4B
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KU 72 - USC 62
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2006
quotables
"We didn't really have anything going for us on offense, so we just tried to fight for our defense... It was like a dogfight."
Mario Chalmers
me, it's about winning the game. The shots are going to come_whoever's hot that night, it just seems like we try to feed the hot hand"
"We are going to be a better shooting team, but its good to win games when you shoot 38 percent. It means you're doing some other things good."
— Mario Chalmers
Bill Self
"I was trying to get out of a shooting slump, so my plan was to be aggressive and put up shots." Brandon Rush
Brandon Rus
"Last year, you've got three seniors that, regardless of their performance, they played every day. This year, our freshmen have to play early. We are not as deep this year as we were to start the season.. We know who we want to play, but we've got a lot of young guys."
"He didn't back out of shots. He got up 14 looks when they were face- guarding him. Every time he's open, he should shoot it. We're not going to have a great team unless he's a good shooter."
- Self on Brandon Rush
"I was trying to hold in laughing the whole game. All growing up we always played against other people, and to play against him was weird."
"We gave ourselves plenty of chances to rebound the ball offensively."
Self
Rodrick Stewart on Lodrick Stewart
"I should have played him more. But I thought Lod played great, and I thought Rod played good when he was in there."
"It's not about the shots to
— Self
KANSAS (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Stewart rolled on the floor for a while before having to leave the game, temporarily.
Regardless of how many good eyes Stewart had, the brother of Kansas junior guard Rodrick Stewart was on fire. He nearly single-handedly kept the Trojans in the game, scoring a game-high 23 points, sinking five three-pointers.
Still, Kansas played inspired defense. Southern California turned the ball over 25 times while Kansas earned 15 steals and nine blocks, resulting in 26 points for the Jayhawks off turnovers.
"Once you get your defense going, your offense is going to come." Chalmers said.
The Jayhawks countered by drawing fouls inside and getting *n*diaye and forward RouSean Cromwell - Southern California's two tallest players - to foul out.
With the Trojans inside presence gone, the Jayhawks were able to keep their opponent at bay.
Twenty-two of Kansas' 39 rebounds in the game came after halftime, along with 11 of its 20 offensive rebounds. Southern California compiled just 30 total rebounds and eight offensive rebounds.
"We gave ourselves plenty of opportunities to rebound the ball offensively, because we didn't make any shots," Self joked.
Kansas never trailed in the second half, but its lead never reached double digits until there were 21 seconds left to play. Although Kansas had to scrape for the victory, Self considered that a good thing.
After Ndiaye fouled out with 8:30 to go in the game, Kansas ripped down 12 team rebounds, blocked two shots and scored six of its final 15 points in the paint.
After scoring just three points his last game, Brandon Rush led Kansas with 10 points in the first half. However, he added just three in the second half, making just one of nine attempts.
"You need to win games and you always want to look pretty, but we need to get some confidence by winning games where we have to grind it out, too, so this was a good game for us," Self said.
Game notes:
Chalmers and Rush led the team in scoring with 13 apiece. Jackson and freshman guard Sherron Collins added 11 points apiece. Junior forward Julian Wright was the final jayhawk to reach double digits with 10 points.
Kanssportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@ kansan.com.
Edited by Nicole Kelley
Fouls plague Kansas offense
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
The USC coach took his sport coat and flung it at one of his assistants. He then proceeded to yell at whichever official he could get to acknowledge him.
It took one minute and 22 seconds before Tim Floyd had seen enough.
In a physical game from start to finish, the layhawks stayed out of foul trouble just long enough to claim a 72-62 victory against USC Monday.
Floyd wasn't the only person lobbying for a cause. Kansas coach Bill Self took his turn, in addition to the assistant coaches on both sides, the players and the 16,300 fans who decided they had a good enough view to make a call.
"Foul trouble really limited us from taking over the game all the way," sophomore guard Brandon Rush said. "They were getting easy points from the free-throw line."
In the second half, it took Kansas just four minutes and 34 seconds to foul USC seven times, sending them to the free-throw line on each subsequent foul.
He added that of the first seven fouls of the second half, four were strong defensive fouls and three were the players "not using their heads."
Indeed, the whole Allen Fieldhouse crowd seemed to be on edge for most of the game, reacting emotionally to every call both ways. Perhaps none drew as much irase when Floyd tripped up Jayhawk freshman guard Sherron Collins eight minutes into the game.
"Every time we were going down on their end in the first half their coach was yelling in my ear, so I just kind of laughed at him," sophomore guard Mario Chalmers said. "It wasn't really anything."
"He just accidentally bumped into him." Self said. "I thought the officials did a really good job of handling that right."
