SPORTS
PAT KNIGHT DEBUTS AS COACH IN FIELDHOUSE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 8B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
BASEBALL TEAM BEATS IOWA
MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2008
POWERCAT PAYBACK
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Jayhawks back on track after Wildcat victory
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
When practice ended on Friday, the players walked off the floor thinking it was one of their best of the season.
Then. Bill Self brought out a video. Movie time. Except, the players hadn't been anticipating this blockbuster. The feature presentation included all the negative images from the first half of Kansas' January game against Kansas State.
"Everybody got mad." Robinson said. "We said to each other that we have to go out there with all the energy"
Brandon Rush saw a lack of pressure. Russell Robinson saw how much harder K-State's guards played. If the lingering memories of K-State's Jacob Pullen, Clent Stewart and Bill Walker doing whatever they wanted against them weren't enough, this tape pushed the guards over the edge.
And they did on Saturday night. Kansas (26-3, 11-3) defeated Kansas State 88-74 at Allen Fieldhouse, running away with the game in the first few minutes. The victory alleviated the woes the Jayhawks had been feeling from their first matchup with the Wildcats, put them into a tie with Texas for first place in the league and showed just how good they could play when they bring enough energy.
"They handled us at Bramlage." Self said. "Tonight, we were the aggressor and handled them."
The layhawks forced four turnovers and two jump balls in the first five minutes. On the second one, Stewart and Sasha Kaun dove into a scuffle near the free-throw line for several seconds. Stewart got up scowling. Bill Walker got up limping. Kansas didn't back away from anything all night.
The initial burst of energy gave the Jayhawks a 21-point lead by the nine-minute mark. By halftime, Kansas had 10 steals and forced 14 turnovers. Stewart, Walker and Pullen - three players who toasted the Jayhawks in January - made a total of three field goals and turned the ball over seven times. It also helped that Walker and Michael Beasley got into early foul trouble.
When Beasley got back in, the Jayhawks were too far ahead and too focused to let his 39 points make a difference.
"They had us on our heels," K-State coach Frank Martin said. "When you get a team on its heels, that team is always trying to recover rather than fight back, and that's the phase they had us in all night."
pretty dang good. Rush shot three-point daggers. Darnell jackson and Darrell Arthur got the ball inside. Sherron Collins barked orders for his team and scuffled with Darren Kent. Five players scored in double figures.
Amidst all the balance, Collins and Rush stood out. Both have dealt with injuries this season, and both had their best games since sustaining those setbacks.
Aside from intensity, Kansas was just
Collins barely played at the Oklahoma State game after sitting out the entire week of practice. Against Iowa State, Self called Collins a shell of his former self. Saturday night, he collected four steals, beat everyone down the court for layups and scored in traffic.
The running, jumping Collins could be returning for good, too, in place of the hobbling, limping one that Kansas fans have seen too often this season. Team doctors have said that Collins' knee bruise should heal soon, and when it does, he'll be pain free.
Rush's injury hasn't lingered like Collins', but he hadn't put together a great performance since his May ACL tear. Rush shot brilliantly and defended well for stretches but never pieced together a complete game. He finally did on Saturday scoring 21 and staying aggressive for all 40 minutes in front of a small army of NBA scouts there to watch Beasley.
"Every game," Rush said. "I go out and play where my heart is... Tonight, I think I proved a little point."
on Goering/KANSAN
"Guys just had more energy." Self said. "We played with a swagger tonight."
After the Iowa State game, Self made it clear that his team played better than it had in weeks. Still, he called the improvement a start.
So, did Saturday's game mark the true turning point? Is it the sure sign that Kansas is back to playing the way it was in December, when fans salivated, bracketologists penciled the Jayhawks in as a guaranteed No. 1 seed and players lived in a dream world where a perfect season was the hottest tonic?
There's still a long way to go, but if Kansas can maintain the passion that it played with on Saturday night, a promising future seems likely
Senior forward Darnell Jackson gathers a rebound over sophomore forward Darrell Arthur and slams it down for two during the second half of Saturday's game against Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks defeated the Wildcats 88-74. Jackson finished with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, one of five Hawks who scored in double figures.
"I told them," Self said, "You'll play even harder on Monday."
— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Kansas women's basketball team plays Iowa State on Saturday. The Jayhawks lost 51-42. "We had a couple mental lapses" senior forward Taylor McIntosh said.
Manfred Strait/IOWA STATE DAILY
lowa State beats Kansas Poor play leads to 51-42 loss
Not playing hard for the entire 40 minutes of a game has been one of several problems for Kansas lately. Saturday afternoon it went a step further as the Jayhawks key lapses were measured in seconds rather than minutes.
BY TAYLOR BERN tbern@kansan.com
Several times in the second half, Iowa State either made a shot or got fouled with just one second remaining on the shot clock. The last of those came in the waning minutes of the game and served as backbreaking plays in a 51-42 Cyclone victory.
"We had a couple of mentalapes."
SEE WOMEN'S BBALL ON PAGE 9B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Seniors play final game at fieldhouse
Three years ago, Simien talked deep into the night. It was almost never-ending.
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kapsa.com
Five seniors - Russell Robinson, Jackson, Sasha Kaun, Rodrick Stewart and Jeremy Case - will celebrate their last game in Allen Fieldhouse tonight at 8 against Texas Tech. Kaun, Robinson and Jackson were all members of Self's first recruiting class. Case redshirted a year, and Stewart transferred as a sophomore.
"I'm not going to go up there and talk for two hours," Jackson said. "I'll be sure to cut it short. I don't want the fans to fall asleep."
Darnell Jackson might get a little emotional when he gives his senior speech tonight, but he promises he won't pull a Wayne Simien.
mdent@kansan.com
Few KU senior classes compare to this one. The seniors have compiled a 107-23 record during the past four years. They've also won three Big 12 regular season titles and two Big 12 tournament championships.
Not bad achievements for a class that didn't even include a McDonald's All-American. Sure, Robinson was a top-40 recruit, and Jackson and Kaun weren't exactly slouches in high school, but in many ways, this group has over achieved.
SEE SENIORS ON PAGE 8B
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COMMENTARY
Revenge empowers Jayhawks January's loss fades, March takes spotlight
The telecast from Kansas' payback 88-74 victory Saturday won't be packaged into a collector's item, but it was a more important feat.
For starters, the bludgeoning proved the Jayhawks were still the superior team in the state and put them back on top of the Big 12 standings. But the victory signified more than that: It showed Kansas was again ready to play at the level that guided it to a 20-0 start to the season.
To commemorate its 84-75 victory against Kansas in January, Kansas State announced that it would release a two-disc DVD box set cloning the game and its ensuing celebration.
"Guys had energy, balance and played with a little bit of swagger," Kansas coach Bill Self said.
It's been a while since Self has been able to say that with any conviction. Kansas hasn't played like it did Saturday since, well, before the trip to Manhattan that ruined its undefeated aspirations.
In the following weeks, Self said that the Jayhawks started playing sluggishly because they were exhausted from trying to keep their run at perfection alive. But the team that played at Allen Fieldhouse Saturday looked anything but droway.
Junior guard Brandon Rush showed he could still take over games by scoring 21 points and hitting five three-pointers. Sophomore guard Sherron Collins proved he's recovered well from all of his bumps and bruises with lethal speed and 18 points.
"I think, overall, this was the best game our team played." Collins said.
If they can play with the same fervor they did against the Cats for the rest of the season, the Jayhawks are back to be a bona-fide national title contender. But the harsh reality is that not every game commands the intensity of a revenge-filled rivalry game or brings an entourage of ESPN personalities. It wasn't a coincidence that Kansas was as motivated to win this matchup as Barack Obama is to take the Texas primary.
The senior class finally presented a sense of urgency and combined for 33 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists.
Keeping it up is the hard part. Tonight's Big Monday showdown with Texas Tech gives Kansas the perfect opportunity to play satisfied and trip up before the end of the regular season. But Rush scoffed at that suggestion because he thought the Jayhawks were ready to take over.
Kansas just simply needed to beat Kansas State to take its season to the next level. The Jayhawks were like Patrick Swayze in "Ghost"—stuck in limbo until taking care of unfinished business.
Led by senior guard Russell Robinson's and Collins' four steals each, Kansas swiped the ball away 15 times. It was the second most this season, only less than an 18-steal outing against Yale. That number is specifically special to the Hawks because they are at their best when defensive pressure leads to easy fast break points.
It's possible. The Jayhawks used smothering defense to give Wildcat super freshman Michael Beasley an insignificant 39-point performance and frustrate his freshman sidekick, Bill Walker.
"It's going to be senior night Monday night," Rush said. "I don't think we're going to have a letdown."
Edited by Sasha Roe
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