No pressure when under pressure

Friday, April 4, 2008

All season long, the Jayhawks relied on balanced scoring and the belief that anyone could step up in a big game and deliver down the stretch. Russell Robinson has said many times that several players could take the shots in the most important parts of the game.

But in reality, Kansas does have a go-to-guy.

“If you study it,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, “you’ll find out who our go-to guys are.”

It’s Mario Chalmers. In games settled by five points or fewer, he’s done the most damage in the game’s last four minutes.

KANSAN

Who is it gonna be?

The Jayhawks have played six games decided by that margin: against Arizona, Southern California, Georgia Tech, Texas, Oklahoma State and Davidson. In the last four minutes of those games, Chalmers scored a total of 19 points.

“He doesn’t necessarily want the spotlight,” Robinson said, “doesn’t want all the attention, all the publicity. But at the same time, he wants the ball in his hands. He’s going to do it at the stake of the team doing well.”

Chalmers’ best late-game run came against USC. He scored seven points in the final four minutes, including a big three-pointer that put Kansas up for good. He also had six points and the game-tying free throws against Arizona and six in the last four minutes of a loss at Texas.

No other player comes close to matching Chalmers’ production down the stretch of close games. Collins scored six points in the last four minutes of the Georgia Tech victory but otherwise hasn’t scored at the end of close games. Darrell Arthur also has six total points in the six tight games.

Perhaps most surprisingly, Brandon Rush has only scored a total of four points down the stretch and shot the ball less than one-third as many times as Chalmers. It’s clear, Kansas wants Chalmers to have the ball at the end, and he’s fine with that.

“I’ve always thought of myself as the guy who could do it with the game on the line,” Chalmers said.

— Edited by Daniel Reyes

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