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Kansas forward Darrell Arthur, right, and guard Mario Chalmers have a laugh on the bench in the second half. Arthur had a game-high 20 points in the Jayhawks' 93-56 exhibition rout Tuesday of Fort Hays State in Allen Fieldhouse.
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Arthur shines against Tigers
In the absence of Brandon Rush, the Hawks made the most of their floor time tonight. Darrell Arthur had a game-high 20 points.
Audio clips
2007-08 Nov. 6 KU-FHSU Basketball
- Bill Self talks about what his team learned from its 2007-08 exhibition slate following Tuesday's game against FHSU
- Darrell Arthur talks about his acrobatic display via the lob pass Tuesday night
- Russell Robinson talks about what he's liked from the three-guard lineup featuring himself, Sherron Collins and Mario Chalmers
Photo Gallery
KU vs. Fort Hays State
Those weren't smudge marks on Darrell Arthur's shoes Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
The black markings on his Adidas sneakers were autographs of his Kansas University basketball teammates next to numbers of the players.
Sixteen players.
"I had all my teammates sign my shoes. I was going to give them to my mom, but found out we had limited pairs. I think I'll keep them awhile. I'll probably wear them again," Arthur said with a grin.
Who knows? The shoes might prove good luck charms for the 6-foot-9, 225-pound sophomore, who scored a game-high 20 points off 9-of-15 shooting - with eight rebounds and two blocks - in the Jayhawks' 93-56 exhibition annihilation of Fort Hays State.
Arthur, who had 12 points and four rebounds in KU's exhibition-opening victory over Pittsburg State, hit some jumpers and also finished lobs off passes from Russell Robinson, who had 10 assists to go with seven points and six rebounds in 24 minutes.
Arthur's money move in his 22 minutes of work?
"Little dribble to the middle, spin back off my right shoulder off the glass. It's what I've been working on with coach (Danny) Manning," said Arthur, who indicated he also shoots 50 threes and a batch of free throws after each practice with assistant Joe Dooley.
"Our big men have to be consistent. We need a lot of scoring on the post," Arthur added. "We have to keep working down there."
The Jayhawk game plan included pounding the ball inside against the smaller Tigers of NCAA Div. II, who on Saturday lost by 36 points to Kansas State and three days later 37 to KU.
Darnell Jackson scored 10 points off 4-of-8 shooting with eight rebounds, while Sasha Kaun had nine off 4-of-8 shooting with eight boards and four turnovers, and Cole Aldrich had six points off 3-of-4 shooting with three boards and three blocks.
"We were trying to get the bigs going. We tried to get them involved early," said sophomore guard Sherron Collins. He had 12 points and an assist, while Mario Chalmers tallied 14 points and five assists to go with four turnovers on a night KU suffered 19 miscues to the Tigers' 25.
Nobody was more involved than Arthur.
"He was pretty good tonight. He got touches early and did a great job," Collins noted.
Coach Bill Self believes Arthur is much improved from his freshman year, when he averaged 9.8 points and 4.7 boards a game.
"I think the game is slowed down a little for him. I think that's the biggest difference," said Self, whose Jayhawks outboarded the Tigers, 47-31, after getting outrebounded by three by Pitt State. "Even though he can still get sped up. He made a couple of plays today that he hasn't been making. He tried to get a step closer a couple of times instead of just elevating and shooting over 'em. He played to his left shoulder too much when he could have played to his right shoulder.
"He's not a guy that just naturally by being in the game like Wayne (Simien) he can go get you 20, just by natural scoring. But he's a guy who has enough moves, enough athletic ability that he can score 20 any night, but I don't know if he thinks that way. I don't know if he thinks, 'How can I score every possession?' Wayne thought that way, and Darrell doesn't. He has to get more of a scorer's mentality. If he does that he could be a guy that averages an awful lot of points.
Arthur sure will try.
"I'm trying to attack the glass more," the Dallas native said. "I think I'm more aggressive this year just because I'm a year older and am involved in the offense a little more comfortable than I was last year."
His shoes felt mighty comfortable Tuesday night, too.
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Comments
jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...
Too bad I couldn't listen to the game. I had to work last night. But I'm glad KU won. It's cool that they wore red. I hope they'll wear red more often.
