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KU vs. Temple

The gray skies that Cole Aldrich and his Kansas University basketball teammates lived under the last week seemed to clear up a bit after the Jayhawks’ 71-59 victory over Temple on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

No doubt, things had been a bit gloomy since KU’s 61-60 loss to UMass on Dec. 13.

“We kind of hit, I wouldn’t say rock-bottom, but we were kind of in the depths of the waters, just trying everything we could to get back to the surface,” Aldrich said. “Things weren’t going all that well.”

That changed Saturday, as even a flu-saddled Aldrich was in good spirits after KU’s grind-it-out, 12-point victory.

The Jayhawks won, and they were pleased with their effort.

“We hadn’t quite played as well as we did against Washington or Syracuse or Kent State,” Aldrich said. “We just really wanted to get our feet under us again.”

Though the Jayhawks have a young team, the defeats still haven’t been easy to take — for the players or fans.

Brady Morningstar, who grew up in Lawrence, said this year didn’t seem to be much different when it came to fan expectations.

“A loss around here isn’t good. We can’t have a lot of them,” Morningstar said. “Every time we lose, it’s a big deal, so we’re going to try to keep those down.”

Aldrich said he understood the long-reaching effects of KU losses.

“The fans here in Lawrence — and not only in Lawrence, but the whole state of Kansas — live and die by the football team and by us and by other athletic teams here at KU,” Aldrich said. “We just try to go out there every day and give it our all. We can’t win all of them. The best thing is to put us in the game to win it.”

The Jayhawks bounced back nicely from their previous setback, improving in some key areas.

After hitting just 34 percent of its shots against UMass, KU made 53 percent of its tries against Temple. The Jayhawks also were better defensively, holding the Owls to 40-percent shooting; UMass made 46 percent of its shots against KU on Dec. 13.

Aldrich said KU learned from its mistakes a week ago.

“(Against UMass) our defense was all right. The ball was sticking a little bit,” Aldrich said. “Just a whole week of practice really got us back to playing the way we should be playing.”