8B GAME DAY THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN FRIDAY FEBRUARY 16 2007 KU TIP-OFF WHAT'S AT STAKE? The Big 12 does not have a tiebreaker for the league championship; instead it awards the "co-champions" title if two teams are tied. That works in the Jayhawks favor, because even though they lost to Texas A,M, the two teams are tied for the conference lead right now, it's not their ultimate goal, but a conference title is a goal for this year's team. STAR WATCH Junior forward Darnell Jackson will look to continue to build on his momentum after a breakout month. The only negative for Jackson right now was going 0-for-5 from the free-throw line Wednesday. He's one of the team's better free throw shooters at 71 percent, so this shouldn't be a major concern for Jaiyawk fans. QUESTION MARK CAN THE JAYHAWKS GET A BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK? One of the downsides of a balanced team is the lack of individual recognition, and even Julian Wright's 33 points against Missouri weren't enough to get him the honor. It's unlikely to happen this week, as no one player stood in Wednesday's victory against Colorado. 3 REASONS KU WINS ONE — History They stomped Nebraska last time. The Huskers have improved since then, but so have the Jayhawks, and there's no reason to think that Saturday will be any different than the game in Lincoln. Of course, don't expect Nebraska to go 14 minutes without a point. TWO — Jackson The emergence of Darnell Jackson. The junior forward is a capable replacement for junior center Sasha Kaun, and substituting between the two will keep the team fresh. THREE — Talent The Jayhawks have far superior talent. As long as Kansas controls Aleks Maric, this one won't be close. TRYING TO KEEP PACE Jayhawks need victory to stay atop Big 12 Conference KANSAS VS.NEBRASKA 3 p.m. Saturday, Allen Fieldhouse, Channels 8, 15 Kansas 22-4,9-2 Big 12 OFFENSE Instead of the Brandon Rush and Julian Wright show, the Jayhawks had a more balanced attack on Wednesday. Junior guard Russell Robinson played a big role in the success, but against Nebraska, the Jayhawks will again want to involve their star players. Wright, a sophomore forward, and Rush, a sophomore guard, will be called on to take over the team in March, and there's no better time to practice now. Inside the paint, junior center Sasha Kaun will look to build on a terrific second-half performance against Colo rado. After logging two fouls before the first timeout to open the game, Kaun was benched to start the second half. He responded with one of his most dominating defensive performances of the year, which included four blocks. The Jayhawks will need that against Nebraska center Alexis Maric, who will be the only big man for most of the game. The Huskers run out of a four-guard set to try to make up for their lack of height, which will put additional pressure on Wright and freshman forward Darrell Arthur to guard the perimeter. Nebraska 15-9,4-6 DEFENSE OFFENSE This is not the same Nebraska that went more than 14 minutes without scoring against Kansas two weeks ago. The Cornhuskers have finally hit their stride. Forward Aleks Maric broke out of an early conference slump in a big way last Tuesday by scoring 41 points against Kansas State. Guards Charles Richardson Jr. and Ryan Anderson are also starting to score consistently from the outside. Even with an improved offense, the Huskers are going to have a tough time going against the Jayhawk guards. Darrell Arthur, Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson combined to shut down Maric the first time, and as a result, the impressive outside shooting of Anderson didn't matter. DEFENSE The Huskers have done a good job of shutting down some of the Big 12's best scores this season. They held Texas Tech's Jarius Jackson to five points . Texas A&M's Acie Law IV scored only nine points against Nebraska. Colorado's Richard Roby scored just one point. Head coach Doc Sadler, who was an assistant under Texas A&M's Billy Gillisip, coaches like his former boss with an emphasis on intensity. But intense probably won't be good enough against the Jayhawks. Kansas coach Bill Self said his team played arguably its best half of the season in the first half of the game earlier this year in Lincoln. MOMENTUM After the bloodbath in Lincoln, the Jayhawks have every reason to be optimistic. During his Monday press conference, coach Bill Self said that playing two of the conference's worst teams in a week posed its own set of challenges, but the Jayhawks appear to have maintained their focus and