November 7, 2007 at 7:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Teapot9 (anonymous) says...
That photo with the guy flashing his gut and man-boobs is priceless. The caption and picture made Starbucks come out of my nose.
November 7, 2007 at 7:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KU (anonymous) says...
I like the red uni's, too. After all, we are the "Crimson and Blue", right? Not the "Blue and Crimson".
Was there ever a time when KU wore red as their primary color? If so, when did blue become the primary color and why?
November 7, 2007 at 8:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jayharchitect (anonymous) says...
The blue thing is easy to understand... Think about the big twelve. What team has blue in it? Iowa State used to but they have somewhere lost it. Whereas Red: OU, Tech, A&M, Nebraska, Iowa State... and Yellow a la 1988: Colorado and Mizzou
November 7, 2007 at 9:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
84Hawk (anonymous) says...
That's exactly why I love the blue. It's original. There are so many red teams in the Big 12.
November 7, 2007 at 9:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JayCeph (anonymous) says...
Red uniforms = no.
November 7, 2007 at 9:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suzifrye (anonymous) says...
I don't like the red uniforms, I would much rather see the blue or white. Do away with the red.
November 7, 2007 at 9:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kylecisnum1 (anonymous) says...
i like the red everyonce in awhile, mix it up a bit just like the football team
November 7, 2007 at 10:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bmcmich1 (anonymous) says...
Can't wait to see what the '88 throwbacks will look like. I think it's going to be one of those things where I either love 'em or hate 'em--no gray area.
November 7, 2007 at 11:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KUMatt2001 (anonymous) says...
Red has NEVER been our primary color. Crimson and Blue has a nicer ring to it, it does not mean that crimson comes before blue in prevalence.
Everytime our football or basketball team runs out on the field looking like Iowa State or Nebraska, you can hear a little collective groan from the fans... ugh, not again... And it's a little bit harder to cheer for them. You don't get that instant satisfaction you get seeing blue. Go Big Blue!... I mean red...?
And as for wearing them at home, I always thought the home team wore white.
There's a great picture of Aquib Talib from the FIU game where he's in the air in the end zone at the exact moment the ball hit his chest before he returned it for a record 100+ yards for a touchdown. It's awesome because he has this huge smile on his face, like he knows what's about to happen. Anyway, it's a great picture of him in what might be the greatest play of his college career. The one thing that sucks about it is he's wearing a red jersey. You might see that picture or video clip from that game on TV and not even realize it's KU.
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox. Do they look nice? Sure. Are they our uniforms? Nope. End of story.
November 7, 2007 at 11:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
havoc4prez (anonymous) says...
DA's shoes have had the signatures since the the pitt game. just saying.
November 7, 2007 at 12:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
100 (anonymous) says...
It's football season. go to stillwater and support the hawks!!!! rock chalk jayhawk!!!!
November 7, 2007 at 2:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rockchalkAZ (anonymous) says...
again, '100', stop posting that it's football season. we're all well aware of that. but yes, rock chalk jayhawk and beat the cowboys!
November 7, 2007 at 2:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RckChalkJeff (anonymous) says...
100..
You are aware that basketball offically starts friday...arent you?
SO GO hawks...beat the Pokes...but First....kick the hell outta ULM...in basketball......duh!
November 7, 2007 at 4:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RckChalkJeff (anonymous) says...
By the way..im now gonna go into every football article and say "Its basketball season...blah blah blah"
November 7, 2007 at 4:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CasperCorps (anonymous) says...
Wow, they seriously limit the amount of shoes these kids can have? You'd figure the sponsors Reebok, Adidas, or Nike or who ever it is would provide as many as needed? Especially with as much as these guys are televised.. And don't tell me that the basketball program doesn't bring in enough money to buy them some shoes? Come on Kansas University break out the check book... (I know its the University of Kansas but it cracks me to hear people whine about how people print their name) Go UK!!! Uh KU!!
November 7, 2007 at 5:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bdku (anonymous) says...
what happened to wearing white jerseys at home?
November 8, 2007 at 12:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Chicago_JHawk (anonymous) says...
Each player gets something like 8 or 10 pairs of shoes for the season.
November 8, 2007 at 10:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )