Late bloomers: KU slips past Hoyas

Kansas players Thomas Robinson (0) and Travis Releford (24) have a laugh during the second half on Monday, Nov. 21, 2011 at the Lahaina Civic Center. At right is KU guard Elijah Johnson.

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KU vs. Georgetown

Podcast episode

Press Conferences & Post-Game Interviews

KU coach Bill Self and players

KU coach Bill Self, Tyshawn Taylor, Elijah Johnson and Travis Releford talk to reporters following the Jayhawks' 67-63 victory over Georgetown on Nov. 22, 2011.

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KU vs. Georgetown

• Tyshawn Taylor recovers from second-half cramps in KU victory

• Keegan: Nelson changes game for UCLA

• UCLA gets rematch with KU

• KU hoops notebook: KU hurt by cramps a decade ago

• Georgetown coach frustrated by loss, team's defense

• The Keegan Ratings

• Box Score

Lahaina, Hawaii — Kansas University’s basketball players rewarded their sleep-deprived fans on the mainland late Monday night and into this morning.

The Jayhawks (2-1) jolted Georgetown, 67-63, in the late, late late show — otherwise known as the first-round of the Maui Invitational.

“I thought we played hard and smart,” KU’s Tyshawn Taylor said. “I thought we played well. Georgetown battled and played well, but we kept our composure.”

Taylor scored 16 points and survived a second-half case of the dreaded cramps, while Thomas Robinson exploded for 20 points and 12 boards and Travis Releford 10 points as KU advanced to a semifinal match-up today against UCLA (1-2) at a more manageable 8:30 p.m. Central time.

The game will be shown live on ESPN. UCLA, which led by just two points at halftime, routed NCAA Div. II Chaminade, 92-60, on Monday night.

KU thrilled its large contingent of fans in the 3,400-seat arena by storming to a 6-0 lead in the game that started at 11 p.m. Central time and ended after 1 a.m., courtesy of four points from Robinson and a dunk by Releford.

The Jayhawks did trail, 12-9, but led, 24-23 with 5:22 left in the first half. KU then embarked on an 8-0 run that gave the Jayhawks a 32-23 advantage at 2:55.

Georgetown (2-1) managed to slice the gap to 37-35 on an Otto Porter three right before the halftime horn.

KU opened a 42-37 lead early in the second half on a deep three by Taylor, but the Hoyas were able to tie at 46 with 15:19 left.

With the game deadlocked at 46 still with 14:21 left, KU’s Taylor suffered a painful cramp. He returned with KU up by three points, 51-48, at 9:42.

The Jayhawks led, 55-53, with 6:52 to play, then went on a back-breaking 4-0 surge.

It was a two-point game, 65-63, when Releford hit two big free throws at :15.7.

For the game, KU hit 47.1 percent of its shots to Georgetown’s 40 percent. KU hit five of 16 threes to the Hoyas’ seven of 24.

Taylor hit five of nine shots, including three of three threes.

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pigballin 1 year, 5 months ago

Now even the basketball sucks in sports at KU.

actorman 1 year, 5 months ago

WTF?!?!? If you're saying KU sucks after that game, you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

They played a very solid game, with excellent defense. Did you hear Jay Bilas talking about how tough it was to play defense against a team like that?

They came through with a number of shots in the clutch and Tyshawn had a great game.

I was quite encouraged by how KU played, and look forward to seeing them continue to develop as the year goes along.

SYJayhawk01 1 year, 5 months ago

Obviously Pigballin has no idea what he/she is talking about, nor does he/she deserve to get a rise out of people for making such ignorant statements.

actorman 1 year, 5 months ago

You're right, SY. I should have resisted the urge to respond.

railer20 1 year, 5 months ago

You're a tool and need to go back to playing with pig privates or whatever your name stands for...

Phoghorn 1 year, 5 months ago

...and now my co-workers are wondering what I am laughing about...

David Lignell 1 year, 5 months ago

No pigballin,

Did you watch the game? It was a giant leap forward for KU. Check out this link:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/39646/a-closer-look-kansas-67-georgetown-63

We will not suck in March, where it counts. And yes, you are correct, our football players are great, but our team play sucks.

