THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009
SPORTS
5A
KU
TIPOFF
AT AGLANCE
Kansas' first true road game comes at legendary Pauley Pavilion against UCLA this Sunday, making this a classic trap game. Problem is, for Alcorn State at least, that the Jayhawks should be able to run the Braves out of the gym on talent alone. Alcorn State hasn't won a game this year. That shouldn't change against the No. 1 team in the land.
QUESTION MARK
Will Sherron Collins shoot the ball?
Will Sherron Collins shoot the ball? It's tough to criticize a player for being too selfless, but as Tyshawn Taylor said, Collins has to take the open looks. "It's like he's afraid of being too selfish" Taylor said. That may be, but Collins is the best player on the team. If he gets the open looks, he can knock them down.
HEARYE, HEARYE
"I guess you could use him too much, to the point where maybe they're not quite ready to carry the bulk of the program on their shoulders. But there are exceptions. I don't think that bothered Carmelo very much, or Pervis Ellison or a lot of the great ones. I think Xavier is definitely in that class. I think that he's ready to shoulder it as much as any freshman we've had."
— Bill Self, comparing Xavier Henry to Carmele Anthony and Pervis Ellison, the only two freshen to win the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four award since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams.
GAME DAY PREDICTIONS KU should be able to run Alcom State out of the gym on talent alone
PREDICTION
Collins
KANSAS VS. ALCORN STATE 7 p.m., ALLEN FIELDHOUSE, Lawrence, Jayhawk TV
Taylor
KANSAS 107, ALCORN STATE 53
Henry
KANSAS
(5-0)
STARTERS
Morris
Sherron Collins
Collins has taken just seven shots in each of the last four games since putting up 15 shots in the opener. That trend is likely to end, if Kansas coach Bill Self has anything to say about it. (Hint: He does.) Expect Collins to score closer to the 23 he had in the season debut than the 11.3 he has averaged since.
Tyshawn Taylor
Aldrich
If you take out his atrocious performance against Memphis, Taylor is averaging nine points, three assists and just more than one turnover per game, while shooting just under 50 percent from the field. Alcorn State is no Memphis, so Taylor should continue his string of relatively error-free performances, but I wouldn't expect another 18-point outburst from the sophomore.
Morris's versatility, which is always a strength, will be a major factor against a small Alcorn State lineup. He's likely to see a little time at the three against the Braves. His sophomore year explosion had a slight regression in his last game — he finished with seven points and three boards — but he's still averaging 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
There's little question at this point that Henry is a supreme talent, but it's far too early to extrapolate greatness over the course of the season. That said, if Henry shows any freshman flaws this year, it likely won't be this game. He's got a couple inches and 40 pounds on Alcorn State's Jamar Ragland, who will likely be tasked with guarding him, and has already proved to have NBA-ready body control.
Xavier Henry
Self said Aldrich hasn't been playing up to his potential yet this year. Alcorn State provides him with a great chance to change that. The Braves don't boast a single player taller than 6-foot-8, making it exactly the type of lineup Aldrich should dominate.
Marcus Morris
Cole Aldrich
ALCORN
(0-9)
STARTERS
Jonathan Boyd
Boyd is coming off a one-point performance against Wichita State after going into the game leading his team in scoring. He is now second with 10.6 points per game and aside from Ja-Markus Holt, he may be Alcorn State's most explosive weapon. His season high was 20 points in the season opener against Ohio State when he made six threes. Other than scoring, Boyd doesn't add much to the stat sheet.
Keith Searcy
Searcy is fourth on the team in points despite scoring in double figures only twice this season. His assist-to-turnover ratio leaves much to be desired at 1.7-to-3.8. Searcy had two games this season with seven turnovers and one with six. The Jayhawks have the potential to cause a lot of turnovers, so the matchup doesn't look good.
Jamar Ragland
Though Ragland starts for the Braves, he doesn't get starter minutes. He only plays 16.9 minutes and part of that came early in the season with a bunch of foul trouble. Ragland isn't consistent in any stat category.
Francis is second on the team with five rebounds a game and third in scoring with 8.1. He is stable in both categories, but not so much so as to blow your mind. He stays out of foul trouble and doesn't turn the ball over.
Leading his team in points (11) and rebounds (7.7). Holt is the centerpiece of the Braves. Unfortunately, he will be matched up against a resurging Cole Aldrich. Standing only 6-foot-8 at the center position, it's hard to say he will have nearly the effect against Kansas that Oakland's Keith Benson did. Holt is Alcorn State's leader in blocks despite blocking only three shots in the last six games.
Corey Thibodeaux
lan Francis
JaMarkus Holt
ASU
TIPOFF
ATAGLANCE
Alcorn State has already played four more games than the Jayhawks yet hasn't won any of them. Picked in the preseason to finish ninth out of 10 Southwestern Athletic Conference teams, Alcorn State is off to a 0-9 start. Alcorn State is coached by former NBA player Larry Smith, who in his second season with the team has a 6-34 record. No player on the team averages more than two assists per game. As a team, it only averages 8.4 assists per game and allow 89.7 points per game. Conversely, Kansas is averaging 90.6 points per season and Alcorn State hasn't played a team with nearly the offensive firepower as them except maybe Arkansas. Alcorn State is 0-3 all-time against Kansas and is reeling from a Monday 52-87 loss to Wichita State.
QUESTION MARK
Can the Braves make this game competitive?
An 0-9 team versus an undefeated No. 1 team is the epitome of a mismatch on paper. However, all it takes is one game of streaky shooting and the apparent differences may not look so distant. Alcorn State has yet to have any kind of victory register on the significance radar since coach Larry Smith took over a season ago. Coming into Allen Fieldhouse isn't exactly conducive to getting the season's first victory with a 13-game winning streak. But if the Braves get some confidence from playing well, it could have enough momentum to get out of the bottom of its conference.
HEARYE, HEARYE
"It's been awfully tough. That's still no excuse. We've got to come out and perform better. We've got to compete, and right now, that's not something we're doing as a team."
Alcorn State coach Larry Smith about his team's 0-9 start.
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