Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY K MONDAY MARCH 8, 2010 WWW.KANSAN.COM
Home,sweet home opener
Kansas wins three of four in weekend series against Iowa. BASEBALL| 8B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Earning All-Big 12 awards
Aldrich, Collins among Jayhawks named in All-Big 12. BASKETBALL | 4B
NO.1 KANSAS 77, MISSOURI 56
Party like it's 1,999
Sophomore guard Tvshawn Taylor drives to the basket for a layup. Taylor led Kansas with 13 points, six assists and five rebounds in Kansas' 77-56 victory.
Weston White/KANSAN
PAGE 1B
Kansas defeats Mizzou for its 1,999th win
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
twitter.com/c_cthibodeaux
COLUMBIA, Mo. — After receiving harassment all last week from what he assumed were Missouri fans, sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor made them think twice about messing with him again.
Taylor said someone put up fliers all around campus with his phone number, saying he was selling a dog. As the phone kept ringing, Taylor's frustration grew.
"People had been calling me all day about it," he said, "I don't have a dog. Quit calling me."
But Taylor and the Jayhawks ruined Mizzou's fun as well as its senior night with a 77-56 victory Saturday.
Taylor scored all of his team-leading 13 points after the 8:05 mark in the second half. He filled out the stat sheet with five rebounds, six assists and three steals.
"That just goes to show how good of a team you are," Taylor said. "When you know that your bench can produce for you, it relieves a lot of pressure."
With the help of their bigs and their bench, the Jayhawks overcame the sloppy first half.
He played as well as anyone in the game, but it was a struggle early. Taylor, senior guard Sherron Collins and freshman guard Xavier Henry combined for zero points in the first 18 minutes.
With the guards unable to make a shot and the team trailing 17-10 early in the first half, Markieff Morris had six straight points to keep the layhawks from
letting the game slip away. A few minutes later, Marcus Morris had seven straight points of his own.
"Every time we touched the ball something good happened," Marcus said. "So we just tried to be their relief and get easy points
until they got going."
The twins contributed to a 30-7 run and the Jayhawks ended the half with 16-straight points to make the lead 40-24. Collins had eight of his 12 points in the last two minutes of the half.
But neither team was done making a run.
Mizzou was resilient and had an 11-0 run at one point in the second half, bringing the Jayhawks' lead down to four. Then the Jayhawks went on yet another
run — this time 22.4 — that basically determined the outcome of the game.
Coach Bill Self said he was pleased to see so many players
SEE RECAP ON PAGE 5B
See more photos of the game at kansan.com/galleries
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansas' Senior Night spoiled by loss to Texas A&M
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
twitter.com/maxrothman
It was supposed to be a night for the seniors. A defining victory. A gleeful post-game ceremony. Nothing but laughs and smiles at the final autograph session. Instead, Kansas handed away that possibility.
The same old ills plagued the team as Texas A&M defeated Kansas 78-54 on senior night at Allen Fieldhouse.
"We didn't screen worth a darn," coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "We didn't get separation, they made us turn it over and we did recover."
By forcing so many turnovers, the Aggies were able to attempt 64 shots to the Jayhawks' 42. Despite Kansas converting a higher percentage of its shots, the lopsided difference in attempts deemed the statistic irrelevant.
Kansas turned the ball over 23 times in a 72-59 victory against Missouri on Jan. 17. But on Saturday, 30 was just too many.
Texas A&M capitalized on nearly every Kansas mistake, scoring 29 points off turnovers and 42 points
The loss left a disappointing stamp on the end of the careers of guards Danielle McCray, Sade Morris, LaChelda Jacobs and Kelly Kohn and forward Porscha Weddington.
in the paint. The Aggies' bench also
outscored the Jawhaws 38-3.
"I don't think a lot of seniors would like to say they got beat 20, 30 plus at home on their senior night." Kohn said. "I'd like to go out better than that."
To make matters worse on Saturday, freshman forward Carolyn Davis sat on the sideline the whole game because of a concussion she suffered in Friday's practice.
