THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11.2013
PAGE 3B
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Inconsistency shows as Jayhawks drop the ball at home
MAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
The Kansas women lost 72-56 to West Virginia on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. The frustrating 16-point loss was made even more disappointing by the contrast with the one-point win for Kansas at WVU Coliseum a month ago.
"How does that happen here?" Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson
said after considering the disparity between the two games.
The Jayhawks were outscored 43-28 by West Virginia in the second half of Saturday's
Senior guard Angel Goodrich waits while free throws are taken during the final minutes of Saturday's 72-56 loss to West Virginia. The Jayhawks are now 14-8 overall and 5-6 in the Big 12.
Henrickson
game.
The toughness that Kansas showed in winning a month ago in West Virginia was nowhere to be found in Kansas' loss on Saturday. The two games provide a perfect example of how inconsistent Kansas has been in playing tough basketball.
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
"I thought we were soft," Henrickson said after the game on Saturday. "We didn't win the toughness areas."
When Henrickson talks about
toughness areas, she's mostly talking about things like deflections, turnovers and rebounds.
Toughness has been a major strength for Kansas in some of its wins this season, like the
West Virginia had a layup drill for most of the game as Kansas failed continually to get help defenders into place.
The Jayhawks know how to play good team defense and how to use help defense.
The layhawks turned the ball over on important possessions and couldn't force just nine turnovers on defense. They gave up 38 points in the paint, mostly on layups, and didn't challenge shots.
"We work on that every day," senior guard Monica Engelman said.
"Who are we gonna beat, playing like that?" Henrickson said. "Nobody"
There was a hesitancy to get in place on help defense, which had a lot to do with why Henrickson thought her team played soft.
The jayhawks are a team that puts pressure on the ball, and when West Virginia managed to get around that pressure the inability of Kansas to stop drives allowed for easy scores.
first game against West Virginia, or the win a week ago in Manhattan against Kansas State. That toughness has mostly come through seniors making plays on important possessions. That didn't happen on Saturday.
The Jayhawks focused their offense on getting senior forward Carolyn Davis shots in the paint in the first half, but in the second half when the West Virginia defense began to sag off of
The Jayhawks were beat out in the toughness areas this time, and it wasn't close.
Engelman scored six points and finished the game with no rebounds.
"We're hugging our guy instead of being in the middle of the paint," Engelman said. "Sometimes it's a lack of focus."
BONNIE HENRICKSON Kansas coach
Davis scored 14 points in the first half and was held scoreless in the second.
On the other side of the paint,
sophomore forward Chelsea Gardner scored nine points in the second half, but took just six shots
throughout the game.
"It does make it tough when they put two in my lap," Davis said of trying to make a pass to Gardner through defensive pressure, "but, I think it's also a little bit of Chelsea needing to notice that their not
guarding her and make them guard her. It's one of those things we need to work on."
West Virginia was the team that played tough defense and scored on important possessions on Saturday. Henrickson could only wo nder
why her team failed to match that toughness.
The loss drops Kansas' record to 14-8, and 5-6 in the Big 12. West Virginia is now 6-6 against the conference and moves ahead of Kansas in the standings with seven games
left in the regular season.
"It's not about who you play," Henrickson said. "It's not about where you play. It's about how you play."
Edited by Elise Reuter
COLUMN FROM PAGE 1A
With that said, this game defines the season.
Pictures of a bar sign in Manhattan read, "Well KU, we waited till basketball season and here we sit in first."
A Kansas State victory will give Kansas two straight losses in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since the 1988-89 season when Kansas lost four consecutive home contests. The loss would make Kansas 11-2 in the Fieldhouse this season, its most home losses since a 16-2 mark in 2006-07.
Fortunately, Kansas has dominated its little brother on James Naismith court.
The Jayhawks have a six-game winning streak at home against the Wildcats. And on Big Monday games, Kansas in 26-1, including 14-0 under Bill Self.
A victory tonight could inbue the Jayhawks with some confidence and rekindle the fire for the quest of their ninth straight Big 12 title.
Remember, even though the eight-straight conference titles are unprecedented, Kansas is used to not being at the top of the list throughout the whole season.
Last year, Missouri challenged the Jayhawks and almost escaped the Big 12 on its move to the SEC with the title, only falling two games short of tying Kansas.
In 2010-11, Kansas finished the Big 12 season on a five-game winning streak to beat out Texas by one game.
Even in the 2007-08 championship year, Kansas barely received a share of the Big 12 title with Texas because of an 83-80 Longhorn loss to Texas Tech late in the season.
Though Kansas trails Kansas State in the standings, it's a problem that has been fixed in previous years.
Sure, Kansas had a crappy week, but the team is still 19-4. There is plenty of basketball to be played and this year, no team has looked completely dominant.
So, instead of hitting the panic button, stand up and stick with this team.
Just like previous players that have worn the Kansas jerseys, this team will find a way to bounce back.
An inspirational speech from Bill Pullman as President Thomas J. Whitmore in the film "Independence Day"completely describes Kansas basketball. With the human race on the brink of extinction, the president calls together the nation, saying, "We will not go quietly into the night. We will not vanish without a fight. We're going to live on, we're going to survive."
It is that mentality which will forever define Kansas basketball.
Edited by Brian Sisk
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