energy. It doesn't hurt that they're now tied for the lead in the Big 12 conference with Texas A&M, so every game down the stretch becomes crucial to the team's title hopes. - Michael Phillips Early in Big 12 play, Nebraska looked dead. The Huskers played pitifully on both sides of the ball, starting off the conference play with a 1-5 record. They bottomed out in the first half against the Jayhawks on Jan.29. In the second half of that game, Nebraska outplayed Kansas, although it still lost, and has turned its season around since The Huskers have won three out of their last four games with the only loss coming to first-place Texas A&M. If this game was going to be played at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, the Huskers would have a serious chance for an upset. Because the game is at Allen Fieldhouse, look for Kansas to win with relative ease. Mark Dent NU TIP-OFF WHAT'S AT STAKE? The Huskers have a legitimate chance for an NIT berth if they finish with an 8-8 or 7-9 conference record. If it beats Kansas, Nebraska has five winable games left. A victory against Kansas and three victories in their next five games would guarantee a spot in the NIT. STAR WATCH Junior forward Aleks Maric had one of his worst performances of the season in the first game against Kansas. He only made three field Maric goals. Last Tuesday against Kansas State, Maric looked like one of the best players in the country. He scored 41 points and made it to the free-throw line a Dwyane Wade-like 25 times. QUESTION MARK IS NEBRASKA MENTALLY READY FOR KANSAS? You know the Huskers are still stinging after their embarrassing display against the Jayhawks two weeks ago. They have moved on by winning three out of their last four games, but they could start doubting their abilities going against Kansas again. 3 REASONS NU WINS ONE — Revenge The Huskers lost every form of dignity imaginable the first time they played the Jayhawks. Going scoreless for five, even 10 minutes is understandable. But 13 minutes and 39 seconds? Nebraska should still be fuming and ready to play Kansas. TWO - Luck Texas Tech found out the hard way that Nebraska is a fortunate team. Against the Red Raiders, Charles Richardson Jr. nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to beat them Feb. 6. THREE — Road Rules Half of Nebraska's Big 12 victories have come on the road. It even won at Texas Tech, a place where Kansas and Texas A&M lost. JAYHAWK STATS | Player | Avg. Min. | FG-FGA | 3FG-3FGA | Avg.Reb. | Avg.Pts. | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Brandon Rush | 32.3 | 131-301 | 51-122 | 5.8 | 14.3 | | Julian Wright | 27.2 | 126-234 | 3-11 | 8.1 | 12.0 | | Mario Chalmers | 28.8 | 103-221 | 36-98 | 3.0 | 11.2 | | Darrell Arthur | 20.0 | 115-216 | 0-4 | 4.8 | 10.6 | | Sherron Collins | 21.0 | 90-174 | 34-79 | 2.2 | 9.5 | | Russell Robinson | 28.8 | 56-129 | 17-52 | 3.3 | 6.9 | | Sasha Kaun | 17.5 | 62-116 | 0-0 | 3.9 | 6.2 | | Darnell Jackson | 15.1 | 51-90 | 0-0 | 5.2 | 5.8 | | Brady Morningstar | 5.9 | 10-21 | 3-7 | 0.9 | 2.3 | | Jeremy Case | 5.7 | 7-22 | 5-19 | 0.6 | 1.4 | | Matt Kleinmann | 4.7 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 0.9 | 0.8 | | Rodrick Stewart | 5.9 | 5-18 | 4-9 | 0.7 | 0.7 | | Brad Witherspoon | 1.3 | 0-4 | 0-1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | | Brennan Bechard | 1.5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | KEYMATCH-UP Brandon Rush 6'6"210 vs. Ryan Anderson 6'4"195 Rush The main area of interest last time out between these two teams was supposed to be Basha Kaun vs. Aleks Maric. That match-up quickly fizzled. Instead, Rush helped the Jayhawks get out to their insurmountable first-half lead and finished the game with 20 points. Anderson, a freshman, had the best game of the season as he made six three-pointers. Rush and Mario Chalmers will probably guard Anderson most of the game Saturday and will have to make sure they pressure him on the perimeter. Anderson HUSKER STATS MO Do PAG WWW VOL.
PlayerAvg. Min.FG-FGA3FG-3FGAAvg. Reb.Avg. Pts
Aleks Maric27.7152-2503-97.717.7
Ryan Anderson25.185-17638-844.510.7
Jamel White24.566-15020-582.79.3
Marcus Perry25.061-13450-1162.19.3
Charles Richardson35.758-14123-673.37.8
Sek Henry23.758-13215-552.06.9
Jay-R Strowbridge15.827-6218-371.13.8
Paul Velander12.719-5119-501.03.5
Jim Ledsome10.613-220-02.52.4
Kyle Marks7.412-180-21.21.8
Mike Smith5.87-183-80.41.5
Kris Douse8.53-101-10.90.9
Chris Balham5.12-40-00.80.5
Choul Laam1.80-00-00.20.4
Ben Nelson3.00-10-00.00.0
Nick Krenk3.90-20-20.00.0
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