BeachHawk 1 year, 5 months ago

Thanks for the link. I agree totally with the writer. I think our defense was incredible and when you think about how much the announcers talked about the length of G-town, one would have to conclude our offense was quite efficient, i.e., the way the ball moved and the fact that we were able to get numerous dunks as a result of the passing. G-town is tough and I think when we look back in March we will understand how big this victory and the way we got this victory really is. KU's defense totally shut down the Princeton offense except for one instance late in the game and I guarantee you Teahon will not make that mistake again--can you imagine, only one backdoor, I would say that was great defense.

nashhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

pigballin is a knucklehead

oldrocker 1 year, 5 months ago

Pigballer is obviously a Mizzery fan.

jaybate 1 year, 5 months ago

A four point win over a Princeton is an 8 point win over a regular offence.

Best news:

Travis recovered

We won shooting lousy from trey.

Our bugs could chase away from the basket without fouling out.

Great win.

Important early win.

clevelandjayhawker 1 year, 5 months ago

bigs or bugs?

jaybate 1 year, 5 months ago

ouch! Thx for the assist.

clevelandjayhawker 1 year, 5 months ago

Or did you mean Bugs?...as in our bigs are like a group of bugs that get all over you and make others uncomfortable, itchy, out of control and all in all unpleasent.

If so we need some names for our "Bugs"

memhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

3400 seating capacity in this article.

OakvilleJHawk 1 year, 5 months ago

3400 my a$$...unless they were counting people sitting in lawn chairs in the parking lot watching a big screen remote broadcast!!

mvjayhawk 1 year, 5 months ago

it's a good win. GTown has some big kids....so it's good for our physicality to show back up.

now let's get them Bruins. (i might actually get to watch this one....:) Go Jayhawks!

jhawkrulz 1 year, 5 months ago

I hate the word "physicality", every time a football analysis says it, I cringe.

I haven't checked, but is it even a word?

brooksmd 1 year, 5 months ago

Merriam-Webster

Definition of PHYSICALITY

1: intensely physical orientation : predominance of the physical usually at the expense of the mental, spiritual, or social 2: a physical aspect or quality

First Known Use of PHYSICALITY: 1660

JayhawkJohn 1 year, 5 months ago

Definition of PHYSICALITY

1 : intensely physical orientation : predominance of the physical usually at the expense of the mental, spiritual, or social 2 : a physical aspect or quality

wiseapple 1 year, 5 months ago

"The Jayhawks led, 55-53, with 6:52 to play, then went on a back-breaking 4-0 surge."

Yeah those 2 consecutive field goal runs really demoralize the opposition. Is this a joke?

brucecampbell3 1 year, 5 months ago

At the same time we held them for about 7 minutes without a field goal. We played pretty fantastic D, which made it pretty tough for the Hoyas to get more than 2 baskets in a row.

lee3022 1 year, 5 months ago

This ^

REHawk 1 year, 5 months ago

Probably was not a joke for a legweary group of Hoyas.

btr555 1 year, 5 months ago

This game reminded me a a lot of last years win against Arizona-- a good win against a team that is somewhat underrated at the moment. Just like Arizona did last year i bet GU makes some noise in the tourney.

HawkKlaw 1 year, 5 months ago

KU is starting to gel after only three regular season games. We had a lot of chemistry last night. You could see it in the offense especially - we were passing well and getting TRob was getting easy layups/alley oops at the rim. I remember back when Julian Wright played at KU, our entire offense basically revolved around the alley oop. This season our offense needs to look pretty similar to that on a nightly basis (with less 360's...not exactly TRob's style). All in all I was very impressed with KU last night. Definitely a game we can build on.

hawksince51 1 year, 5 months ago

It was a good win against a tough team. T-Rob and TT are living up to expectations as our primary scorers. Releford and EJ both contributed which is encouraging and important. Travis was a little slow getting into the O but came on strong in the 2nd half. The biggest concern is Withey fouling out in 13 minutes last night. We will need more out of him with our limited depth down low. On the other hand getting 35 minutes out of T-Rob with no serious foul trouble was big.

