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Kansas defenders Conner Teahan, center, and Elijah Johnson defend against a pass from Texas A&M guard Zach Kinsley during the second half on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 at Allen Fieldhouse.
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KU vs. Texas A&M
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KU vs. Texas A&M
Kansas defeated Texas A&M, 64-54, on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU vs. Texas A&M
With junior forward Khris Middleton’s 12.4 points per game and general experience out of the Texas A&M lineup because of injury Monday night, scoring became an issue for the visitors from College Station, Texas.
Of course, that’s been the case all season for the Aggies, who entered Monday’s game averaging just 63 points per contest and fell nine points shy of that mark in a 64-54 loss to No. 5 Kansas University at Allen Fieldhouse.
Trying to describe just what went wrong on offense during his postgame meeting with the media, A&M coach Billy Kennedy painted a picture of a team that played about the way it hoped.
“We executed our game plan about as well as we could tonight,” Kennedy said.
Even so, the Aggies still could not score, and that hurt them big-time in the second half. After taking a 30-28 halftime lead, A&M scored 24 points in the second half, including just 16 points in the final 14:43.
“Well, you just look at how limited we are,” said Kennedy, trying to explain the low output. “When you lose Khris Middleton, that puts a lot of pressure on the team, and we really struggled offensively.”
Monday’s offensive performance was such a challenge that Kennedy actually praised the three buckets he received from his reserves.
“Off the bench, we had six points today,” Kennedy said. “And that’s six more than we’ve had a couple of games during the year.”
A&M (11-8 overall, 2-5 Big 12) shot 42 percent from the floor and 58 percent from three-point range. It wasn’t that the Aggies shot poorly, more that they just could not get shots consistently.
Trailing 40-38 after a pair of free throws from KU’s Thomas Robinson at the 13:47 mark of the second half, A&M turned the ball over on five of its next six possessions.
“During that stretch, it got pretty loud, and not a lot of people on the floor could hear,” said A&M junior Elston Turner, who led all scorers with 24 points. “We had two or three people running a certain play, and another two running a different play. It was just miscommunication.”
Kennedy said the game plan was to try to get to the free-throw line to score a few freebies.
Even that backfired, as A&M made seven of its 12 attempts while Kansas (17-3, 7-0) made 20 of 23. KU’s free-throw total included a clip of 10-for-10 from Robinson, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was our tempo,” Kennedy said. “Any time you hold Kansas to 64 points on the road ... unfortunately, they were 20-for-23 from the line. I don’t know what Robinson’s shooting from the free-throw line, but I don’t think he’s shooting 90 to 100 percent. They made some big free throws.”
Monday’s game was played to A&M’s liking, featured some decent shooting statistics for the Aggies and even went according to plan. And, yet, Kansas still won.
There was a reason for that, Kennedy said.
And a big part of it was Robinson.
“The difference the second half was they made a more conscious effort to get him the ball,” Kennedy said. “It’s hard to keep him out of the paint. We couldn’t move him ... That’s why he’s the player of the year, and Kansas is who they are. They’re a great system team, and they played within their system, and it worked.”
KU coach Bill Self talks about signing of Andrew Wiggins May 14, 2013
Ben McLemore interview March 28, 2013
360 QTR of Cowboy Stadium March 28, 2013
Jayhawks arrive in Dallas March 27, 2013
Jeff Withey talks about the team staying loose March 23, 2013
Comments
jayhawker_97 1 year, 3 months ago
i'm not sure whether to give TAM credit, or KU was just too soft, but they should be proud we didn't play bench till the end. dang! that's without their good player, too.
FSUJHAWK 1 year, 3 months ago
With or without their best player the result would have been the same.
BTW, good job on the freebie line.
RCJHGKU!!!
yates33333 1 year, 3 months ago
"They’re a great system team, and they played within their system, and it worked.”
Really? Last Night??
MDHawk 1 year, 3 months ago
Looked like T-Rob decided make his move in the second half, rather than shuffle a little and pass back out to the perimeter. Looked like he was playing timid in the first half, and wouldn't go up into a double team, even if just to create for Withey, et al. When he changed that in the second half, things clicked a little better, others scored, and he got to the free throw line.
jhwker3031 1 year, 3 months ago
I think it's safe to say T-Rob's mind has been distracted for the last two games. And I hope everyone can understand why. He is missing layups and generally looks a little frustrated on the court....just not strong mentally....and I think that has everything to do with the time of year and the one year anniversary of his mother passing. I'm sure he'll get his head back on straight soon, but he has really struggled on the court over the past two games....even if statisically, he looks about "normal".
Withey continues his strong play...and frankly has been more aggressive than T-Rob over last two games....and Tyshawn continues to stay focused. That's why we have won last two games.
Not sure what's up with Elijah. First the dizzy spells and now can't hit any 3s. I've heard rumors about him liking the gonja, so maybe someone needs to find him a new hook-up. Just saying. (Jokes by the way)
Releford continues to play solid, but we need him to remain aggressive on the offensive end. Having that threat opens up the floor for everyone else.