USC had two players foul out - RouSean Cromwell and Abdoulaye Ndiaye - while the Jayhawkes were able to spread around their infractions.
Darrell Arthur was the only Kansas player to reach four, which resulted in more playing time for Sasha Kaun.
"I had a feeling they would call it close in the second half, and we told our guys that at halftime." Self said.
In the end, both teams combined for 41 fouls, and likely just as many bruises tomorrow morning for the players involved.
Regardless of the lopsided foul margin, Floyd kept at the officials throughout the game.
Self said it came with the territory when you play for a team that emphasizes defense like the Jayhawks do.
"If you pressure, you're going to foul some," he said.
Kansan sports editor Michael Phillips can be reached at mphillips@kansan.com.
Edited by Dianne Smith
No.12 Kansas 72, USC62
Kansas 37 35 — 72
USC 33 29 — 62
KANSAS—
KANSAS —
Arthur 3-4 2-3-8
Wright 4-11 2-2-10
Robinson 1-5-3-45
Chalmers 4-8-4-13
Rush 3-14 5-6-13
Collins 5-13 0-0 11
Stewart 1-0 0-0 0
Kaun 0-2 1-2 1
Jackson 4-5 3-6 11
Totals 24-63 20-27 72
USC —
Kansas 7-2, USC 5-2
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Sophomore guard, Brandon Rush, is fouled by University of Southern California, freshman guard, Kevin Galloway during the first half of Monday's game in Allen Fieldhouse. Rush scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds leading the Jayhawks to victory against the Troians. 72-62.
USC
Young 3-13 2-2 8
Gibson 5-8 5-6 15
N'Diaye 1-1 2-1 4
Stewart 9-15 0-0 23
Hackett 1-3 7-8 9
Galloway 0-0 0-0 0
Lewis 1-4 1-2 3
Cromwell 0-2 0-0 0
Totals 20 4 17 20 62.
RECORDS
Julian Wright, sophomore forward, fades away while taking a shot in front of University of Southern CA Jiahayhs beat the Trojans, 72-62.
When Brandon Rush nailed a three-point field goal with 5:53 left in the half, it appeared the l Jayhawks were on the verge of a run leading 24-17.
But, Lodrick answered with a three-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession to pull USC within four. He then hit a two-point shot on the Trojans' next possession to cut the deficit to two.
Lodrick had a game-high 12 points in the first half on 5-for-8 shooting, keeping the game within reach for the Trojans as they trailed 37-33 at half.
Lodrick hit several clutch shots that kept the game close.
1
"He is a veteran who can shoot and we expect him to come in and do that on the road," Floud said.
STEWART (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Trailing by seven late in the second half. Loddr drilled another to pull the team within five. It was too late. The layhawks took the game 72-62.
Bull Stewart, the twins' dad, was wearing a shirt with both the Jayhawk and Trojan logos. Lodrick said his dad was supporting him during his last season as a collegiate basketball player.
Rodrick still has one more year of eligibility because he transferred from USC and had to sit out for a year.
Kansan sportswriter Drew Davison can be contacted at ddavison@kansan.com.
Edited by Aly Barland
from press row.
STAT OF THE GAME...
Two. Number of three-pointers made by Brandon Rush. The first one was big he connected with 5:57 to play in the first half. Rush had been struggling from the field, and he let out a sigh of relief and gave a fist-pump when he broke his slump. With the mental block removed, Rush then proceeded to connect on another long ball one minute later. He finished the night with a respectable 13 points, and by throwing down a dunk in the final minutes was able to put some distance between himself and a disappointing showing against DePaul.
GAME TO REMEMBER...
Sherron Collins had his first big game against a big opponent. Collins previously put up 19 against Tennessee State, but his 11 against USC was much more impressive. He even showed some quick thinking by throwing the ball off a USC defender while falling out of bounds in the second half. Hes not ready for the starting lineup, but coach Bill Self loves being able to get that kind of production off the bench.
GAME TO FORGET...
GAME TO FORGET...
Sasha Kaun has been a regular in this spot recently, and we're still
not convinced he's fully healed from his knee injury. After the injury, Self said it would take three to six weeks to heal. He returned to the court in three, but it may take three more before we get old Sasha back.
IT WAS OVER WHEN...
for putting away the Trojans
IT WAS OVER WHEN...
Coming out of the four-minute timeout, Russell Robinson juked out his defender to create an open shot. His play was interrupted by Darelli Arthur, who was shoved into Robinson by a USC defender. Arthur got the free throw, which gave the Jayhawks an eight-point lead, but Robinson gets the kudos
Michael Phillips
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