20
2008 KANSAS BASKETBALL
FEBRUARY 11,2008
Jayhawks fall against Texas
Kansas endures second loss of the season, remains optimistic
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
AUSTIN, Texas - All the talk about No.1 seeds, Final Fours and even Big 12 Championships needed to stop for Kansas, at least for a while.
The Jayhawks needed to get a marquee victory before all that chatter could start back up again.
Kansas lost to No. 11 Texas 72-69 Monday, Feb. 11 at the Erwin Center when Mario Chalmers' last second shot hit the back of the rim. It was the second loss in two weeks for the Jayhawks (23-2, 8-2). They lost to Kansas State in Manhattan Jan. 30 and just like in that game, Kansas was outplayed and outhustled by a team it was favored to beat.
That act was already getting old for Kansas coach Bill Self.
"I think they out-manned us in the second half," he said.
For the first 20 minutes, Kansas' offense was dominant. The Jayhawks found out, again, that they play their best ball when the offense goes through the post. Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur combined to score 25 points in the first half. Sasha Kaun and Cole Aldrich pitched in another four. Kansas' frontcourt was too much for Texas, which saw its best forward, Damion James, exit with foul trouble early on. The Jayhawks put up 42 points and outrebounded the soft-looking Longhorns by 10.
At halftime, Self told his players they would need to play even harder inside in the second half, and that the Longhorns' poor performance inside was a fluke. But when Texas coach Rick Barnes got wise to the Jayhawks' low post offense and geared his defense toward stopping it, Arthur and Jackson couldn't adjust. Arthur picked up two quick fouls, pouted on defense and showed why his consistency is still a work in progress. He and Jackson scored just 10 points in the second half.
"They trapped the post a lot," Arthur said. "It was hard to score."
While they struggled, James came back with a vengeance. He scored 12 of his 14 points and grabbed all of his 13 rebounds after intermission.
"Damion had a chance to sit on the bench in the first half and let it boil a bit," Self said. "Then he kicked our butts in the second half."
The post players' worst sins came late in the game. Texas scored two major baskets on put-back dunks with less than five minutes to go. The second one gave the Longhorns a 66-61 lead. In the final 1:30 of the game, Kansas gave up two more offensive rebounds. The second came when the ball bounced off Brandon Rush's head.
In the second half, after Self pleaded with his players to dial up the intensity, Texas outrebounded Kansas 23-12.
"They got a lot of second-chance buckets," Arthur said. "That killed us."
Despite the problems, Kansas still had an opportunity to tie. Trailing by three in the final seconds, Chalmers missed an off-balanced but open three-pointer. Self said his team killed the final play by moving the ball to the wrong side of the court.
The miss sent the Jayhawks back into the locker room hurting and still missing that important victory against a consistent top 25 team. Southern California was ranked when the Jayhawks won against the team in December, but the Trojans have been out of the rankings since. Ditto for Arizona.
The Jayhawks' other big victories have come against Boston College, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma and Baylor. None of those teams were in the top 25 when Kansas played against them.
In Kansas' two toughest tests the Jayhawks have come up lame, first in a loss to the Wildcats, and then to Texas.
Chalmers said the team could do it.
"We're still the favorites," he said. "That's what's in our minds."
Junior guard Mario Chalmers watches his last-second shot hit the back of the rim, resulting in a 72-69 loss against Texas on Feb. 11. Jon Goering/photo
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN