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FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010
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KANSAS 80, TEXAS TECH 68
Jayhawk leaders rise to occasion
BY TIM DWYER
tdywer@kansan.com
twitter.com/T_Dwyer
For most of the Jayhawks, there was nothing on the line but pride for Thursday's game against Texas Tech.
For Sherron Collins and, presumably, Cole Aldrich, it's a different story. Now that the year has reached that part of the season when every game is win-or-go-home, every win extends their crimson-and-blue career just a little bit longer.
"It's one of those things, we've got to come together as a team and create our own energy and get the whole team involved with getting pumped up for the game, whether it's at 11:30 in the morning or 8 at night," Aldrich said.
It comes as little surprise, then, that it was those two who led the Jayhawks in an uninspired 80-68 victory against Texas Tech.
"Last year, we took an early exit and this year we're trying to prevent that," Collins said. "We already won the regular season, so we know we've still got to be motivated to win the tournament as well. We're trying not to have any slips."
Collins scored a game-high 19 points on just eight field goal attempts and led the Jayhawks with six assists.
"I think I shot it pretty good." Collins said. "Took a couple of bad shots. But I've gotta do a better job staying out of foul trouble and putting my team in tough positions."
Aldrich finished with his 14th double-double on the season with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and a season-high 18 rebounds.
"He can manufacture points off transition, off board play, off scor
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COVERAGE
Check out the multimedia story about the men's basketball team's 2,000th victory at kansan.com/multimedia.
View a photo gallery of the Kansas vs. Texas Tech men's basketball game at kansan.com/ photos/galleries.
Watch the KUJH-1v sports anchors discuss KU's 2,000 victories on Jayhawks Sports Talk at kansan.com/videos.
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2,000 and counting
Senior guard Sherron Collins elevates for an opening three-point basket of the second half. The shot gave Kansas a 37-23 lead.
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
twitter.com/c thibodeaux
"My mother's probably going to take it from me," Taylor said. "I'm going to wear this shirt out of here now and she'll take it right off me as soon as I get out there."
Even though sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor is part of the Kansas team to accomplish this feat, he may not get to keep his goodies.
With 2,000 wins comes custom-made shirts, pins, flags and all other sorts of memorabilia.
Kansas won its 2,000th game in an 80-68 victory against Texas Tech in its first game of the Big 12 tournament.
Kansas joins Kentucky and North Carolina as the only programs with 2,000 victories, but senior guard Sherron Collins
has other goals for the immediate future. It's his last season as a Jayhawk and he wants to play in every game he can.
Halfway through the first half, Texas Tech grabbed its first lead, 15-14. Then Collins either scored or assisted on 11 straight points. He finished with a game-high 19 points with six assists.
"Right now, we have a lot of games ahead of us so we won't too much focus on it," Collins said.
The Red Raiders stayed in the game thanks to an abundance of miscues by the layhawks. The main problem was that the layhawks couldn't finish when they got to the rim, contributing to an inefficient 35.7 percent shooting.
Texas Tech made it very difficult in the beginning.
Kansas coach Bill Self said if
they miss easy shots like that in the next round, they would be heading home early.
It got even worse for Kansas when Collins left the game with three fouls with around four minutes to go in the first half. Texas Tech tied the game shortly after and Kansas went into halftime up 34-32.
"We had numbers and ended up shooting the ball and coming away empty," Self said, "So yeah, we can improve on a lot of things."
In the second half, the Jayhawks came out firing, starting 4-for-5 from the floor in the first two minutes. The Kansas lead ballooned to 10 in almost an instant with a 10-2 run.
"That's what we needed," Collins said. "The crowd got into it and we fed off that."
both had to play most of the final stretch with four fouls. But the Jayhawks kept the game under control until Texas Tech's John Roberson made it a two-point game with just under six to play.
Marcus Morris and Collins
Kansas responded with a couple threes by Collins and Henry. Then with 50 seconds to go, when everybody knew the game was over, the Rock Chalk chant started.
The Jayhawks accomplished a monumental feat, but their heads are stuck on finishing this tournament.
"Moving forward," Marcus Morris said, "we were going to dwell on it for maybe 20 minutes and try to get 2,002 wins before we leave."
Edited by Cory Bunting
COMMENTARY
Take a second to reflect on program
BY CLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
twitter/com/clark_goble
Two thousand is just a number, and not even an important one like a million or pi.
But with Kansas' 2,000th victory Thursday against Texas Tech, it's a perfect time to reflect on what makes Kansas basketball so special.
I've been alive for 598 Kansas victories, which seems like a lot. However, the increased schedule length and Kansas' dominance in the 90s and 2000s skews that number considerably.
More unfathomable is the fact that I've only seen two men run the program: Roy Williams and Bill Self. Four coaches have held the head-coaching throne at Arizona in the past four years
I know more about Larry Brown's babysitting of Allen Iverson as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers than his impact on Kansas' 1988 national championship. I couldn't tell you Kansas' record when they won the 1952 title or how many All-Americans the program has produced without looking it up. In the bigger scheme of things, all I know is the tradition.
I've received more than a couple of e-mails imploring me to write a column informing students on how to properly perform the Rock Chalk Chant. If you don't know, they didn't used to "woo" after the KU part. It was silent, almost Gregorian, for a couple seconds before the chant began to echo again.
That's what makes Kansas basketball so special. People take away their own memories. My personal favorite is the "Dancing Nachos" that used to scroll across the old-school scoreboard that hung over the middle of James Naismith Court. It was so pixelated, but so awesome.
There are bigger things on Bill Self's checklist than a statistical coincidence like 2,000 victories — namely his second national title in three years.
But before we get enveloped with March Madness and the inevitable scare from a school that starts with "B" in the early rounds, it's a great time to remind yourself why you love Kansas basketball. Maybe you secretly desire to sport C.J. Henry's chinstrap, or maybe Kenny Gregory's horrible free throw percentage continues to bring a smile to your face. Or maybe that's just me.
There's where the beauty of the program is illuminated. No one looks at it the same way. I can't possibly encapsulate every one's favorite things about the program in this space. It would take a million pages, and even then, I would miss thins.
So take the time today to remember why you love Kansas basketball.
It'll make March that much sweeter.
Edited by Kelly Gibson