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KU 68 - TOLEDO 58
III UNIVERSITY ARIY KANSAN
Kemper finale uninspired
Freshman forward Dearrell Arthur dunks during the second half of a game. Armour finished with nine points.
Kansas struggles to keep its lead in second half against unranked and undersized Toledo
BY SHAWN SHROYER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It wasn't pretty. But then again, that hasn't been Kansas' style this season.
However, Brandon Rush put forth a performance that was a sight for some eyes. Before Rush game high-19 points. No. 12 Kawasaki in the inlayers' final game in Koper Arcaena.
My teammates looked for me a lot tough because I've been in a slump and they just want to help me out of it, sophomore guard Rush said. "They found me and I made a lot of wide-open threes."
Junior center Sasha Kauk also showed more confidence than he had in recent weeks, but outside of Rush and Kauk, the Javahiers lobbied distressed by their inability to pull away from them.
Rush it up it up down downtown, making four of his first five three-pointers. When he wasn't shooting the ball, he was down his team's back down in a game-high five offensive rebounds.
For Akaun, he went a perfect 5-for-1 from the floor. Saturday was the first time in nine games played that Kaui reached double digits for the first time on the only jayshawks to do so against the Rockets.
Rush and Kaun also swatted four shots apiece as Karsan totaled 15 blocks in the game, setting a school record. Toledo coach Stan Joplin said those blocks changed the complexion of the game.
That means we got to the basket 15 times and we couldn't finish. I tough to finish over a bunch of trees, Joplin said. If they're going to block shots against Florida, they're going to lose.
But early on, it appeared Kansas would overwhelm Tolema with offense.
The layaways came out on fire, shooting 72.7 percent from the floor in the first half and
taking a 44-34 lead going into halftime. But that number plummeted to 25 percent in the second half as Kansas scored just 24 points on seven field goals - a season low in both categories.
When asked if Saturday was another ugly victory for his team, cushill bull's answer was "yes."
"Yes, 'self said.' The first half we made shots, so it looked better, but we didn't guard. The second half we actually guarded better, but we didn't make shots."
More baffling than the drop in in-shooting percentage is why most lappets lack contour lines. Their contours are not true.
Iven before the tip off, freshman forward Darrell Arnault revealed a thing of confidence in me. "It's not really a bad idea."
Apparently two weeks ago Arthur approached Self about coming off the bench, instead of starting, because of his tendency to get in early foul trouble. Self granted Arthur's wish against Toledo and junior forward Darnell Jackson started in his place.
Even the usually unfailable junior guard Russell Robinson lost composition down the
Kansas had a firm grip on the game and all Robinson had to do to seal the deal was make his free throws, But Robinson, who entered the game shooting 74.4 percent from the line this season, made only three of seven free-throws attempts in the last 90 seconds.
Luckily for the Jayhawks, they have until next Tuesday, when they play to Winston-Salem State, to pull themselves together.
"The next two weeks are real important," Self said. "We're not a team yet. We are not a team that has an identity yet. Hopefully with the break we'll find ourselves and become a team."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshoyer.kansan.com.
- Edited by Jodi Ann Holopirek
kansas 68, Toledo 58
Kansas 44 24 - 68
Toledo 44 58
TOLЕOLE — Valencia 4-7 3-14, Plyne 2-9 0-4, Ingram 5-18 0-13, Howell 6-15 2-2 18, Kent 1-3 0-2, Amos 2-6-0-5, Dover 0-0-0-0, Young 1-0-0-0, Johnson 1-0-0-0, Ross 1-2-0-0, Totals 22-6 52-5.
KANSA5 — Wright 1-4-2-4, Jackson
2-4-3-4,7 Robinson 1-4-3-7, Chalmers 2-
4-4-8, Rush 16-2-12-9, Arthur 4-9-1-2,
Collins 3-2-0-5, Stewart 0-0-0-0, Kaun
5-0-1-10, 32-5 10-5 0-24.
Records — Toledo 2-5, Kansas 8-2.
Sophomore guard Brandon Rush throw down a dark against Toledo Sa but hitting four of his first five three shot attempts in the first half.