Originally published March 12, 2010 at 4:57 p.m., updated March 12, 2010 at 4:57 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo. — The Jayhawks have established an identity they don’t want to have.
No.1 Kansas beat No.24 Texas A&M 79-66 in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament Saturday, but it took 25 minutes of agonizing basketball to get there. The lackluster play has become a trend in recent weeks.
“We were alright from an energy standpoint,” senior guard Sherron Collins said. “We just played dumb and made mistakes.”
Photo Gallery
Kansas Basketball vs. Texas A&M
Photos from Kansas' 79-66 victory against Texas A&M Friday night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas will play in the championship game Saturday at 5 p.m.
Collins finished with a game-high 26 points and he was the only reason the Jayhawks were even in the game early.
They struggled in the early going for the second consecutive game, but this time it was the turnovers that did them in, not the shooting. They shot 56 percent from the floor in the first half but somehow still trailed 35-38.
It was all because Kansas committed five turnovers in the first five minutes and 12 total in the first half.
Sophomore forward Marcus Morris, who only played 11 minutes because of foul trouble, said this is the best preparation the team has had for the NCAA Tournament. But they have to apply the lessons if they want to survive.
“In the NCAA tournament, we can’t do that all the time,” Marcus said. “We’re going to try to come out and start this spark from the beginning.”
Recently, the Jayhawks are playing a style of basketball that anybody can play: get a lead, give it back, go back-and-forth with runs then blow the opponent out with the biggest run of the game.
Is this the type of style Kansas basketball has come to?
“I hope not,” junior guard Tyrel Reed said. “We don’t want to be a team that just relies on our big runs.”
But in the past two games, that’s exactly what they’ve done. They had a 12-0 run against Texas Tech and needed an even bigger one to topple Texas Tech.
Sophomore Markieff Morris, who finished with 10 points, was glad to have the win, but it wasn’t in the method he would have liked.
“We want to make a run through the whole game,” Markieff said. “But if we have to win that way, then we’ll win that way, but we don’t want to play that way.”
Kansas looked dead for the first part of the second half. It finally chipped away at Texas A&M to take the lead with 9:35 to go.
Then when Collins ran a steal in for a layup to put the lead to four, it was all Kansas needed to get back to playing top-ranked basketball.
That spark sent Kansas on a 16-0 run. The Jayhawks, who once were down nine, found themselves with a 15-point advantage. They could do no wrong, which was impressive given the start of the game.
“When you play good teams, that spurt is usually the difference in the game,” coach Bill Self said. “You play even for a while and whoever gets the last run is usually the team that wins.”
Kansas survived to the championship round where it awaits the winner of Baylor and Kansas State. No player or coach would openly admit a preference, but Self wants his team to play the Big 12 championship with better effort than the first 25 minutes of this game.
“We’re going to be behind again,” Self said. “How do you respond when you’re behind? I thought today we responded very favorably.”
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