2008 KANSAS BASKETBALL
23
FEBRUARY 27, 2008
Jayhawks bounce back for 'quality' victory
BY MARK DENT mdent@kansan.com
AMES, Iowa - Russell Robinson watched the calendar with extra interest. March was approaching.
"March is right around the corner, a couple days away," Robinson said. "This is crunch time for us now. We have to turn around and start playing our best basketball."
Kansas made progress, defeating the Cyclones 75-64 on Feb.27 at Hilton Coliseum. Instead of falling apart like they did in recent away games against the Cowboys and Longhorns, the Jayhawks showed some toughness and a sense of urgency when Iowa State made runs in the second half.
"When you're 24 and three," Kansas coach Bill Self said, "you shouldn't need to say the ship needs righting, but our players all knew that it did, and we felt it did, too."
After dominating in the first half, the Jayhawks let the Cyclones back into the game early in the
second. Iowa State cut a 13-point Kansas lead to six just after intermission.
If the Jayhawks continued to let the Cyclones play like they did those first two minutes, the game could've easily turned in favor of Iowa State. It wouldn't have been pretty; so, Self got nasty.
He called a time-out, pointed, screamed and never moved more than a few inches away from the players' faces. Robinson gave an account of Self's words, minus the screaming.
"The main thing was," Robinson said, "he wanted us to just focus in and get a good possession."
Kansas delivered with a 16-4 run during the next five minutes. Chalmers and Arthur combined for 33 points, including 22 in the first half. Arthur especially shined in the first 20 minutes.
After the game, Rush called the victory quality.
"I don't know if we did or not," Self said about returning to a high level. "Only time will tell, but we were a better team than we were in the last three weeks."
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Junior guard Brandon Rush shows toughness in the Feb. 27 game against Iowa State. Kansas coach Bill Self called a timeout and screamed at players after they continued to let the Cyclones dominate the game.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN