Volume 125 Issue 46
kansan.com
Monday, November 12, 2012
COMMENTARY
Defense will be key
This concept seems like a no-brainer because Bill Self preaches defense. Well, Kansas has young players, and usually the defense takes a bit longer to adjust. Sophomore guards Ben McLemore and Naadir Tharpe and freshman forward Perry Ellis had no problems.
Tharpe's on-ball pressure was crucial when senior guard Elijah Johnson picked up early fouls to send him to the bench. McLemore, known more for his offensive game, swatted the ball three times and tied senior center Jeff Withey by grabbing 12 rebounds. Ellis didn't have much in the stat sheet, but he committed only one foul and altered many shots around the rim.
The veterans did their jobs,
too.
The men's basketball season has officially begun. Kansas battled Southeast Missouri State and won 74-55, but the victory was no easy feat. The Jayhawk offense didn't seem to be clicking. When the offense lagged, Southeast Missouri State continued to battle, getting within six points in the second half.
Despite the lack of offense, one thing became evident: Prepare for defense.
Withey continued to be a defensive force, recording five blocks, getting 12 rebounds and committing zero fouls. Senior guard Travis Releford's on-ball pressure caused a few steals and turnovers.
Yes, the opponent wasn't top 25 caliber. Elijah Johnson fouled out in few minutes. Kansas only forced 12 turnovers. Yet the defense still played extremely well and picked up the slack for the dismal 9.5 three-point percentage.
The offense will get there, but if there was a choice to have better defense or offense to start the season, the choice would always be defense. The offense can be fixed easier than the defense, and with a young Kansas team, this has to be a positive going into the big showdown against Michigan State on Tuesday.
Edited by Megan Hinman
Still, while teams can hold opposing offenses to low field goal percentages, those teams must also rebound. The Jayhawks easily covered that with 49 rebounds, compared with the Redhawks' 37.
All of these individual performances were necessary, and they reflect on Southeast Missouri State's field goal percentage.
In Self's nine seasons at Kansas, the Jayhawks have led the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense seven times. Last year, the team finished first in the Big 12 and third nationally with 38 percent.
Against Southeast Missouri State, the Jayhawks held the Redhawks' field goal percentage to 29 percent. In the first half, the Redhawks shot only 20.7 percent from the field. Even the Redhawks' three-point percentage was extremely low, at only 25 percent.
ON THE VERGE
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Kansas running back James Sims carries the ball into the end zone during Texas Tech's 41-34 victory against the Jayhawks on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium. Sims ran the ball 30 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns during the loss.
Jayhawks continue to fight, but lose in overtime
RI AKE SCHISTER
bschuster@kansan.com
LUBBOCK, TEXAS — Kansas coach Charlie Weis knew how the game was supposed to end — it was already drawn up in his head. Kansas would score on its possession in the second overtime, and instead of kicking a tying PAT, he would go for two.
If the Jayhawks were stopped, so be it, but the game would end on Weis' terms.
Well, Kansas lost 41-34 in double overtime to Texas Tech, yet it was on TTU coach Tommy Tuberville's terms — with Kansas only gaining a yard on its final drive and failing to convert on fourth-and-nine.
"If we scored right there, we were going for two," Weis said. "I told the defensive coaches, 'This is going to be it. Either way, we're going to try to end this right now.'"
Instead, the winning play came from TTU senior running back Eric Stephens, who took a direct
snap at the 3-yard line, shuffled a couple steps to his right and tossed a hop pass to a wide open Darrin Moore in the right corner of the end zone, as TTU had the first possession in the second overtime.
Tuberville elected to kick a PAT.
"When you're in overtime against a good football team, it's anybody's game," Weis said. "It's no longer about who's at home and who's on the road. It' s who makes that one more play."
That one more play — the hoped-for two-point try — could have gone to junior running back James Sims. After all, Sims already scored two touchdowns and broke Laverne Smith's 1974 school record with his sixth straight game rushing more than one hundred yards — he finished with 135 yards.
Sims was the reason Kansas even made it to the second overtime. On second and goal in the first overtime, quarterback Michael Cummings found Sims alone on the goal line and caught him in
stride walking into the end zone.
Fittingly, it was the same route that Cummings missed Sims on with a chance to tie the game at 21 right before halftime.
