of games Ben McLemore has scored more than 20 points this year. Six of the eight have been inside Allen Fieldhouse.
---