Friday, November 20, 2009
In the final seconds before halftime — in a first half that featured equally-matched sloppiness from both offenses — sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor stripped the ball from a Memphis player, dribbled up the court and flipped the ball ahead to senior guard Sherron Collins for a buzzer-beating layup.
Sure, the play provided Kansas with a six-point halftime lead. But it also illustrated the bigger picture in Kansas’ 57-55 victory against Memphis: Even on a night when the Jayhawks struggled offensively, their defense still managed to hold a lead.
It certainly wasn’t pretty — Memphis hit big shots down the stretch to make it close — but it was exactly the gritty defensive performance good teams deliver when things aren’t clicking on offense.
“We’re going to have games like that,” Taylor said. “It’s good to get one in early because we’re going to have games like that in conference and even in a couple of weeks.”
And it turned out to be exactly what Kansas needed.
So far this season, Kansas’ offense has proved to be highly potent with multiple players capable of leading a scoring outburst. But Tuesday night, Kansas’ offense simply struggled.
The Jayhawks committed 21 turnovers. They didn’t take care of the ball in transition, and they couldn’t consistently find openings from three-point range.
It only made Kansas’ defensive effort more important.
“Defensively and rebounding the ball we were good,” coach Bill Self said. “Offensively, we stunk.”
In the game’s opening 20 minutes the Jayhawks routinely clamped down inside, forcing the Tigers to facilitate most of their offense from behind the three-point line.
And it certainly wasn’t a recipe for success.
Memphis connected on just two of 14 three pointers in the first half, including a handful of air balls.
“They’re a high-scoring team,” sophomore forward Marcus Morris said. “I felt like that we did contain them really well.”
After Kansas’ lopsided victory in the first preseason game against Fort Hays State earlier this season, the Jayhawks emphasized the need for an improved defensive effort.
Kansas appeared to do just that against a young Memphis team. The Tigers made 35 percent of their attempts, often settling for contested shots.
After cutting Kansas’ lead to five points midway through the second half, two Memphis players slashed through the lane on consecutive drives to the basket.
The problem? Junior center Cole Aldrich blocked both attempts and gave Kansas the ball back in a crucial part of the game.
Aldrich finished the game with five blocks and altered a handful of other attempts.
“I love blocking shots, and I was able to block a few tonight,” Aldrich said. “And if I wasn’t able to block it, I was able to make them think that every time that they drive in there, they were going to have me come over and contest it. That really helped us tonight.”
If Kansas’ sloppy offensive play kept Memphis in the game, the Jayhawks’ defense allowed them to maintain a lead throughout the second half.
In the end, Kansas simply managed to make enough stops in the game’s final minutes to shake off an early season upset bid.
“I think it was a great win just because we had to fight,” Aldrich said. “We just had to show a lot of character, hunker down and get stops.”
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