Friday, March 13, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kansas coach Bill Self has said center Cole Aldrich does his most damage in the opening minutes of the second half.
The reason is that at halftime Self almost always has to remind his guards to feed Aldrich in the paint, and then they respond by immediately passing him the ball.
Photo Gallery
Kansas Basketball vs. Baylor
A photo gallery of the men's basketball game against Baylor in the second round game during the Big 12 tournament.
Thirty seconds into the second half on Thursday, Kansas was true to form as Aldrich cut the deficit to two with a short jumper from the side. However, those were his only points in the final 20 minutes.
The sophomore finished with a game-high 14 rebounds, but mustered only eight points on 3-of-5 shooting.
“It’s kind of tough to get the ball inside when they have so many big guys,” Aldrich said. “The middle was wide open, but they kind of clumped up the sides.”
Baylor’s sagging 2-3 zone defense was a constant problem for Aldrich, who has only attempted fewer than five shots in one game once this season. While Self normally blames the guards for not getting Aldrich enough touches, Thursday he placed equal blame on his guards, the zone and Aldrich himself.
“I think all were equally valued as far as not letting the ball go inside,” Self said.
Baylor’s LaceDarius Dunn, who led all scorers with 24 points, said Thursday’s game was the best zone his team has played all season. Baylor coach Scott Drew pointed to his defense as the key to keeping the team calm despite Kansas’ ability to erase a 17-point deficit.
“You are always adjusting throughout the course of the game with personnel and what they are doing,” Drew said. “The big thing throughout the game, the common thing, is our defense was tremendous.”
Baylor’s zone left a hole for a high post player around the free throw line. Kansas’ guards often passed to Aldrich or Marcus Morris in that hole, but most of the time those two kicked back out and the guards fired three-pointers.
Kansas made 8-of-25 behind the three-point line. Self said he was upset his team didn’t drive to the basket instead of settling for contested jumpers.
“What a zone does, it creates doubt,” Self said. “We weren’t aggressive. We didn’t play up against it.”
Sherron Collins agreed. Collins, who was 6-of-20 from the field and 4-of-12 beyond the arc, said the zone wouldn’t have been a problem if Kansas didn’t play passively.
The guards settled for jumpers instead of drives and the zone trapped big men Aldrich, Mario Little and Markieff Morris several times.
Of course, everything was more difficult for Aldrich. The center said he would try to find something positive from the loss.
That won’t be easy considering Baylor’s zone did exactly what it was designed to do. Stop Aldrich.
“This was a game in which he labored probably as much as he has at any point in time this year,” Self said.
— —Edited by Susan Melgren
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