---
Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM
KANSAS 94, COLORADO 74
Kansas crushes Colorado
/KANSAN
dio
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Xavier Henry led with 24 points while Taylor reclaimed his starting spot. Collins tied for all-time winningest player in KU basketball history. MEN'S BASKETBALL REWIND | 8B-9B
from Glass'
I can
talk american long age and
craft craft
dened,
eerica's
jiving
people's
play
lar to
lars,
and
resents
vision
riotries
from
audi-
radio
excit-
mous
train
e the
Freshman guard Xavier Henry drives to the bucket. Henry led Kansas with 24 points and six rebounds during 29 minutes on the floor. Kansas moved to 26-1 overall following the 94-74 victory.
PAGE 1B
Weston White/KANSAN
unbe-
bunds
gorating
to
tile."
ANOTHER BIG MONDAY
Gibson
Winning the league sooner
Jayhawks can secure at least a share of Big 12 title with victory
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
twitter.com/c_thibodeaux
There are still four games to go, but the Jayhawks are already talking about clinching the Big 12.
If Kansas beats Oklahoma tonight, they will clinch at least a share of the conference title for the sixth consecutive season. If Kansas loses three games and Kansas State wins out, they will both finish at the top.
After Saturday's game against Colorado, coach Bill Self explained the significance of what tonight's game holds.
"We just talked about it for the first time in the locker room," he said. "Worst case scenario, we have a chance to clinch a tie on Monday. That's a big deal to be the best team in a league that's supposed to be as good as any league in the country."
Kansas is 26-1 overall this season, and 12-0 in the conference.
Already having disposed of K-State, Texas and Texas A&M on the road. Self looked back at the schedule and marveled at his team's accomplishment.
"12-0 is prob-
"12-0 is probably a far better start than what we ever thought we could get to," he said.
All senior guard Sherron Collins has ever known is conference titles, winning or sharing one every season he has been a Jayhawk. But he still wants the fourth.
"It's really hard for anyone to do, especially in the tough conference that we have," he said. "It means a lot, being here all four years, for me winning three in a row was nice. But to win four would be even more special."
KANSAS VS. OKLAHOMA
**WHEN:** 8 p.m.
**WHERE:** Allen Fieldhouse
**WATCH:** ESPN (Sunflower channel 33)
"It means a lot, being here all four years, for me winning three years in a row was nice."
As it stands now, Collins is 10 wins away from becoming the alltime winningest player in college basketball. It would take a deep tournament run for that to happen.
SHERRON COLLINS Senior guard
And the accolades keep mounting for Collins. The victory against Colorado Saturday helped Collins tie the record for most wins by a Jayhawk at 123. A victory against Oklahoma would put Collins alone at the top.
"I think it's really cool," Self said. "He's a long ways from this and wed have to get unbelievably hot down the stretch."
Self said he forgot to mention the feat to Collins after the game against
Colorado, but will make a point to do so soon. Collins thought the poor defensive effort, allowing 74 points to the Buffaloes was why Self didn't mention it.
"It's a big deal!" he said of his accomplishment. "Coach probably won't say anything about it until tomorrow in practice. He was a little upset after the game about how we finished but I think he is pretty proud of me."
"We haven't really played well at home since the first half of the Missouri game it seems like to me," Self said.
forward Markieff Morris called it a "mini-NBA schedule."
So now the Jayhawks turn around for yet another Monday game. Collins said sophomore
The Jayhaws dismantled the Buffaloes 94-74 Saturday, their first blowout of a weak team in
some time. Kansas gave up 20 points in the final six and a half minutes in the first half Saturday.
"We've got a tough Oklahoma team that hasn't had a good season, but they're capable of playing," he said. "They just haven't put it all together in some games, and all games they have."
But this game is at home against a struggling Oklahoma team who is 13-13 on the season and 4-8 in conference play. Collins said he won't overlook the Sooners, who have Willie Warren and Tommy Mason-Griffin, two dangerous guards.
— Edited by Jesse Rangel
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks fall flat in second half of loss to Red Raiders
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
Early in the first half and packed in a crowd of pink layhawks, Texas Tech senior Ashlee Roberson leaped for a rebound and lost her right shoe. White sock exposed, Roberson kept playing for a few more possessions before a media timeout halted play. Despite the praiseworthy effort, the previous week's Big 12 Player of the Week lost more than just her shoe Sunday. After averaging 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds last week, her game was nowhere to be found early on.
The Brock, Texas native scored 20 points and played pressure filled defense as her Lady Raiders defeated the jayhawks 68-51 Sunday Kansas dropped its eleventh straight game against Tech Tech and fell to 5-7 in the Big 12.