At the beginning of the season, Kansas was nationally ranked, voted second
in the preseason poll and seemed poised for an NCAA tournament run. Led by a potent offense that was averaging 77.3 points per game, it started the season 10-2. Then both guards Angel Goodrich and McCray were lost for the season with ACL injuries and the Jayhawks struggled from then on. They finished the regular season 3-12 and scored 68.7 points per game. In their past five games, all losses, the
Jayhawks averaged 51.6 points per game.
"For that senior class, it just should have been different this year."
BONNIE HENRICKSON head coach
"I don't know a lot of young women who have been through the things that this senior class has been through," Kohn said. "The wins, the losses, the struggles."
COMMENTARY
The layhawks have lost their past three games by an average of 24 points as they head into the conference tournament as the No.10 seed set to face the No.7 Oklahoma State, which is ranked No.20 nationally.
With Saturday's loss, Kansas fell to 5-11 in the Big 12, 15-14 overall and seem destined for a NWIT appearance
"For that senior class, it just should have been different this year." Henrickson said. "It just should have been different."
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
Edited by Becky Howlett
FOR MORE ANALYSIS, SEE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL REWIND ON PAGE 6B
Senior guard Danielle McCray smiles as she hugs junior guard Marsha Brown. McCray finished her career at KU fourth overall in total points with 1,934 points.
BY CLARK GOBLE cgoble@kansan.com
Unlucky breaks for Jayhawks in Big 12
don't think coach Bonnie Henrickson will be trying the lottery anytime soon.
Her team faced a plethora of unlucky breaks and inopportune mistakes that effectively ended any chance of making a run for the Big 12 conference title.
Before the season, it looked as if all the pieces were in place for a potential Big 12 championship. Danielle McCray would be the elite scorer, Sade Morris her slashing sidekick. Freshman Angel Goodrich would add the sizzle.
But somewhere along the line, this team lost its mojo.
Maybe it happened on the Grand Bahama Island. After hanging with now-No. 5avier, Kansas fell in the closing minutes. The next day Kansas nursed a one-point lead against TCU. McCray called a timeout the team didn't have, and the Horned Frogs took advantage, hitting both technical free throws.
A trip that could have ended in two resume-building victories ended with none.
But the Jayhawks recovered, defeating a quality UCLA team and winning their next six games, albeit against weak opponents.
Simply put, it wasn't Kansas' year. Nothing went right. Everything went wrong. With the kind of talent Kansas had on paper, a 5-11 conference record seems like an injustice.
Fans shouldn't put the blame for the lackluster season on her or anyone in the program. The talent was there. The chances to get quality victories were there.
Henrickson kept rolling the dice, hoping for a 7, an 11, really anything other than what she got over and over — snake-eves.
On paper, Kansas would beat New Mexico State by 15. But the Aggies fought. A free throw with 0.8 seconds remaining gave the Jayhawks a heart-breaking one-point loss.
There are some positives that we can take away from this disappointing season. Freshman guard Monica Engelman looks poised to take over the scoring gap McCray's departure will leave, and Goodrich's return will open the floor considerably.
So maybe the mojo slipped away in the unlikelyest of spots: Las Cruces, N.M.
They beat the weaklings of the Big 12 North, but couldn't muster a victory against a single South opponent.
They lost Goodrich to a torn ACL in a crushing last-minute loss to Oklahoma State on ESPN2 and couldn't finish an upset in Ames. When McCray succumbed to an injured ACL about a month later, the NCAA Tournament seemed out of reach.
Freshman post Carolyn Davis was inconsistent but showed the talent necessary to compete in the toughest conference in the country.
A trip to Manhattan was a chance to right the ship. Instead, the Jayhawks were embarrassed, making four total field goals in the second half.
It will take a few months for the sting of this season to subside, as it should. But perhaps the returners will be rejuvenated by the prospect of a clean slate.
At some point, the luck will change.
Edited by Kristen Liszewski