Monday, February 18, 2008
Larry Brown watched some ugly basketball at KU’s practice on Thursday.
Balls flew everywhere. Shots missed badly. No one looked sharp.
“We were ugh,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
Photo Gallery
Kansas vs. Colorado
A photo gallery of the Kansas men's basketball game against Colorado Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.
After a few minutes, Self called a huddle to see what was wrong and asked the players if they were nervous because Brown was there. Every one of them raised his hand.
Darnell Jackson admitted to trying too hard.
“You don’t want to give him any bad breath about you,” Jackson said.
Thursday might have been a mess, but the team left a better impression on Brown Saturday. Kansas (24-2, 9-2) beat Colorado 69-45 with a dominant defensive performance at Allen Fieldhouse in front of Brown and more than 200 former players, coaches, and managers who were there for the 110 year reunion.
All the former Jayhawks had to sit through a game that was bogged down by long possessions and a lack of fast breaks, not typical KU basketball, but that’s what Self wanted. When the team prepared for the Buffaloes, he stressed that the players use patience on defense.
Patience is key to beating Colorado. The Buffaloes use a Princeton-style offense that works best when the players can get open on backdoor cuts and screens. If Kansas came out with its usual aggressiveness and tried to anticipate passes, CU players would’ve had an easier time cutting into the lane.
The patience allowed the Jayhawks to control the game. Colorado had just 31 points with five minutes left in the second half. Self estimated that they forced the Buffaloes to shoot with less than 10 seconds left on the shot clock 40 times.
“We picked a good day to have average energy level,” Self said, “because if you’re really into it big time that’s when they play the best.”
Darrell Arthur made sure his man, Richard Roby, didn’t play his best. Arthur, who at 6-foot-9 usually defends in the post, had the job of stopping Roby, a 6-foot-6 swingman and Colorado’s leading scorer.
The experience was new for Arthur. He had rarely guarded smaller forwards in games. Fortunately, he was familiar with defending on the perimeter in practice. All week, Arthur guarded Brandon Rush to prepare for his task. The keys to defending perimeter players, he said, were staying in front, not letting them cut behind and denying passes.
By Saturday Arthur was ready. He guarded Roby for nearly all of his 21 minutes and held him to two points on 1-of-11 field goals. Arthur was tired but pleased with his effort.
“It kind of wears you down because they play the whole shot clock, and it was tough to get out and run,” he said. “But I thought we did a good job with it.”
Having Arthur as a defensive stopper for smaller players will be a major benefit for Kansas. Several Big 12 teams use smaller lineups, including Kansas State, which beat the Jayhawks earlier this year partially because of the play of Bill Walker, an undersized forward.
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For more about the game, check out the Wrap-up.
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Men’s Basketball
Big 12 Overall
Kansas 9-2 24-2
Texas 8-2 21-4
Kansas State 8-2 18-6
Texas A&M 6-4 20-5
Baylor 5-5 17-7
Oklahoma 5-5 17-8
Texas Tech 4-6 13-11
Iowa State 4-7 14-12
Missouri 4-7 14-12
Oklahoma St. 4-7 13-12
Nebraska 3-7 14-9
Colorado 2-8 10-14
“There are a lot of teams playing small,” Arthur said. “We’ve been playing a lot of small guys lately, and it’s kind of tough guarding them and learning the principles of guarding a perimeter player.”
The victory against Colorado helped lessen some of the pain from the Texas loss on Monday and fixed some of Kansas’ errors. The Jayhawks, who were outmuscled on the boards Monday, outrebounded Colorado by 14. They also made 7 of 14 three-pointers after going 4 of 26 in their last two games.
Kansas doesn’t play for another week. Self said the time off would help his team rest and also calm down the fans who were getting worried after last week’s loss to Texas.
“We still have the second-best record in the country,” he said. “Something that’s bad sometimes gets blown out of proportion. Losing isn’t acceptable but certainly it’s part of life in the game of college basketball. It was good to get back and hopefully we can get our swagger back.”
Jackson said that can happen soon if they stay focused, and because of Brown, he’s more motivated than ever to do that. Brown gave Jackson and the rest of the team a message at Thursday’s practice, and Jackson took it to heart.
“He told us to have no wasted days,” Jackson said. “If you’re feeling bad or your stomach hurts, you have to go in there and push yourself.”
—Edited by Sasha Roe
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