Roberson scored just one point in the first half, but fellow senior Jordan Murpheira competently performed as the surrogate star.
"She was just taking it to the hole and knocking down jumpers," senior guard Sade Morris said of Murphreye. "She helped them go offensively."
touches she needed to get going. After averaging 28.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in her past two games, Davis finished with just four points. She was constantly battling foul trouble, not Lady Raiders, and her team severely missed her inside presence.
Kansas struggled to get freshman forward Carolyn Davis the
Without Davis' usual scoring and shot altering effects, Kansas
"she hung her head a little bit",
coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
dropped a game that could have topped off its NCAA tournament resume. The Jay ha w k s had not won in Lubbock since 1978 and could have prover
that this year's team was unique and worthy of an at-large bid. Instead, Kansas fizzled in a winnable contest and now must find a way to win at least two of its four remaining games, all against AP top 25 teams, to even be considered for the tournament.
got second chance points."
Guard Monica Engelman possessed a fearless swagger, atypical of a freshman, and was prepared to take charge of the offense. As Davis found herself in early foul trouble, she fired 11 shots in the first half alone.
Kansas led 32-31 at halftime with significant contributions from
"We gave them a big push in the locker room when we're only up one."
"Usually we get the first rebound and get in transition," Morris said. "Today we weren't doing it so they
But the first half was wholly dif ferent from the second.
BONNIE HENRICKSON Kansas coach
Engelman and its bench, including six points apiece from sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland and junior center Krysten Boogaard. But the Jayhawks, now clinging to a one point advantage, had
led by six points only two minutes beforehand.
"We gave them a big push in the locker room when we're only up one." Henrickson said.
In the beginning of the second half, no team led by more than three points. It was a back and
SEE WOMEN'S ON PAGE 3B
Brad Tollefson/THE DAILY TOREADOR
rexas Tech guard Monique Smalls tries to block Monica Engelman as she attempts to pass the ball Sunday. The Red Raiders won 68-51.
COMMENTARY
Starters give team an early advantage
BY CLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
Basketball isn't driven by statistics
Basketball isn't driven by statistics
Sherron Collins' ability to hit big
shots in high pressure situations
can't be defined by a series of num-
bers. Swag isn't quantifiable.
So an attempt to quantify Kansas' best lineup Saturday against Colorado is flawed in some ways. First, 40 minutes is a relatively small sample size. Some lineups are unlucky and give up two tough buckets on consecutive possessions before watching Self look to his bench.
Instead of watching the game for
the surely non statistical reason
So Thomas Robinson, your -12 point differential was not completely your fault.
Instead of watching the game for the purely non-statistical measures — things like Tyshawn Taylor's energy, how many shots Cole Aldrich alters — I took a purely statistical approach. As Self made each substitution, I jotted it down and recorded the point differential while that lineup was on the floor.
Kansas' starting five was 21 points better than Colorado on Saturday.
The results weren't too surprising, but there are some things Kansas fans can take from them. All this is dependent on my ability to jot down such information accurately, but the numbers all added up at the end.
Self's new starting lineup — Collins, Taylor, Xavier Henry; Marcus Morris and Aldrich — dominated. It was this lineup that mostly helped Kansas take a 35-14 lead and never look back. Taylor appeared to be the defibrillator that Self thought he would be.
All other lineup combinations were one point worse than the Buffaloes.
This is perhaps the most surprising aspect of this lineup-based plus/minus system. Self never reverted to his previous starting lineup – the one with Brady Morningstar at off guard instead of Taylor. But even when Kansas had four of the five starters on the floor, they only came out ahead four points.
Marcus Morris' foul trouble skews this a bit. It forced Self to play Markieff Morris more. While the sample size is miniscule, it is something to watch in the rest of conference play. Are Kansas' second, third and fourth best lineups better than the opponents?
In case you were wondering, Kansas' second best lineup in terms of plus/minus was Collins, Taylor, Henry, Markieff Morris and Aldrich Maybe those twins have more similar effects on the lineups productivity than most people thought.
Kansas' worst lineup Saturday using this metric: Taylor, Reed, Morningstar, Markieff Morris and Thomas Robinson. Considering that lineup has just one starter, this isn't a surprise.
More trends would come to light if this statistical metric were applied to every game. Collins wasn't a huge factor Saturday, but he assuredly will be in the future.
For now, however, Saturday validates Self's decision to start Taylor over Morningstar. Taylor was extremely efficient in 24 minutes.
Under any kind of analysis, Saturday was another reason why Kansas fans should trust Self's judgment.
The guy simply knows what he's doing.
- Edited by Kristen Liszewski