Volume 125 Issue 79
kansan.com
JOHNSON'S MAGIC
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
PUT YOUR SHOES ON
Johnson puts the ice on Iowa State, helping Self seal a landmark victory
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
RYAN MCCARTHY
rmccarthy@kansan.com
AMES, Iowa — Eljah Johnson has taken a lot of flak his senior year.
He was cast out by many Jayhawk fans as a player who had lost the swagger seen last March and would not get it back the rest of his career as a Jayhawk.
Well into Kansas' 108-96 victory over Iowa State on Monday, he silenced all the critics by having the best scoring performance by a Kansas player since the team entered the Big 12 with 39 points, including 30 points in the last 25 minutes of the game.
"l blacked out," Johnson said. "That's the best way to speak about it."
So how did it feel for Johnson to take complete control of the game down the stretch?
That's what basketball players refer to as being the zone.
It's where somebody can attack the glass at will and make a layup or hit two clutch free throws to send a game into overtime. It's where every shot is going in, and the basket gets bigger and bigger.
More importantly, it means when a broken play happens with 54 seconds left in overtime that, by throwing the ball toward the basket as the shot clock buzzer sounded, it's probably going in.
It wasn't just Johnson, though; he had help from many of his seniors, especially Travis Releofrd, who kept the team together when the front court struggled through foul trouble.
"I looked down on the other end of the basket, and I begged for the ball. He threw it to me casually, and I just shot it in rhythm," Johnson said.
"He kept us in the game," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "We didn't have a lot going, and Travis made two or three big plays and shots. He's a winner and competitor. Our seniors stepped up big."
Releford finished the game with 19 points, but it was his smooth stroke from long range that helped his team prevail. He finished five of nine from 3-point range.
The third senior to step up for the Jayhawks was senior Kevin Young, who, like on many recent occasions, gave the Jayhawks a spark out
of the gate. He led the Jayhawks in scoring and rebounding for much of the first half.
The last senior with major contributions for the night was senior Jeff Withey, who was battered and bruised and eventually fouled out the game — but not before he collected another double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Despite the shootout this game turned into and all the great performance that made the Hilton Coliseum, one thing was clear: This was Elijah Johnson's game, and this is now Elijah Johnson's team to lead.
"He was unbelievable. He was the best player in the country tonight," Self said. "I've had some guys get 30 before, but never get 30 in a half."
The star of this show was senior Tyrus McGee, who seemed unable to miss for a long stretch of the second half. He ended the game with 22 points. Iowa States 'senior guard Korie Lucious was the team's leading scorer with 23 points.
The surprise of the night was freshman Ben McLemore, who struggled to find his rhythm in another crucial road game. Luckily, much of the senior class stepped up when the Jayhawks needed it down the stretch.
"I don't know if we defended that bad as if they made some tough shots," Self said. "Tyrus McGee, wow, what a game he had."
Lost in much of this game was the impeccable execution by the Iowa State Cyclones, who dropped a school-record 17 3-pointers on the Jayhawks.
As Self said, "He deserved a night like tonight."
Edited by Sarah McCabe
74-
SNOW DAY: CLASSES CANCELED TODAY
CAMPUS
Students strap on dancing shoes at SUA variety show
Despite the winter weather, Student Union Activities hosted the Performing Arts Variety Showcase last night.
HANNAH BARLING
hbarling@kansan.com
SUA originally planned for student groups on campus to demonstrate their dances and then teach the audience some basic moves, but after a few groups dropped out last minute, it decided to change
up the night to a casual, "open mic night" feel.
Two groups showed up last night: KU Jeeva and KU Dancesport. KU Jeeva is a competitive South Asian fusion dance group. It incorporates different styles of dancing including Bhangra, classical, Bollywood and hip-hop. Bhangra originated in India and is a traditional dance. There are seven types of classical Indian dancing that used to be performed in temples. Bollywood dance comes from Indian cinemas.
Monica Roychowdhury, a junior from Overland Park, is one of nine members of leeva.
last night. They demonstrated Latin dances such as the samba, cha cha and rumba. They also did a West Coast Swing dance, a dance that comes from Lindy Hop and the Jitterbug.
Maggie Ma, a senior from Beijing, said that Dancesport likes to perform to let students know that dancing is fun and good for your health.
"We're always excited to perform for audiences like this because they usually aren't familiar with Indian dance." Roychowdhury said.
Alec Bowman, a masters student from Pocatello, Idaho, has bee
"Technique and partner connection are the most important."
KU Dancesport is a competitive ballroom dancing group. With 25 members, Dancesport incorporates standard ballroom with Latin dances. Four members performed
ALEC BOWMAN Ballroom dancer
ballroom dancing for about five years. He said that their performance last night was different from what they normally do for competitions.
Bea Tretbar, a sophomore from Wichita and SUAs fine arts coordinator, said that because of the weather, they needed another draw-in for students, and that was how they came up with the open mic night plan. They decided to award first place with a cash prize as an incentive for more performers.
No one decided to perform last minute, and both dance teams ended up tying for first place, each winning $75.
and partner connection are the most important," Bowman said.
"Technique
"The snow hindered it, but I like how it turned out." Trebat said.
Edited by Madison Schultz
Index
SNOWPOCALYPSE 2.0
CLASSIFIEDS 6 CRYPTOQUIRS 5 SPORTS 8
CROSSWORD 5 OPINION 4 SUDOKU 5
EMILY WITTLER/KANSAN
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2013 The University Daily Kansan
Don't forget
Author Cory Doctorow is visiting Thursday at the Kansas Union at 7:30 p.m.
Today's Weather
90 percent chance of snow showers. Blusty wind all day.
HI: 37
L0: 26
Break out that face mask.
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