Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Standing along the concrete hallways of Mizzou Arena on Saturday night, Brandon Rush still had one more message to send. His teammates had just sent their own message to the rest of the Big 12. With its 76-70 victory, Kansas stayed undefeated and proved to the rest of the country that it was immune to the upset bug that ravaged college basketball this past weekend. But for Rush, all those Big 12 and national implications could wait. He was more concerned with making sure he had family bragging rights over his brother – and former Missouri Tiger – Kareem.
Kansan file photo
“I’m going to text him as soon as I get on the bus,” Rush said. “I got ‘em again.”
For the fourth time in five career matchups against Missouri, Rush won the upper hand on big brother’s alma mater.
It wasn’t what you might expect from Rush in his third career game in Columbia, Mo. He made only two of 14 shots, but Rush found other ways to make sure his Jayhawks left town with their undefeated record intact. With his shot not falling, Rush drove aggressively to the basket and went to the free throw line 14 times, making nine of them.
“It’s a career high by far,” Rush said, of his free throw attempts. “Getting to the free throw line was pretty good. I missed some bunnies too.”
Rush finished with 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds, with seven on the defensive end.
“Some players, that’s what they have to bring to the table. They have to make shots to play well,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “With him, I still think he can play well and not make shots. I’m proud of his aggressiveness and I’m proud of the way he rebounded the ball. The last two games he’s had 18 rebounds, and he’s getting to the foul line.”
Rush, who’s averaging 11.7 points per game, said his two for 14 shooting performance – including zero for four from the three-point line — was the worst shooting game he’s had at Kansas.
“It just wasn’t going down for me,” Rush said. “It would rim out. It’d drop in and then come right back out.”
pullquote
“It’s a career high by far. Getting to the free throw line was pretty good. I missed some bunnies too.”
—Brandon Rush junior
Rush, a Kansas City, Mo., native, still managed to score in double-figures for the ninth time in 10 games. The junior also showed signs that he’s inching closer to 100 percent after he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee last May. Rush skied over Missouri forward Darryl Butterfield in the first half and just missed finishing an acrobatic dunk. “I felt good,” Rush said. “He didn’t help uphill. I would have finished it but the ball slipped out of my hands.”
It was that kind of night for Rush – a night of near misses. But Rush said he was satisfied knowing that Kansas can still win with him not playing well. And Rush still had the pleasure of sending out a personalized text message to older brother, Kareem. Kareem played at Missouri from 1999 to 2002 and is now playing for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. He led the Tigers to an Elite Eight appearance in 2001-2002.
“This is a big game for him, but it’s also a hard game for him,” Self said. “He likes a lot of people here and Mizzou was, obviously, very good to his brother.”
—Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
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