Volume 125 Issue 63
kansan.com
Monday, January 28. 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN
COMMENTARY Physical game looms tonight
For a team that might be No. 1 in the country Monday, the Kansas Jayhawks didn't look the part after Saturday's win against Oklahoma.
Senior center Jeff Withey pondered his impressive performance with his chin resting on his hand.
Then there was senior guard Elijah Johnson.
From the tone of his voice and his body language, he seemed discouraged after his four turnovers.
couraged him his own runners.
In the first half of the game,
both Johnson and sophomore
guard Naadir Tharpe seemed to
have difficulty bringing the ball up
the court.
Freshman guard Ben McLemore had the same look he always has on his young face, occasionally cracking his now signature smile.
Oklahoma's pressure was nothing new, but the guards still couldn't handle it.
Kansas has obvious problems that need taken care of offensively, but the team still showed some crucial tenants of defense that will help keep them alive the rest of the season.
Kansas held Oklahoma to its lowest scoring half of the season with 21 points.
The Jayhawks held the Sooners to 35.6 percent shooting for the game.
And the most important point for the Kansas defense is that it has Jeff Withey. Nobody else in the country has Jeff Withey.
Withey a distinctive, athletic talent that will help guide Kansas through its difficult lows.
So now this team is getting used to the idea of being No. 1 while going into uncharted territories.
That's not a quality many big men in college basketball have in their arsenal.
- It's a place the Kansas basketball team has not yet played.
- However, an adversary Coach Self is familiar with in West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
- The Huggy Bear's squad will come out playing fast and desperately; it needs a win to even think about the NIT.
: The Mountaineers know one of the ways they can do that is pull off a big upset against one of the top teams in the country.
"He's a unique player in not only our league, but (all of) college basketball in terms of the fact that you don't play against those types of players that often," Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. "He erases any mistakes on the perimeter, plus he guards his own guy inside." Here's that last line again: He erases any mistakes on the perimeter, plus he guards his own guy inside.
The Jayhawks move on to their next opponent in Morgantown, W.Va.
"I'll be a very physical game, probably one of the more physical games that we'll play this year," Self said on Saturday.
But at the moment, there's a consensus among the Kansas players and coach. They don't care about being No.1 in late January.
Self takes it a step further when asked about being the No. 1 team.
"No. Nor are we deserving.
You know somebody's got to be it though."
Edited by Tara Bryant
KANSAS 52, OKLAHOMA STATE 65
REBOUND REGRET
Jayhawks struggle against high-powered Oklahoma State offense
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
Sophomore forward Chelsea Gardner jumpes forward to block an Oklahoma State player's shot. Gardner had four blocks in Saturday's game.
MAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
Kansas has now played seven games of its 18-game Big 12 regular season schedule. Every game is just as important as the last, or next, to the standings.
But the 65-52 loss that Kansas suffered to No. 12 Oklahoma State at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday night seemed to have an extra sense of importance for the Jayhawks going in. The two teams entered the matchup tied
in the Big 12 standings.
For Bonnie Henrickson,
the 14-point loss that her
team suffered on the road
to Oklahoma State on Jan. 8.
was the most disappointing
multiple possessions."
On offense, Kansas struggled to get its post players shots against the 2-3 zone defense of Oklahoma State. Kansas had fewer shot opportunities because of its rebounding disadvantage, but also wasted more possessions with turnovers.
of the season, she said the day before her team dropped another game to the Cowgirls, this time by 13 in a loss that was perhaps even more frustrating.
"Basketball is a game of possessions," Henrickson said after her team committed 18 turnovers against the zone defense. "Some of those were forced, but most of them were unforced."
Kansas coaches had a plan on how to stop the high-powered OSU offense, and the players executed for the most part. The problem was the 12 offensive rebounds the Jayhawks allowed after OSU misses.
"We knew their sets" senior point guard Angel Goodrich said. "And we stopped their sets, but it was just them getting the second chance shots, the third chance shots. They were getting
ANGEL GOODRICH senior guard
This season was supposed to be a special one for the women's basketball program at Kansas. The Jayhawks returned all but one player
from the team that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last season, and Carolyn Davis was returning from a torn ACL.
