6A
---
SPORTS / TUESDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Kansas victorious despite bad defense
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mothman@kansan.com
twitter.com/maxrothan.com
The best defense requires patience and consistency — two attributes sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland has struggled with throughout this season.
Five minutes into Saturday's
eventu al 61-59 victory at Missouri. Kansas led 7-3 and demonstrated an initial burst that had rarely existed away from Allen Fieldhouse.
"We'd been talking
"She needed me to regroup and sit down so she could tell me what was going wrong."
the whole week about how we haven't won there," junior forward Nicolette Smith said.
Senior guard Danielle McCray had just sunk an emphatic 3-pointer, and, while it was too early to conclude, the Jayhawks demonstrated the qualities needed to claim their first Big 12 road win of the season.
AISHAH SUTHERLAND Sophomore forward
visitors, the Tigers caught a break that summarizes Sutherland's recent performances.
Just when all the momentum seemed to be swinging toward the
Missouri'sJessra Johnson missed a baseline jump shot and sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland leaped to corral the rebound. But instead of making the catch, she juggled the ball before dropping it.
Then the 6-foot-2 forwardarched her back, extended her arms and reached between her feet to secure the possession, only to be usurped by Missouri guard Toy Richbow.
Like a thief ready to escape with her prize, Richbow dashed away from Sutherland, seemingly to run a new play with a fresh shot clock.
After losing the rebound, Sutherland took her eye off the ball and fumed in frustration. In turn, Johnson, the player Sutherland was assigned to guard, scored an open layup.
"Aishah let her feel like she was playing horse," coach Bonnie
Henrickson said. "She's more athletic and explosive and should be able to sit underneath Johnson and force a tough two."
Instead of Kansas jumping out to a 9-3 lead and perhaps setting the game's tone much sooner, Sutherland's blu d e r brought the score to 7-5 and balanced
a previously uneven momentum scale.
"What we do is about habits. It will either raise your play or cripple you."
Henrickson quickly took her out of the game in favor of Smith.
"She needed me to regroup and sit down so she could tell me what was going wrong." Sutherland said.
BONNIE HENRICKSON
shots, Missouri never nied a lead. Sometimes the reason was good defense. Often times the shots just weren't falling. The Hawkjaws
The Jayhawks soon went on a 10-0 run and pulled out a narrow victory, but the sporadic holes of the defense lingered. While one play never equates to an entire game's story, Sutherland's blunder served as a glaring microcosm to her recurring defensive lanses.
"Aishah is a tough player, but sometimes she gets lackadaisical," Smith said.
Despite a bevy of uncontested
Coach
held the Tigers to just 21-of-59 shooting and 3-of-16 3-pointers.
Yet Johnson, Sutherland's defensive assignment, managed to stand out as the exception.
She finished with sixteen points,
seven rebounds and four assists.
Minor miscues that have hobbled Kansas' defense, like Sutherland's missed rebound, cannot be quantified. But they have continuously popped up this season.
"She hasn't practiced well. It's a recipe to play poorly." Henrickson said. "What we do is about habits. It will either raise your play or cripple you."
Sometimes the biggest plays, or lack thereof, don't show up in the box score.
—Edited by Anna Archibald
Sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland puts up a jumper inside the arc. Sutherland put up four points and four boards in 17 minutes of play time.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas ranked No.1 in AP poll
BY JIM O'CONNELI
Associated Press
After three weeks of not being No.1, Kansas moved back to the top of The Associated Press college basketball poll.
The Jayhawks (20-1) were No 1 in the preseason Top 25 and for the first eight weeks of the regular season. They moved back into the top spot Monday, receiving 54 first-place votes from the 65 member national media panel.
- were second through fourth.
The other three Division 1 teams with just one loss — Villanova, Syracuse and Kentucky had a deficit.
Kentucky was a unanimous No.
Villanova and Syracuse both moved up one place to second and third. The Wildcats (19-1) received four first place votes while the Orange (21-1) got six.
Wed February 3
Umphrey's McGee
Speakeasy
The Steepwater Band
Thursday March 4
Wed February 10
GOV'T MULE
moe. Saturday March 27
LIBERTY HALL 644 MASS 749-1972
Patty Griffin Buddy Miller
I last week but dropped to fourth after losing to South Carolina, its first loss of the season. The Wildcats (20-1) had one first-place vote.
Kansas fell from No. 1 to third after losing at Tennessee. Since then, the Jayhawks have won six straight, including Saturday's 81-79 overtime victory at Kansas State.
Kansas coach Bill Self said now that conference races are under way, it will be hard for any team to hold on for long at the top.