RockChalkGuy 1 year, 5 months ago

Well, since you bring up Withey and the fouls, perhaps it would be prudent to discuss the absolute joke of a foul call that removed him from competition. As far as I'm concerned the ref that made that call needs to be put on probation. At best, he was guessing at this foul because, if he had actually seen what happened, it should have been called on the Hoyas instead. I hate griping about refs, but I hate bad officiating even more.

marchphog88 1 year, 5 months ago

Withey is going to have a tough go of it this season, I think, if the way officials have called plays involving him in the first three games is any indicator.

Obviously, the foul that sent him to the bench last night was "pretty lame" (to quote objective observer Jay Bilas), and was a perfect example of the lack of accountability in the officiating profession. First, the zebra throws out KU's starting center for... putting his arms up after the Georgetown player bumped into him, then he apparently (according to Bilas) told Withey to "shut up" when Withey understandably protested the call that booted him from the game. Officials that behave that way need to be fined or disciplined in some way.

But what makes it even worse is that there were 2-3 plays where Withey lost the ball because he was hammered by his defender. One play where the much-shorter defender attempted a block while putting his hand in Withey's back and smacked him from elbow to wrist on his shooting arm. Another where the defender just grabbed Withey's arm on an attempted lob.

Apparently officials are trapped in the tendency to give the smaller player the benefit of the doubt, which by default means that Withey--who will look bigger than 90% of the guys on the court--will get the hindrance of the doubt.

rockchalkbball 1 year, 5 months ago

When is Coach Self going to implement a No TATOO policy. Did these guys spend all summer under the needle?

HawkKlaw 1 year, 5 months ago

Derp!

You obviously didn't spend all summer learning how to spell "tattoo."

actorman 1 year, 5 months ago

LOL. And BTW, what on earth do tattoos have to do with basketball? And why should Self care?

JayhawkJohn 1 year, 5 months ago

Because it makes them look like thugs and gang members instead of basketball players but I guess it is just an accepted part of life now. Boy I miss the old days. I bet Phog Allen nor John Wooden would have allowed them.

marchphog88 1 year, 5 months ago

You miss the old days where people mistook something as harmless as personal expression to be an indicator of character?

Those days sound incredibly judgmental and intolerant to me. No thanks.

HawkKlaw 1 year, 5 months ago

This coming from a guy with TRob (and all his thuggy tattoos) as his avatar. You, my friend, are a joke.

Rockchalk_Mom 1 year, 5 months ago

I was raised by a mother who thought the same as you about tattoos and she did her best to impose that opinion in me. I personally would never get a tattoo, but I don't see how getting a tat makes up ones worth. I think you would be surprised just how many CEO's have such adornments. Do you think poorly of our US servicemen and women who come home from the battle with tats? Do you consider them "thugs" too?

rockchalkbball 1 year, 5 months ago

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

brooksmd 1 year, 5 months ago

Other than the fact I don't care for them, my main thing is the amount of money spent on all the tattoo's. Yes I know it's none of my business, but many of these kids don't exactly come from high income families; spend a lot of time playing high school and AAU ball so therefore probably never worked a part-time job, yet have possibly thousands of dollars worth of tattoo's. And that's from knowing what my son has spent on his (he works, his money) and he is no where near what these kids have.

HawkKlaw 1 year, 5 months ago

You are right. The guys with full sleeves have easily spent more than $1000 on their tats. It goes to show just how much these kids are probably getting paid under the table. It's no different at KU than anywhere else.

konkeyDong 1 year, 5 months ago

The only really disappointing thing about last night's game was the side of the court Otto Porter was on. The kid would have been a great get for us. He can play the tall 3 or the finesse 4 that spreads the D with outside shooting. Too bad that first trip wasn't to KU, cause it seems like that's all it would have taken. Porter had never even been on a plane before his first trip out to DC. Oh well. Woulda, coulda, shoulda...

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Men's Basketball

Kansas defeats Georgetown, 67-63