Bonnie Henrickson finally reached an NCAA tournament last season. The Jayhawks began the season with a mix of young talent, senior leadership and tournament experience.
With that in mind, this team was just not supposed to go on losing stretches of 1-4 in the Big 12 this season.
Kansas has played passively and without toughness at times in losing four of its last five
games. Now the Jayhawks risk watching their chances at making a repeat run in the NCAA tournament fade away if they can't get back on track against Iowa State and Kansas State in the next week.
After that, Kansas travels to Baylor, where a victory is as close to impossible as they get.
The disappointment was audible through the voice of Angel Goodrich as she spoke to the media after the loss to Oklahoma State.
"I just think we weren't as aggressive as they were," Angel Goodrich said. "We were passive."
Passive?
That is why this loss, in January against a .500 Big 12 team, was so disappointing.
One loss over the course of an 18-game Big 12 schedule is not the disappointment; it's that a team with such high expectations and abilities could not play aggressively in one of its biggest games of the regular season.
Kansas drops its record to 12-6 on the season and 3-4 in the Big 12 in a game that unraveled a tie in the standings, but has only left more tangled questions about the recent losing stride for the Jayhaws.
Edited by Pat Strathman
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks make first trip to Morgantown
RYAN MCCARTHY rmccarthy@kansan.com
It's Kansas' first ever game against West Virginia at 8 p.m. tonight in Morgantown consisting of a team that's struggling a new conference.
However, it's still not a team that the Jayhawks will take lightly, despite the Mountaineers record of 9-10 and 2-4 in Big 12 play.
"We know that they're a tough team," senior guard Travis Releford said. "We know that they play hard and going up there is always hard on the road. It'll be a fun game we just go to came ready to play."
After making five straight NCAA tournament appearances, West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins has struggled to find offensive consistency, but that doesn't mean his team won't put out a maximum effort.
Huggins is also 0-4 all-time against Kansas in more than 30 years of coaching.
"It'll be a very physical game, probably one of the more physical games we'll play this year," Kansas coach Bill self said. "We'll have to play a little bit tougher than we did [Saturday!]."
Self also described West Virginia as a team that will play fast
"I don't think it will feel like a Big 12 game because it's the first time we've been there," Releford said. "Of course it's going to feel a little different, but we've just got to be ready no matter where it's at or how quick the turn-around."
and drive the ball to the basket. He also said the Jayhawks need to be able to move the ball in transition.
"We know that they're a tough team," Releford said. "We know that they play hard and going up there is always hard on the road. It'll be a fun game we just go to came ready to play"
For the Kansas players, they know despite the difficulties of West Virginia, going into WVU Coliseum will be a new opportunity.
Releford has played many Big Monday games, but he's never traveled this far of a distance in conference play.
Most Jayhawks fans are concerned with the team's struggling offense. Shooting 43.6 percent against Oklahoma, including some rough point guard play in the first half, the Jayhawks must rely on being one of the best defensive teams in the country.
One player who continues to struggle is senior guard Elijah Johnson, who is still searching for his stroke this season. He did hit two of his six three-pointers against Oklahoma.
"We're supporting him and coach is keep telling him to keep shooting," Releford said. "He hasn't done anything different or changed anything."
"Our team has got to be a great defensive team to win games," Releford said. "It creates easy
With all these concerns about offense and the difficulty of traveling to a new road destination, being ranked at the top of the polls is farthest from the team's mind going into tonight's game.
baskets for us on the offensive end. We knew coming into this season we were going to have time where we struggled to score and if we get the other team to do the same thing. We rely a lot on our defense."
"Being No. 1 right now, this early in the season, does not matter," Releford said. "We're just focused onto the next game. We're not really worried about who's going to be No. 1 Monday. We're just trying to get better as a team."
Edited by Brian Sisk
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TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
Freshman guard Ben McLemore flies through the air to make a layup. McLemore was a huge part of the victory over Oklahoma on Saturday, keeping the Jayhawks winning streak alive.
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