"There could be a new No. 1 next week, and the week after," he said. "Because when you play road league games, people are going to lose. It's not a major upset. We won the national championship and lost three league games in five games. But Id rather play like a No. 1-ranked team than be ranked No. 1. Hopefully, we can do that."
Michigan State was fifth, followed by West Virginia, Georgetown, Purdue and Texas, which dropped from sixth to ninth. The Longhorns (18-3) were No. 1 for two weeks before dropping to sixth last week. Their 80-77 overtime loss to Baylor on Saturday was their third in four games.
Duke and Kansas State tied for 10th.
Butler and Northern Iowa returned to the poll this week, replacing Connecticut and UAB.
Mississippi.
BYU was 12th followed by Ohio State, Tennessee, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, Temple and Baylor.
Butler (18-4) was 11th in the preseason poll but dropped out for five weeks. The Bulldogs have won 10 straight games and are 11-0 in the Horizon League.
Northern Iowa (19-2) moved into the rankings two weeks ago at No. 20 and then dropped out after losing to Wichita State and ending a 15-game winning streak. The Panthers are 10-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
The last five ranked teams were Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Butler, Northern Iowa and
Connecticut (13-8) fell out from 19th after losing to Providence and Marquette this week. The Huskies, who were 12th in preseason Top 25 and reached as high as No. 10, are 2-2 since coach Jim Callhoun took an indefinite leave of absence for undisclosed medical reasons.
UAB (18-3) was 25th last week, but the Blazers dropped out following a 74-65 double-overtime loss at Texas-El Paso on Saturday. UAB was ranked for one week earlier in the season.
Villanova and Michigan State, which both returned the bulk of their teams from last season, are third and fifth, respectively. Neither defending champion North Carolina (13-8) nor Connecticut, which both saw their rosters gutted by graduation and players leaving early for the NBA, received a single vote this week.
The teams that comprised last season's Final Four are split in their poll success this season.
BUY 1 SESSION IN
THE CELSIUS S.P.A.
SUNLESS PERFECTION
APPLICATION
GET 1 FREE
BUY 1 TAN GET 1 FREE
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
*Restrictions Apply Limit 1
Davis named Freshman of the Week
Freshman forward Carolyn Davis carried her team in Saturday's victory at Missouri and now she's
being recog nized for it
A panel of journalists voted Davis as the Big 12 Freshman of the Week for games from Jan. 25 to 30. She averaged
She averaged
15 points and 9.5 rebounds in victories against Colorado and Missouri.
Davis' play has solidified her starting role, previously held by junior center Krysten Boogaard.
who was the last Jayhawk to earn the honor for the week of Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, 2008.
Davis tallied her first career double-double with 10 points and a career high 10 rebounds in Wednesday's victory against Colorado.
She scored a career high 20 points, snagged nine rebounds and converted all eight of her free throw attempts in Saturday's victory at Missouri.
The Houston, Tex., native has scored double figures in four of the past five games since being inserted into the starting lineup. Davis' timely emergence has softened the blow of the injury to freshman guard Angel Goodrich.
Max Rothman
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
King College beats Appalachian State
BOONE, N.C. — Clarence Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help King College upset Appalachian State 87-76 Monday night.
Brian Hewitt also had a double-double for the Tornado (13-4), scoring 15 points and dishing out 10 assists.
The Tornado finished with 15 steals, helping to lead to 18 Mountaineers' turnovers.
Josh Hunter led the Mountaineers with 22 points.
Mark Dockery scored 15 points, Kite 12 and Elisha Murray 11 for the Tornado.
Associated Press
Balancing Act
jerry Wang/KANSAN
jerry Wang/KANSAN
Chinese acrobat Patti Liang balances eight spinning plates on sticks during the half time performance during half time of a women's basketball game. Liang has been featured on Season 2 of America's Got Talent.
Anaheim Dulc
NBA
Kob
Rudy Gapoints, and seconds left two-game 1
MEMPI Bryant se
summert jerry
Lakers' cane
enough as
got 22 poir
Zach Randle
95-93 on M
Ron Ar from the r off the rim
Human Pl conditionl french13@ku
STUDENT Paid Survey T 100% FREE
Toyota camry der 2.2 LE Aution, gas hawkchalk.co
ANNO
Big Jay Tryout Horesei Family 6'1" to 6'4" catj@ku.edu h
TRAFFY
PERS
Student legal
divorce,
Irish
DONA
donald G. Strc
16 East 13
Free Ir
Pa with Ne 7
Leasing Agent
individual vion skills, out-
vehicle, valid phone,
25-40 to:
jayhawkwm
850 Avalon
The 2010 Cep pay,flexible To apply call