| Related pages
Inside the numbers
Coach Williams' comments
Box score
Season stats
Possession analysis
| The Texas A&M Aggies came to Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon with three of their starters out with injuries. One might have thought the Jayhawks would take it easy on the Aggies because of their misfortune.
Think again.
The game started as many of the KU games have lately, with an outmatched opponent hanging around longer than they really should have. As I watched the game and looked up at the scoreboard, which showed the Jayhawks only leading by 2 points (26-24 with 8:41 left in the half), I turned to my friend Chuck Schimmel (who is one of KC’s most competent lawyers….or at least he thinks he is) and said, "Why is this game so close?". Before he could say anything, I answered my own question: "They just aren’t playing with much defensive intensity". Apparently Coach Williams saw the same thing and got on the players during a timeout. From that point until the end of the half, the Jayhawks turned up the defensive pressure and sent the Aggies reeling. The Jayhawks went on a 24-9 run to end the half and basically end the game.
I am continually amazed how this team appears to have the ability to decide when it wants to turn things up a notch and shut an opponent down. It’s almost as if they backed off on the defensive end for the first 11 or 12 minutes simply so the game wouldn’t be a boring blowout right from the tip. With the timeout, Coach Williams made sure the players knew it was time to pick up the defensive intensity and, as the season goes on, we will undoubtedly see more of a concentrated defensive effort from this team right from the tip.
With the half-time score at 50-33, the Jayhawks took a page out of the Tiger Woods book on how to handle a lead: "I have the lead. I know how good I am. You will not come back. I will bury you." That is one characteristic of this team that I, and many others, have noticed lately. The Jayhawks are playing with some attitude. It is a positive approach that the players themselves are buying into:
- Nick Collison: "We're developing a good kind of arrogance. We are confident right now that we can play with anybody and get big numbers against anybody. It's something winning teams have."
- Kenny Gregory: "Last year we would have panicked in a situation like that. (A&M hanging around early in the game) This year we keep our poise and build on our leads."
Now for a quick look at a few of the players:
- Nick Collison and Drew Gooden: I’m lumping these two guys together because they are the co-Studs of the Game and because it is simply poetry in motion watching these two on the court at the same time. They know each others games so well that it’s almost like two brothers that grew up playing pick up games with/against each other. Nick continued to improve his unbelievable shooting percentage by going 9 of 11 from the field and scoring 19 points. Nick is simply a joy to watch in the paint as he consistently gets tremendous low post position and makes textbook low post moves. I have found myself thinking "count it" anytime Nick catches the ball down low.
Drew was limited to 19 minutes due to foul trouble, but to say he made the most of those 19 minutes would be an understatement of the largest proportions. 19 points on 7 of 11shooting and 10 rebounds in what is becoming a double-double ritual for Drew. In addition, remember earlier in the season when we were "worried" about Drew’s free throw shooting and propensity to turn the ball over? Against Texas A&M, Drew was 5 for 6 at the line and had 1 turnover. He is becoming a more well rounded player right before our eyes.
If you haven’t figured it out already, all KU fans are extremely lucky to be able to watch Nick and Drew 2-3 times a week. Even though they are only sophomores, they will undoubtedly go down as one of the best low post tandems in Kansas basketball history.
- Kenny Gregory (12 points on 5 of 13 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 turnovers in 29 minutes) had somewhat of an off game. Of course, that’s an off game in "Kenny" terms, because he still put up good numbers and didn’t really hurt the team. Kenny continues to play excellent basketball and his work in the summer has definitely shown up on the court. And now I must talk about THE DUNK. I was fortunate enough to be at the game and I saw the play develop with my own two eyes. As Kirk brought the ball down the middle of the court, he and Kenny made eye contact. Kenny was running along the sideline and appeared to be somewhat crunched down as he was preparing for lift-off………then the lob left Kirk’s hand……and Kenny revved the engines and floated up and up and up……..the ball met his hands as he was rising and then SLAMMMMOOOO……..It was Kansas basketball at it’s finest and the Allen Fieldhouse faithful erupted in approval. If you have never been lucky enough to be a fan in Allen when Kenny unleashes one of those "highlight reel" dunks, I highly recommend it. It is one of the most awesome natural highs a KU fan can experience.
- Jeff Boschee: The shot is back! Jeff had a great game (14 points on 5 of 7 shooting, 4 of 6 from 3pt range, 2 rebounds, 3 assists to only 1 turnover, in 29 minutes) offensively and continued to play tremendous defense, limiting A&M’s Bernard King to 5 of 18 shooting. What more can you say about Jeff? Now that his 3pt shot is falling (10 of his last 18), he is about as complete a player as you can hope for. Great offense. Great defense. Great assist to turnover ratio. Jeff is coming into his own and his offense seems to feed his defensive intensity. Isn’t it amazing how Jeff looked at a little film on his shot and that is all it took to get him going offensively?
