Withey nears triple-double as Jayhawks defeat Cyclones 82-73

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Throughout the season, junior center Jeff Withey has gradually transformed himself from a big body off the bench to a legitimate threat both offensively and defensively for coach Bill Self. In his team's 82-73 victory over Iowa State on Saturday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse, Withey did a little more to reaffirm those notions. He captured his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds and was a pest on defense with seven blocked shots, the second most blocks in one game of his career.

“That was something we had to think about when we were going into the lane,” Iowa State forward Royce White said. “He is a big-time shot-blocker and a big-time presence on the defensive end and it showed.”

The blocks showed up in print after the game, but the altered shots because of Withey's presence in the paint had just as big of an effect on Iowa State's offensive possessions. The Cyclones shot just 35.8 percent from the field, a far cry from their average of 45.9 percent for the season.

In a second half in which Kansas was suddenly down 12 after just three minutes of action, Withey had 11 of his 13 points. The usual dunks and newfound hook shot -for which he credits assistant coach Danny Manning- were teamed with a 15-foot jump shot near the free-throw line that he made on two occasions in the final 20 minutes of play.

Photo by Chris Bronson

Junior center Jeff Withey takes a shot during the second half of Saturday's game against Iowa State where Withey contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds in the 82-73 Kansas victory.

“He's shooing 85% or whatever from the free throw line, so yeah, he's a good shooter,” Self said. “I don't think that we thought defensively that they would dare us to shoot, and so we probably could have worked on that the last couple of days. I think we thought they'd play us soft but not that soft.”

Often times being guarded by White, the Cyclones scouting report placed no faith in Withey's ability to knock down an open jump shot. He said it kind of messed with his head that he was so open near the free throw line, but he was able to connect and shot 60 percent from the field.

“We read stats and look at all that stuff, and he hadn't hit a shot outside the paint all year so we backed off and made him step up and shoot,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He hit a a few then he got loose inside on a few as well. A couple rebounds, a couple dump offs, and he went up and finished. He's a long dude. That's a tough front line to play against.”

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