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| "There was a difference in their effort and how they competed. We talked in the locker room a great deal about playing with our brain and our heart, and I think we played with both of those tonight." --Roy Williams
Congratulations Jayhawks! The defensive effort and offensive execution in the second half was excellent. It was one of the best team performances we’ve seen in a long time. Thank you for reminding all of us why we love Kansas Basketball.
- The first half ended with DePaul leading 42-33 and I could not avoid thoughts about the Wake Forest game. As I looked at the half-time statistics and saw KU was shooting 54% from the field, I wondered how they could be down by nine points. There were two major factors:
- DePaul’s Bobby Simmons was all over the court, dumping in 14 first half points, hitting 4 of DePaul’s 5 first half 3-pointers. DePaul was 5 for 11 from 3-point range in the first half and appeared to be continuing the annoying trend of opponents lighting it up from the outside against the Jayhawks.
- DePaul worked for numerous offensive rebounds that led to 10 "second chance" points. KU had 1 point in this category in the first half. There were several occasions where the Jayhawks played good defense and forced a bad shot or a miss only to lose the offensive rebound to a DePaul player.
- Coach Williams notched his first technical since 1998 at the 15:24 mark of the first half, with DePaul leading 11-7. Not sure what exactly Coach Williams did to deserve the technical, but I’m guessing he said something a bit more harsh that "Dadgummit".
- The Jayhawks dominated the second half, outscoring DePaul 42-27 and taking over the game with an impressive mixture of point-zone and man-to-man defense. They forced numerous turnovers (at one point forcing 5 in a row) and shut down DePaul’s offense. As the clocked ticked down from 15:37 to 8:57, the Jayhawks pressured the Blue Demons into ZERO points and forced Bobby Simmons into foul trouble. Simmons left the game with four fouls at the 14:50 mark, returned at 10:19, and then fouled out with 9:15 to go in the game.
- Coach Williams clearly outcoached Pat Kennedy tonight. Switching defenses and using the zone to keep his players "fresh" was a tremendous game plan. Getting Bobby Simmons to foul out was critical in this game and Coach Williams and the players made it happen. Nice job, Coach.
- Simmons foul trouble sealed the fate of the Blue Devils. When their main scoring threat off the court, DePaul’s players looked lost and confused. The Jayhawks took advantage of Simmons’ absence and never looked back.
- This was some of the best "help defense" I have seen from a Jayhawk team in a long time. On numerous occasions, DePaul players drove to the basket, only to run into two or three Jayhawks, arms fully extended and straight up. Textbook. The Jayhawks held DePaul to 38% from the field for the game and 8 of 26 from 3-pt land (3 for 15 in the second half).
- Stud of the game? NICK COLLISON. Nick scored a career high 23 points, on 9 of 14 shooting, while logging 36 minutes. He also had 6 rebounds and was 5 for 5 from the free throw line. Nick was one of our main offensive weapons in the first half, scoring 12, and continued to produce in the second half, hitting several nice jump shots. Nick even made up for his 4 turnovers tonight by swiping 4 steals. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Nick needs to be in the starting lineup, as he is much more effective than when he comes off the bench. When asked about it, Collison said, "It does help. Especially tonight, because I was so fired up for so long, and I got to go out there and play instead of having to sit and watch." Hopefully Coach Williams will continue to start Nick as the season progresses. Congratulations to Nick as the unquestionable Player of the Game.
- In my opinion, when this team is healthy, the starting five should be Hinrich, Boschee, Gregory, Collison and Chenowith. Drew Gooden and Luke Axtell are perfect players off the bench because both have that uncanny ability to provide a "spark" when the team needs it. Drew can do it on both ends of the court, while Luke’s long range bombing allows him to put up points quickly and get the team going offensively.
- Another solid night for Drew Gooden (15pts, 8 rebs, 3 blks, in 36 minutes). I was really impressed with Drew tonight in a few areas:
- Free throws: Drew was 11 of 12 from the line! Awesome. Whatever has been bothering him from the line apparently is corrected. Nice job, Drew.
- Drew made the adjustment to playing the small forward position due to the injuries to Kenny and Luke. While he understandably looked uncomfortable at times, I give him credit for stepping up when the team needed him.
- Blocked shots and defense: Drew’s 3 blocked shots were impressive, particularly because two of them were blocks of 3-point attempts! Drew was very active defensively and played with an aggressiveness and hunger that Jayhawk fans love to see.
- Nice game, Eric Chenowith. (13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, 7 rebs, in 27 minutes of play). Eric took the ball to the hole much more aggressively this game. Let me share the notes I jotted down about Eric: block, short jumper, another short jumper, short jumper, good position down low for 2 (on pass from Collison), good ball fake to draw foul, nice take for 2 along baseline, miss underneath off alley-oop, took it strong to the hole. Not a bad night at all. Unfortunately, this is why many fans are so critical of Eric. If he is determined and focused, he produces like he, the coaches, and the fans know he can. At other times, he is less aggressive and less focused (see Wake Forest). Let’s be honest……Eric will not be an All American, but he definitely has the ability to put up a double double night in and night out. Some may say that is unreasonable. The only reason I say it is I believe Eric can do it if he puts his mind to it and truly focuses on what he needs to do to be successful.
- Excellent game for Kirk Hinrich (14pts on 6 of 12 shooting, 5 assists, 6 rebs, 3 steals, in a career high 39 minutes). Kirk’s effort tonight was incredible. I could have sworn, for a few minutes in the second half, Kirk stole the ball every time DePaul came down the court. Surely the box score total of 3 steals is a misprint? Playing 39 minutes shows that Kirk wanted/needed to be in there to give the Jayhawks their best chance to win the game. He was in total control (only 3 turnovers) for most of the game and kept the team focused when things weren’t going their way in the first half. Great game, Kirk.
- Solid effort tonight also by Jeff Boschee (7 pts, 3 rbs, only 1 turnover, in 36 minutes of play). Jeff wasn’t outstanding offensively, but played solid defense throughout the game. In addition, he was 1 for 2 from 3-point range. I was glad to see this because Jeff did not force 3-pointers as he did against Wake.
- Solid contribution tonight from Jeff Carey (3 pts, 3 rebs, in 15 minutes). Jeff came in and gave what all of us have come to expect from him: a solid effort. I really like Jeff and I look for him to become a bigger part of this team’s success as the season moves along.
This is exactly what this team (and the fans) needed. A good win, on the road, without Kenny and Luke, over an athletic (but highly undisciplined) DePaul team. It just feels good to get the taste of the Wake Forest game out of our mouths, doesn’t it?
It is important for all of us, however, to not get overly excited by this win and think "things are back to normal". This team needs to continue to focus on the task at hand and be ready to play every night. Just like the quote from Coach Williams at the beginning of this article: "There was a difference in their effort and how they competed." The goal now is to give that type of effort and competitiveness night in and night out; to get to a point where the players expect to play like they did tonight in the second half; to challenge each other from the outset to dominate their opponent. I don’t think these are unrealistic expectations for this team. They have the talent and the intelligence to accomplish all of their goals. Now if we can just get everyone healthy………
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