"When I saw he was open, I knew I had to get it to him, and
I wasn't going to miss this time," Cummings said. "I just had to calm down and make a catchable ball for him."
Or Weis could have given that one more play to his other
running back, sophomore Tony Pierson. It was Pierson's 69-yard run early in the fourth that sparked a 10-point Kansas comeback to force overtime.
Pierson almost went 72 yards to the end zone before exhaustion set in, and he was tripped up at the three-yard line.
play hard on me, so I just gave them a head fake and went straight up the middle," Pierson said. "I looked up on the Jumbotron and see a guy behind me, and credit to him, it was a nice play"
Pierson finished with 202 yards
"I saw their safeties trying to
"Do you soften up the defense by pounding them inside, or do you try to get speed on the edge."
CHARLIE WEIS Kansas coach
on 16 carries
— his first time
breaking the century
mark since
he did it in back-
to-back games to
start the season.
both their top running backs on the field and healthy at the same time.
Sims gashed up the middle of the Red Raiders' defense, while Pierson's speed allowed him to continually turn the corner on the outside.
"You have your choice: Do you soften up the defense by pounding them inside, or do you try to get speed on the edge?" Weis said. "By putting both of those guys out there at the same time, it gives you an opportunity to do both simultaneously which gave us a chance to win the game."
The Kansas offense was one dimensional, but then again, so was its ranked opponents'. Of the 571-yards TTU gained, 501 came through the air.
The reality is that the Jayhawks have gone sans victory in their last 19 Big 12 games. Yet with one more play, a new streak could just as easily have begun.
"At the end of the day, our team played like a legitimate team and tried to gut it out through a complete four quarters," Weis said.
It was the first time the Jayhawks played tough for 60 minutes this season; unfortunately, they needed to hang in a few more to steal a win.
—Edited by Megan Hinman
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Young hopes to bring energy
ETHAN PADWAY
epadway@kansan.com
When senior forward Kevin Young returns to the men's basketball team in its game against Michigan State in Atlanta Tuesday, the team will hope he can provide the missing piece to fix its early-season woes.
"He's our best talker." Self said. "He can direct traffic from talking, and we're the quietest team, and that's what's going to get us beat is how quiet we are."
Without Young, the young Jayhawks aren't communicating and haven't been as aggressive as coach Bill Self wants them to be.
Young injured his hand in practice Oct. 25 when he collided with freshman guard Andrew White III while they were chasing the same rebound.
Both players charged toward the basket, but the ball took a long bounce off the rim, causing the players to run into each other.
Young underwent surgery the next day, but had to sit out Kansas'
two exhibition games and its season opener against Southeast Missouri State on Friday as he recovered.
While Young recovered, he watched how his teammates played and tried to figure out how he could fit in once he returned.
So far, the Jayhawks' offense has found a tendency to fall into lulls at certain, sometimes crucial, points of games. They were fortunate to scrape by on their talent, but scraping by will be harder when the Jayhawks play against more talented opponents.
"I'm focusing on keeping the energy up the whole game," Young said. "I do run a lot and I do talk a lot, so I think that it'll be pretty easy to help the team push the energy level up."
Freshman guard Ben McLemore said Young's presence will help the Jayhawks play on a high-octave level on both ends of the floor. He thinks the energy Young brings will inspire the team to develop a more aggressive mindset.
Young also wants to make more
of a mark in this year's Champions Classic. Last year against Kentucky, he only played two minutes because he hadn't fully established himself and his role with the team.
"I didn't get to play too much," Young said. "I know it was really early in our season, like our second game, so I'd like to change that."
Without Young available, the Jayhawks pulled out a 12-point victory against Division II Washburn, and against Southeast Missouri State, they saw their second half lead shrink to six before rallying in the game.
— Edited by Joanna Hlavacek
"I hate not having Kevin on the court," senior forward Elijah Johnson said. "When Kevin's on the court, it's somebody that I feel like I try to keep up with. He's so far ahead of the game, and he just never stops. Whenever Kevin's on the court, that always gives me extra momentum."
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Senior forward Kevin Young walks into Allen Fieldhouse to watch his teammates play during last Friday's game against Southeast Missouri State, where Kansas won 74-55. Young has not played yet in the season because of a broken hand.