Steven Vinson’s lead in diving to the floor after loose balls. Even the three-point shooting showed some promise, as the team went 3-6 in the first 10 minutes or so and 5-12 for the game.
Each team had a long stretch in the first half without a field goal. Kansas went eight minutes between baskets at once stretch while at the same time the Waves went 10 minutes without a hoop.
Russell Robinson did some great things early in the game, hitting a three and using superior quickness to get a couple of lay-ups in the first six and a half minutes of the contest. Sasha Kaun matched Robinsons’ first half with seven points, and Christian Moody hit a top-of-the-key three midway through the first half (one of two he hit in the game). However, after the Moody three, all 10 players on the floor seemed to grow cold. At the intermission KU led 33-19.
Kansas opened the second half flat, going zero for seven from the field in the first four minutes and looking quite sloppy, which prompted a timeout from Coach Self. For the next 75 seconds after the timeout Kansas played exactly the way they’d want to all season long; smothering defense, a three from Brandon Rush and a dunk from Kaun left Jayhawk fans feeling better at the next media timeout.
Alas, our beloved team could not sustain the effort, and at one point Pepperdine had a chance to cut the lead to five or fewer. But not even the Waves could throw it in the ocean, missing a barrage of threes in giving the game back to KU.
None of the candidates for point guard really distinguished themselves Monday night. Robinson had the great start, Mario Chalmers had a few flashes of brilliance, and Jeff Hawkins held his own. It may be a bit much to ask Steven Vinson to repeat his performance of the Cal game every night, but the intensity was there.
Kaun clearly has recovered from his illness, and showed some intensity with several two-handed slams and more importantly two handed rebounds. On a fast break in the second half Chalmers stole the ball and fed Christian Moody, who gave a nice touch pass to a hustling Kaun for the slam. C.J. Giles didn’t have his best game statistically, but he and Kaun continue to improve as an inside tandem.
Late in the game Roderick Stewart made his KU debut, but probably didn’t play long enough to get his butterflies in formation.
Maybe there was a case of post-finals blues, maybe this team needs to play every three to five days to play its best, maybe there were some unlucky bounces around the rim tonight. Defensively, the team is coming around. Offensively Kansas wasn’t likely to have won a conference road game with the shooting percentage tonight, but the ball movement improved and the sloppy, careless-type of turnovers are down.
Still, there isn’t a feeling there was significant progress tonight. For that matter, the team didn’t go backwards, either. Tonight the game was just there, not especially pretty but very little reason to cheer. It wasn’t status quo, and it wasn’t a quantum leap. Perhaps the key word here is ‘significant.’ Progress was made, and if it’s too slow for me I can imagine it's painfully slow for the players and coaches. Overall, I’m glad there’s another game this week, not to eliminate any sour taste but to once again attempt to measure progress.
Mark Howe is a freelance writer currently residing in Milford, IN. He is a former ticket taker, usher and security worker at Allen Fieldhouse, and can be reached at mhowe (at) rockchalk (dot) com.
