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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013
PAGE 7
KANSAS TIPOFF
AT A GLANCI
The Jayhawks enter their road showdown with Iowa State red hot, having won their past four games by an average of 18.4 points per game. Withey and Young have fueled Kansas' renaissance with their energy and ability to finish at the rim. However, Kansas needs a total team effort against Iowa State and its Hilton Magic. The good news is coach Bill Self has had more success at Iowa State than almost anybody. He is 7-2 at Iowa State as Kansas' coach.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Ben McLemore, Guard
lowa State fans surely remember what happened the last time Kansas and Iowa State met, when McLemore drilled a 3-pointer with one second left to push the
McLemore
game into overtime in an eventual Kansas victory. He didn't travel with Kansas to Hilton Coliseum last year, so this is his first chance to see the Iowa State crowd in person. He'll be the focal point of their venom and will need to get into the game's offensive rhythm early.
How will Kansas handle the Hilton crowd?
QUESTION MARK
Kansas has three tough road matches in the final stretch of Big 12 play. The Jayhaws passed the first road test last Wednesday at Oklahoma State, where they escaped with a double overtime victory. This road test against the Cyclones will probably be even tougher and more hostile than that. A loss certainly wouldn't be disastrous to the Jayhawks' conference title hopes, but it could drop them out of first place for the time being. This is a game where senior leadership will be critical.
BIG JAY WILL CHEER IF...
nansas plays tight perimeter defense. Iowa State is the Big 12's best 3-point shooting team, both in terms of percentage (37 percent) and 3-pointers per game (9.63, tops in the nation). No other Big 12 team makes more than 7.15 3-pointers per game. In the first matchup at Allen Fieldhouse, the Cyclones converted 14-38 shots beyond the arc.
NUMBERS
24 The Jayhawks now have 23 wins for the 24th consecutive season.
11- The number of players who scored in double figures when Kansas and Iowa State played at Allen Fieldhouse earlier this season.
16-3 - Bill Self's record against Iowa State as Kansas' head coach.
Disenchanting the Hilton magic Jayhawks look to stay atop Big 12 in Ames NO.9 KANSAS VS. IOWA STATE 8 P.M., HILTON COLISEUM, AMES, IOWA
Johnson
KANSAS
(23-4, 11-3)
STARTERS
McLemore
Releford
The senior battled a minor stomach issue in the days leading up to the TCU game, and coach Bill Self said that affected Johnson's play against the Horned Frogs. Still, he has been more effective recently than he has been for the majority of the season. He's scored in double figures in three of the Jayhawks' past five games and has eight assists and only four turnovers in the past three games. His shot selection has improved, too.
ELIJAH JOHNSON, GUARD
Releford has scored in double figures in every game of Kansas' four-game winning streak, including 18 points at Oklahoma State last Wednesday. Besides the first three games of the season, when he missed all 11 of his 3-point attempts, Releford is shooting 53 percent from beyond the arc this season. Better yet, he's shooting 61 percent on all field goal attempts.
The freshman sensation wowed the crowd again Saturday with his tomahawk slam against TCU. Kansas needs another big game from McLemore against Iowa State. He didn't travel with the team last year to Ames, and Hison is generally regarded as the second-toughest atmosphere in the Big 12 after Allen Fieldhouse. How McLemore handles the pressure will go a long way to determining if Kansas wins.
BEN MCLEMORE, GUARD
Young
TRAVIS RELEFORD, GUARD
KEVIN YOUNG, FORWARD
Kansas' Energizer Bunny dashed out of the gate against TCU, hoarding three offensive and three defensive rebounds before the game was seven minutes old. Young had two of the four Kansas dunks in that same time span and assisted on one other. He's shooting 20-37 from the field in the Jayhawks' five games and is seventh in the Big 12 in offensive rebounding
The senior has scored in double figures in 17 of the Jayhawks' past 19 games and has reestablished that he needs to be a key part of Kansas' offense if it wants to be successful. He's averaged 10 shots per game in the Jayhawks' past four games. His ability to get positioned on the block and look for his shot low low has paired nicely with Kevin Young's ability to get offensive boards and score on second-chance possessions and broken plays.
JEFF WITHEY, CENTER
Withey
IOWA STATE
(19-8, 9-5)
STARTERS
KORIE LUCIOUS, POINT GUARD
Michigan State lost a good one when Lucious transferred to Iowa State. Since the switch, Lucious is averaging more minutes, more points and more assists. He's become a focal point of Fred Hoiberg's offense but has struggled to consistently put up points as of late. Lucious reached double digits scoring in five of his first six conference games, but has reached that plateau twice in the last seven contests.
Lucious
CHRIS BABB, GUARD
Where Lucius' stats have scaled back Babb's have increased. He's averaging 10.8 points over his last six games with at least one steal. Over that span he's just less than 40 percent once, during a lackluster four point effort at Baylor.
Babb
WILL CLYBURN, GUARD
Another transfer player, Clyburn has become a great addition to Hoiberg's Cyclones. After averaging 17 points at Utah, Clyburn has been able to do nearly the same in Ames with 15 points per game against tougher competition in the Big 12.
Clyburn
MELVIN EJIM, FORWARD
There's a trend with this Iowa State team that is hard to miss. Every player can score in large quantities. This season Ejim is averaging 11.1 points, but what makes him more dangerous is his ability to crash the boards. The 6-foot 6-inch junior has nabbed 56 rebounds in his last six outings.
Ejim
GEORGE NIANG, FORWARD
Not many teams can spread the floor like the Cyclones and that is in large part due to the shooting ability of Niang. The bulky freshman is shooting 37 percent from three, yet he's had problems staying out of foul trouble. Niang fouled out in his last game against Kansas State and has registered four fouls in three of his last four games prior to playing the Wildcats.
Niang
PREDICTION:
Kansas 71, Iowa State 66
IOWA STATE TIPOFF
ATA GLANCE
Just as Kansas was seeking revenge against TCU on Saturday, Iowa State will be looking to avenge an early season loss to the Jayhawks. The Cyclones were on their way to upsetting the sixth ranked Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse before a Ben McLemore bank-shot three rattled in at the buzzer and sent Kansas on its way to an overtime victory. The Jayhawks have a history of trouble in Ames, Iowa. Monday night figures to be more of the same.
George Niang, Forward
Niang
Last time around, Niang scored 13 points against Kansas and was able to pull Withey away from the basket, rendering him mostly ineffective
on defense. If Niang is able to do the same on Monday night Kansas may need to think about putting someone else on the freshman.
QUESTION MARK
Can the Cyclones continue to pull the Jayhawk defense away from the paint?
Last time against Kansas, ISU threw the Jayhawks out of rhythm on defense by playing away from the lane. If Iowa State is able to take away the shot-altering ability of Kansas' front court, it will make for another game where the Jayhawks will have to outshoot their opponent.
BABY JAY WILL WEEP IF...
Iowa State is able to shoot the way it did when the team came to Lawrence back in January. The Cyclones knocked down 41 percent of its looks and forced Kansas to play from behind late in the game. In a hostile environment there's no guarentee Kansas could afford to attempt the same comeback.
NUMBERS
79. 5 - Iowa State's points per game average. Tops in the Big 12.
39. 6 - Iowa State also averages the most boards per game in the Big 12 at nearly 40.
19 - Iowa State has defeated Kansas 19 times at Hilton Coliseum.