The bench has regressed. Wesley brings energy, but needs to bring more than that. Our offense kind of goes stale with him on the court. I think Young can give more than Self gives him a chance to give, but I think it's obvious Young is probably not a very good practice player. Naadir...oh Naadir....I really thought he'd be more effective by now, but good Lord, it's like he gets worse with each game. Pure PGs, which he is supposed to be, don't get stripped once a game. Ball handling is supposed to be his strong point, yet it's clearly not. And I rarely agree with the quickly aging Bob Knight, but I totally agreed with him in his assessment of Teahan last night. He really hurt our team with his quick trigger. Face it, Teahan has NOT been the sharpshooter everyone thinks he is. Most of the shots he gets are wide open, he clanks most of them. And he's a liability on defense. He needs to understand his role better and spend more time shot faking, driving and dishing to our bigs. Opponents will always challenge his shots, so I think he can fake and drive anytime he wants....even with how slow he is.
As much as I think our team can be dangerous, I still think we are being set up for another disappointment in March. It looks like we'll probably be a 2-3 seed and I think we can very easily lose to the right 14 seed (like another experienced/disciplined Davidson type team)....and definitely in the 2nd round game if we make it that far. I hope everyone clicks by that time...especially Elijah...cause our starting five can play with anyone in the country.
konkeyDong 1 year, 3 months ago
I'm not so down on Naadir right now. I know he hasn't had any stellar games since exhibition time, but I think there's a good reason for that. Self has enough guards that he can afford to keep Tharpe on an extremely short leash. Yeah, it was plenty embarrassing for him to come in and immediately get stripped by a hobbled Dash Harris (which is like the perfect B-move hero name). It also seems that ever game where he's been put in, he almost immediately fs up and is subsequently yanked. However, the couple of games where he's been left in because of our lead (Texas Tech comes to mind), he's put in a worthy performance once he's got past his early mistakes.
It seems to me he isn't any worse than he was in the preseason. It's just that off the bench, he's always gonna screw up once or twice before he gets his head in the game. Unfortunately, although we've played well, we haven't played at the level where we can afford to get past those mistakes in order to squeeze any value out of him. I think the short leash treatment will pay off next year when he will get some more of that time (likely as the backup PG), so I can't hold it against Self for staying so tight on the reigns right now.
konkeyDong 1 year, 3 months ago
The only thing that kept A&M in this game was Elijah Johnson. I don't know what his deal is, but he did everything in his power to keep KU's offense from being run. I know he's lost his stroke and would desperately love to find it, but it's not gonna happen by jacking a 3 on the perimeter every time you get a touch.
Some people seem to think that if your shot isn't falling, the thing to do is to keep taking it until you work your way out of the slump. Those people are fools though, and the only thing you're doing by taking that tact is wasting possessions for your team. Going 0 - 6 on bad shots may as well be 6 TOs. EJ would be smarter and better served to, instead of looking to find his long range game, figure out how else he can contribute to the offense and do those things. He's fast enough to beat most guards off the dribble. His mid-range game is excellent and his pull up jumper IS dropping. Beyond that, he's one of the most athletic combo guards I've ever seen. What other team runs an alley oop screen for their PG to finish off a pass from the PF?
EJ, you've got all of these great assets. Why not use them instead of trying to be the next Jimmer? You're not a Jimmer. We don't need a Jimmer. We don't want a Jimmer. It's just not the team we are. If any one should be trying to be Jimmer, that would be Teahan, more because that's really all he has to contribute rather than him being that good a shooter. Even Teahan started making shot fakes and dribble moves when it was obvious his stroke wasn't there. EJ, here's a challenge: Once you've missed more 3s than you've made on a night, call it quits. Do the other things you do so well. If you'd taken 2s in each of those situations you took 3s, we'd probably have won by 20 last night.
wiseapple 1 year, 3 months ago
"EJ, here's a challenge: Once you've missed more 3s than you've made on a night, call it quits."
What would you consider a reasonable 3 pt percentage? You realize that rarely does anyone average anywhere near 50%. Yet that is apparently what you expect from EJ every night. Doesn't seem to make sense. I understand your concern at EJ taking unnecessary risks with continued attempts, but at the very least I think your rubric needs work.
konkeyDong 1 year, 3 months ago
A reasonable 3pt percentage is over 33%. The 3pt line was designed originally with the intent that average shooters would hit it about that often, so I'd expect a guy who takes as many looks from 3 as he does to hit over 33% . EJ is at 28% on the season.
Of course I realize that 50% is a gaudy number but nowhere did I suggest that he or anybody else should be shooting that well. Even if he followed my advice (which lets face it, he'll never even see), I doubt he'd come anywhere close to hitting 50% on the season, but I think he'd see his number go up in the long run.
I'm not suggesting that he needs to be able to hit the long ball or even 2pt jumpers at 50%. Almost no one is that good. I am simply suggesting that since he's shooting that poorly on the season, less than what the average player should be able to make, maybe he should take the attitude that he'll try one or two, but if his shots aren't going down to just let go after that point and find other ways to score or get the offense going.
In conclusion, no, I don't think the rubric needs work. I think that it's incumbent on any shooter that's shooting that poorly to shoot the long range ball less.
jhwker3031 1 year, 3 months ago
A reasonable 3pt % for a "shooter" should be at 40%. 28% says he should try some other options.
A 40% 3pt shooter translates to a 60% 2pt shooter...something to write home about.
A 28% 3pt shooter is around the same as a 42% 2pt shooter....a number that usually finds you on the bench....or at a minimum with a red light for shooting.
JayCeph 1 year, 3 months ago
Nice article about Teahan: http://beyondthearc.nbcsports.com/2012/01/24/conner-teahan-is-living-his-dream-but-would-trade-it-all-back-why/related/
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