However, a series of KU turnovers, bad shots and fouls gave
Georgia new life and they went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to four
points, making the game very tense until Collison buried his four free
throws in the final 90 seconds to ice the game.
The
story of the game was fouls. Georgia
went to the line 38 times and scored 29 point there. By contrast, the Jayhawks shot only 19 free throws and half
of those came in the last five minutes.
The Jayhawks converted when they got there, hitting 16, but
that did nothing to make up for the striking disparity in attempts.
The Bulldogs didn’t have a starter over 6-7, but their front
line looked like a linebacking corps. The more muscular Bulldog front line pushed the Jayhawk front
line around most of the night, revealing that the big guys still need
some work on defensive fundamentals.
Kenny
Gregory played his best game ever as a Jayhawk. He scored 20 points, hitting 10 of 11 shots, grabbed five
rebounds and dished four assists.
The only blemish was four turnovers.
The best thing was that not all of his points were from two
feet. He hit at least
four jumpers from 10 feet and out, and they came at key moments.
The beautiful thing was how in control he played in the half
court offense. He
didn’t try to force the action, but played very much in control.
He looked like KU’s go-to guy last night.
Boschee
also played a great game, scoring 18 points while playing a
team-leading 29 minutes. He
dished four assists without a turnover and hit four of five
three-point attempts. Hinrich,
by contrast, played like the freshman that he is.
In the first half he picked up 3 fouls in all of 75 seconds.
In the second he picked up his fourth two minutes after
entering the game. He
played only 6 minutes in all, and his line in the box score is a
string of zeros except for one missed free throw and a turnover.
I expect Kirk will bounce back, but for those who have
speculated that Kirk might push Jeff out of the starting lineup the
game serves as a reminder that Kirk is a freshman, albeit a very
talented one, and Jeff’s experience in the system and in
physical games such as this one counts for a lot.
Drew
Gooden and Nick Collison also experienced freshman growing pains.
Nick played well overall, leading the team with 10 rebounds and
scoring 10 points, including the four key free throws late.
But he also fouled out trying to defend the small, more
physical Bulldog front line. He was pushed around a lot and got himself into a position
defensively where he was forced to foul.
Gooden
experienced the same problem, picking up his fourth foul mid-way
through the second half and spending most of the rest of the game on
the bench. Gooden
finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds in 16 minutes, but hit only 4
of 13 shots and committed 3 turnovers.
Gooden tried to go one-on-one too often in the paint and
couldn’t get some tough off-balance shots to drop.
He is still learning to pick his spots.
Those moves, which will eventually make him a star and which
did make him a star in high school, won’t work consistently at this
level until he gets a bit more leg strength and learns when to take
them and when to pass back out. It
will come with time.
It
would be nice if Chenowith modeled strong post play for the two
freshmen, but he wasn’t any more effective, and doesn’t have the
excuse of playing in only his second collegiate game.
Eric was only 2 of 9 from the field and was a non-factor most
of the evening. He played
more fundamentally sound defense than the freshman, but was very
passive on offense.
It
was a frustrating first half for the Jayhawks.
They played very well in spurts, especially during an 11-0 run
that turned a 17-17 tie into a 28-17 Jayhawk lead.
The Jayhawks eventually pushed that lead to 13 points, 39-26.
But the Jayhawks let the Bulldogs hang around with a series of
silly turnovers late in the first half that trimmed the Jayhawk lead
to 6 points before a late basket by Gregory gave the Jayhawk the
8-point, 43-36 lead they took into the half.
Georgia
was able to stay close in the first half because of the hot shooting
of D.A. Layne, who scored 17 first-half points.
At one point in the half, he had scored 17 of Georgia’s 21
points.
More
later:
With three games in three
nights, each in the wee hours of the morning, I’ll save any further
analysis until after the game on Saturday, when I’ll analyze the
three-game weekend. I’ll
do a short recap after the game tonight.
The
Bracket: If KU defeats Xavier tonight, KU will play the
Washington/Georgia Tech. winner for the tournament title.
Notes:
Experimental Rules: Because
the Great Alaska Shootout is an exempted tournament, several
experimental rules are in effect.
The first involves fouls. On the 10th foul and thereafter in
both halves, the team fouled has the option of either taking the ball
out of bounds or shooting free throws. The purpose of this rule is to
allow a team with a lead late in the game to keep the ball and
continue to kill the clock rather than risking missing free throws and
turning the ball over to the other team.
I’m not sure how I feel about this rule. Jump on The
Rock Chalk Board if you have a take on this rule and toss
in your two cents.
It could have but didn’t come into play tonight. KU was fouled several times late in the game, but Williams
chose to attempt the free throws, which KU made.
The other experimental rule limits the number of players on the
lane during free throws. During free throws, six men (instead of the
current eight), will be permitted on the free-throw lane.
Anniversary: Yesterday
was the anniversary of Roy Williams’ coaching debut, and he
celebrated it in the same gym were that first game was played. Roy
Williams' coached his first game for the Jayhawks 12 years ago
yesterday in the Great Alaska Shootout. The Jayhawks defeated host
Alaska-Anchorage 94-81 in that opening-round game and went on to play
in the championship game before losing to Seton Hall.
KU's Great Alaska Shootout History:
Kansas has reached the championship game in both its previous two
Great Alaska Shootout appearances. The Jayhawks lost in the title
games in 1984 and 1988, giving KU an all-time record of 4-2 in the
Shootout.
Familiar Foe: Georgia's Jim Harrick has
now coached four different teams in games against the Jayhawks. Harrick previously coached against KU while at Pepperdine,
UCLA and Rhode Island. In all, Harrick is 3-3 lifetime versus Kansas.
TV Coverage: As long as KU wins in
Alaska, it will play its games on national television (ESPN). A
Jayhawk loss would mean no television coverage. Every other Kansas
regular season game will be televised either regionally or nationally.
Milestones:
-
Eric Chenowith surpassed the career 500-rebound mark
last night and now has 507.
-
Chenowith (146 career blocked shots) needs one more to
move into fifth place on KU's all-time blocked shots chart.
-
Chenowith needs 13 points to reach the career 700-point
plateau. Kenny Gregory needs 11 points to reach the 700-point mark.
-
Sophomore Jeff Boschee has made at least one three-point
field goal in 24 consecutive games.
-
With three steals last night Nick Bradford (120 career
steals) needs two more to move into 14th place on KU's all-time steals
list.
-
As a team, Kansas has held opponents to less than 100
points in 318 consecutive games.
-
Kansas has begun the season 2-0 for the tenth straight
season.
-
The Jayhawks have won 27 straight games in the month of
November. The Jayhawks haven't lost in the 11th month since a 70-68
loss at Arizona State on Nov. 23, 1990.