- Kirk Hinrich continues to be the dutiful, efficient point guard. Playing a team-high 32 minutes, Kirk had 7 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, and only 3 turnovers. Read those stats again! SEVEN REBOUNDS AND 10 ASSISTS!! Simply awesome. Kirk is always in control and runs this team with mind-numbing efficiency. Even more impressive is that Kirk, game in and game out, seems to know what the team needs from him. If they need him to score, he’ll do it. If they need him to dish out assists, he’ll do it. If they need him to rebound, he’ll do it. If they need a 3 pointer at a key moment, he’ll do it. He is one of the most underrated, unselfish point guards in the country. I keep hearing all of this blah,blah,blah about Jamal Tinsley at Iowa State. Sure Tinsley is a great point guard and is getting a lot of press, but my money is on Kirk when Iowa State comes to town on February 5th. Kirk, believe me when I say, "YOU THE MAN NOW, DOG"!
- KU fans should be happy with Eric Chenowith’s stats for this game: 9 points on 3 of 6 shooting, 3 for 4 from the free throw line, 2 blocks (he’s now in 2nd place all time behind only Greg Ostertag), 6 rebounds, in 23 minutes of play. This is the type of line KU fans should reasonably expect from Eric. Eric is not the second coming of Shaquille O’Neal. If you think he should be, you are wrong. Eric started the game and got less minutes than Collison, but more minutes than Gooden due to Drew’s foul trouble. In most games, you will see Eric with less minutes than both Nick and Drew. That is the way it should be as both Nick and Drew are better all-around players than Eric. But Eric does play a vital role and KU fans need to understand that and get off Eric’s case. It used to be "en vogue" to join in on the Eric-bashing party. More and more, with people I talk to and comments I read, it is becoming "en vogue" to accept Eric for what he is. What exactly is Eric, you ask? Eric is a 7’1" center on your favorite college basketball team. Eric is an excellent defender. Eric is a very good shot blocker. Eric has glimpses of a nice shooting touch (as evidenced from the pretty sideline jumper he swished against A&M). Eric is not perfect. Eric makes mistakes (as evidenced by his decision, after a sweet block, to dribble the ball down the court. He didn’t get very far as the ball was promptly stolen back by an A&M player). Eric is not a major factor in the offense and shouldn’t be with all of the offensive weapons this KU team has (this has been a knock on Eric that I think is valid. Eric THINKS he should have a bigger offensive role than he really deserves. He needs to understand that he can be a force down low without scoring a lot of points. His strengths are defense and rebounding. Eric is one of the few players on the team that still seems to have not fully accepted his role. When he does, he, the team, the coaches and the fans will be better for it.) Like I’ve said before……if Eric gets 6-10 points a game (without forcing shots and having 2 for 10 and 3 for 12 shooting nights) and 6-10 rebounds a game, be happy with it and leave him alone.
- Jeff Carey had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 6 minutes. I still cannot help think that Jeff would produce better numbers offensively if he got more of Eric’s minutes. That being said, Jeff is not the same defensive presence as Eric is. I really hope Jeff gets more minutes as the season goes along, but realistically I don’t think it will happen this year. I do hope it happens for Jeff next year with Eric gone because Jeff brings more to the table than most of us have been able to see.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- A&M got 17 offensive rebounds in this game. Early on, that was one of the factors on why they were able to keep the game close. Nothing to be too alarmed about, but definitely something that Coach Williams will point out to his players.
- Did anyone else notice that Mario Kinsey didn’t get in until the final minutes of the game? Oh well, his long-range 3 pointer to get the 100th point still got the fans off their seats.
- If anyone is worried about Luke Axtell’s shooting "slump" from 3 point range: Don’t be. Luke will be fine and, to be honest, he doesn’t play enough minutes or take enough shots to really hurt this team offensively.
- Next game is Colorado on Monday, 8pm, ESPN. This will not be an easy game. Colorado beat Texas Tech by a few more than the Jayhawks did in Lubbock and the Coors Event Center is always packed when KU comes to town (of course, that is mostly because there are so many KU fans in Colorado). This will be a tough road test and it is important that the Jayhawks keep the pressure on the rest of the league by leaving Boulder with a win.
P.S.—As many of you know, I was not able to get an article out for the KU-OU game because I was in Miami. Thank you to all of the people who gave me ideas on where I could catch the game. For those of you keeping score, I watched the game at the All-Star Café on Ocean Drive. Myself and two other guys along with one other couple (I actually ran into a girl I knew from my years at KU) had a big screen TV all to ourselves.
P.S.S.—I also was not able to get an article out for the KU-NU game due to other commitments and a tight deadline before KU played Texas A&M. I apologize to any of you who might have "missed" seeing my articles and I will do my best to get an article out for each game. Suffice it to say, if I don’t put an article out, there was a good reason for it. At any rate, I will continue to Rock and Chalk to the best of my ability!
|
