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Goble: Jayhawks face challenging season

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By Clark Goble

Monday, February 8, 2010

With a healthy Angel Goodrich and Danielle McCray, Kansas’ best playmakers, the Jayhawks went to Manhattan in January, scored an embarrassing 35 points and lost by 24.

With Goodrich and McCray unable to play Sunday as they rehab ACL tears, Kansas beat Kansas State 70-60.

The 34-point swing shows both the advantage of playing at home and the emotional wave caused by the devastating injury to Danielle McCray. The senior leader tore her ACL in practice Thursday and could only fill assistant coaching duties Sunday.

Her career at Kansas is over.

For the rest of the team, a ton of important games remain in the Big 12 gauntlet. The remaining eight games in conference play all present greater challenges than the Wildcats.

Those challenges start with a visit from Kelsey Griffin and undefeated Nebraska Wednesday. It will be hard to maintain Sunday’s energy for the rest of the season as the scarring memory of McCray screaming in pain slowly fades.

At some point, Kansas will simply have to play better than its opponents and not rely on pure energy.

It will be up to Monica Engelman, a soft-spoken scorer from San Antonio, Texas, to provide offensive production and quality minutes in McCray’s absence.

She looked fluid in the role Sunday, scoring 16 points on 6 for 9 shooting from the field. Hearing her name announced as starter for the first time didn’t rattle her much: she hit her first three shots from the field, including two swishes from three point land.

After the game, Engelman said she didn’t even notice a difference with McCray out of the lineup.

“Played basketball,” Engelman said.

Engelman did notice McCray’s role as a coach. McCray wedged herself between Kansas’ assistant coaches and jotted down observations she would tell the players during timeouts. Engelman and McCray were usually next to each other in the huddle.

“It’s so exciting just to see someone grow,” McCray said. “It just makes you feel really good.”

McCray pointed to Engelman’s refusal of a screen to get an open jumpshot as an example of a play that McCray can help refine.

Engelman will become an offensive focal point, but the rest of the team needs to boost their scoring numbers to make up for McCray.

The schedule toughens considerably and losing McCray will hurt. Senior Sade Morris said she recognized how the team will need to play without McCray.

“I don’t think we have a choice but to come out with full energy because that’s what helps us,” Morris said. “We have to build off of that. We came out with all that energy and look at what it did for us.”

Considering the tough upcoming schedule and lack of quality victories, Kansas is on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Playing in the Big Dance, and not the NIT like last year, will provide all the energy the Jayhawks need.

— Edited by Kristen Liszewski

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