Today is the last day to pick up tickets for the basketball games taking place between Jan.10 and Jan.27. Tickets can be picked up at the Allen Fieldhouse ticket office or online at kuathletics.com. Tickets for Saturday's game in Kansas City can be picked up at Kemper Arena the day of the game.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
CRIME
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
Player jailed for alleged burglary
BY DAVID LINHARDT
Senior safety lerome Kemp was booked into Douglas County jail Monday on charges of auto burglary, theft and criminal damage to property, jail officials said.
Alcohol was a factor in the alleged crime, according to Lawrence
Kemp police.
Kemp turned himself in shortly before 8 p.m. Monday and remained in custody Tuesday morning with a $2,250 bond.
Kristen Brau, a 22 year old KU student, told Lawrence police that someone had shattered the driver's door window on her Volkswagen jetta and taken more than $1,000 in CDs and other items from her car on Friday evening. The car was parked in the 2500 block of West 6th street.
Lawrence Police spokeswoman Kim Murphyre said Braun and Kemp knew each other before the alleged incident.
Associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said he was still gathering facts and did not immediately bury a comment.
In 2005, Kemp started 11 games as safety for the layhawks, and he was given an Honorable Mention on the All-Big 12 defensive squad in 2006.
Kansan staff writer David Linhardt can be contacted at dlinhardt@kansan.com.
— Edited by Brett Bolton
》 ATHLETICS DEPT.
BY C.J. MOORE
Rush's offensive troubles
Last week KU men's basketball bill Bill Self became the last Kansas coach to ink a deal with Lew Perkins' Athletics Department.
Self's contract, like the one football coach Mark Mangino signed in September, and every contract that Perkins has drawn up at Kansas, does not include a buyout clause. A buyout clause ensures that the University of Kansas would be compensated if one of its coaches leaves for another university. For example,
Self was still under his original contract, which he signed in April 2003 when Drue Jennings acted as interim athletics director. Self's contract seemed to reiterate Perkins' approach to his handling of contracts - he's not afraid to lose coaches, and he's a coach friendly athletics director.
Kansas contracts allure coaches
SEE COACHES ON PAGE 6B
MEN'S BASKETBALL
During the past five games, sophomore guard Brandon Rush's shooting percentages have been significantly lower than last season's statistics. Still, both he and coach Bill Self think he may be on the way out of his slump.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Fans are losing faith as guard's shooting percentages fail to meet preseason expectations
BY SHAWN SHROYER
In early October, a litany of preconsecion accolades based purely on potential came rolling in for Brandon Rush.
Nearly two months later, Rush isn't living up to the hype and some Jayhawk faithful are beginning to lose patience. During Monday night's victory against USC, a Kansas fan – albeit one in a J.R. Giddens jersey – shouted a not-so-encouraging word at Rush while he was at the free throw line.
Nevertheless, to coach Bill Self and Rush himself, the sophomore guard's offensive struggles haven't reached apocalyptic proportions just yet.
During his past five games, "shooting" hasn't been the problem, but shooting the ball in the basket has. Against Ball State, Florida.
"We know Brandon Rush can shoot the ball." Self said.
Dartmouth, DePaul and Southern California, Rush's shooting percentage has plummeted, regardless of where he was taking shots.
from three-point range and 76.1 percent from the free-throw stripe.
But in his last five games, he shot 29 percent,
26.9 percent and 50 percent in each respective category.
Last season, Rush shot 47.4 percent from the field, 47.2 percent
Rush was also
"I was shooting, it looked like it was good, but they just fell short, went long, off the back-board. It was just another night."
His lack of production isn't a result of a lack of effort. He averaged 11 field goal attempts during Kansas's last five games. In fact, Self wants Rush to continue to be aggressive when he has the ball.
Kansas' top scorer last season, averaging 13.5 points per contest. That number was supposed to increase this season. Instead his season average is at 12.3 points per game, and he averaged just 9.8 points over his last five.
BRANDON RUSH Sophomore guard
"I'll take my chances with him shooting the ball," Self said. "Every time he's open, he should shoot it."
One reason Self and Rush aren't panicking is that Rush could finally be
coming out of his slump.
In the first half against Southern California. Rush led Kansas with 10 points on 2-for-5 shooting from the floor (both three-pointers) and 4-4 shooting from the free throw line.
The halftime break must have
cooled him off, though, as he added just three more points to his total in the second half, shooting 1-for-9 from the floor (including 1-for-4 from three) and 1-for-2 from the charity stripe.
"I was shooting, it looked like it was good, but they just fell short, went long, off the backboard," Rush said. "It was just another night."
"I don't think it's a slump. I hit two of them, so I feel pretty good today."
Self didn't think Rush's shooting number should take away from his overall performance.
"This was one of the best games he's played this year," Self said. "He was aggressive, and look at his defense."
For now defense is where Rush is gaining praise, but he is earning it.
While junior guard Russell Robinson and sophomore guard Mario Chalmers are the best Jayhawks at creating turnovers, Rush has been Kansa's lockdown
defender. His length and athleticism allow him to guard almost any opponent.
"He's become our best perimeter defender as far as keeping his man from scoring." Self said.
Self added that to be great Kansas will need Rush to be a better shooter. But that doesn't mean Rush should start putting even more emphasis on his offense and less on defense.
Basically, Kansas will depend on Rush - the Brandon Rush who garnered preseason All-Big 12 and All-American honors - to perform on both ends of the court.
"If you only play well when you make shots, then you're probably a pretty one-dimensional player and he's got to be a total player for us," Self said.
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@ kansan.com.
— Edited by Mindy Ricketts
---