Photo Gallery

KU vs. Syracuse

Kansas City, Mo. — In the end, Kansas University’s basketball team showed its youth, falling from ahead to lose to Syracuse, 89-81 in overtime, Tuesday night at the Sprint Center in the CBE Classic final.

But, man, can three of those freshmen play in spurts.

Tyshawn Taylor, Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris don’t have games as buttoned-up as they will be when they gain more experience. They aren’t above committing silly fouls, rushing shots, spacing out when digging down is in order and getting caught out of position now and then.

Yet, what came through more clearly than anything about the talented trio is that when they get it together, Kansas could get real good again sooner than most expect.

For a long stretch late in the second half, Kansas had the three freshmen, a sophomore who played 144 minutes (Tyrel Reed) all last season and Sherron Collins on the floor, and they held their own.

Taylor, a blur who will score many of his points finishing fast breaks, showed remarkable speed, quickness and confidence in a first-half stretch that took only 1:40 off the clock, time enough for him to outscore Syracuse, 9-0. His spin move to finish a drive to the hoop drew a huge ovation from the pro-KU crowd. Taylor finished with 17 points.

On consecutive possessions late in the second half, Marcus Morris swatted a shot from Jonny Flynn and fired the ball upcourt to trigger a break that resulted in a bucket by Taylor. On the next possession, Morris stepped into a passing lane for a steal and fired the ball upcourt.

On a night Collins, the team’s best, most experienced player, encountered trouble protecting the ball against the shorter Flynn and seemed at times to get caught up in the competition against him, Taylor and Morris showed how much potential they have.

“Wow, Taylor’s a good player,” veteran Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s a really good player.”

Meanwhile, Marcus Morris did a little bit of everything in 36 minutes, chipping in 11 points, 11 rebounds (six on the offensive glass), six assists, two blocked shots and a steal. His twin, Markieff, played 13 minutes and totaled five points and four rebounds.

All three players looked as if they embraced the big stage, thrived on the competition.

“Yeah,” KU coach Bill Self said when asked if he liked the way the three freshmen competed. “Competing is also poise. Competing is also getting a stop when you know you really have to get a stop. I’d say there were times when we did that pretty well. I’d say there were times when we didn’t do that very well. Competing is also focus and concentration. And we made some plays that weren’t great plays, obviously, but even with all the things we didn’t do well, we’ve still got the game, we’re still up six with a couple minutes left.”

Four games into the season, Taylor and Marcus Morris already have shown enough to make it apparent they will join Aldrich and Collins in the starting lineup for the duration. The two freshmen will get better, particularly defensively, and when they do, so will Kansas.

“We’ve got to get a little tougher and harder, but we did compete,” Self said.