Kansas City, Mo ? Kansas didn’t pitch a shutout in the second half on Saturday night.
But the Jayhawks came close, holding Southwest Missouri State to 13 points on 6-of-30 shooting (20 percent) in the final half of a 77-43 rout at Kemper Arena.
KU’s Kenny Gregory about his foot
“You hold a team to 13 points, you usually will win the game,” KU point guard Kirk Hinrich said after the Jayhawks completed the nonconference season 11-1.
The 13 second-half points by SMS is a season-low for a KU opponent and the fourth-lowest in a half in the Roy Williams era. It’s KU’s best defensive performance in a half since Oklahoma State scored 16 points in the second half on March 7, 1999.
“I think we are getting better defensively,” Williams said. “We made a decision to go with no zone today. We were trying to work on our man to see if we could improve there.”
KU was burned by just one Bears player. Forward Mike Wallace scored 20 points the first half, four the second.
“The first half, the Wallace youngster we didn’t give any help,” Williams said, noting KU double-downed effectively on Wallace the second half.
“He did a good job the first half. We did a good job except for a six-minute stretch of the second half.”
No woes: KU senior Kenny Gregory scored 13 points the first half on 5-of-7 shooting in 15 minutes. He didn’t take a shot the second half in nine minutes.
“Kenny didn’t get involved in it,” Williams said of the final half. “I asked him if he was having pain (from the stress fracture in his left foot) and he said no.”
| Southwest Missouri State | 30 | 13 | 43 |
| Kansas | 44 | 33 | 77 |
Attendance: 15,500.
Gregory’s foot was not bothering him.
“It felt fine,” he said. “It’s not bothering me at all. I was trying to be active early and we got some easy ones. It was a good win.”
Odds ‘n’ ends: Nick Collison scored his 500th career point while Kirk Hinrich picked up his 200th career assist. Collison scored 17 points and Hinrich had eight assists. Mike Wallace’s 20 points in the first half were the most by a KU foe in one half since Texas Tech’s Rayford Young hit for 35 against KU in the second half on Feb. 13, 1999. Wallace’s nine first-half field goals were the most by a KU foe since Pepperdine’s Gerald Brown hit 10 times in the second half on Dec. 18, 1997. Jeff Boschee hit multiple threes for the first time since hitting three against Middle Tennessee State on Nov. 27. Drew Gooden tied a season-high with four assists. KU’s 11 turnovers are a season low. Luke Axtell tied a career high with three threes made, all in the first half. KU improved to 4-0 all-time against Southwest Missouri State. The Jayhawks are 51-12 versus the Missouri Valley Conference and 227-105 versus schools from the state of Missouri. Williams is 2-0 against SW Missouri State. The Jayhawks are 11-1 to open the season for the first time since the 1997-98 campaign. That squad’s only loss in 12 games was to Maryland in Washington, D.C. KU is 6-0 in Sprint Shootout games. Williams won his 340th game against 83 losses.
This just in: Remember KU’s 99-56 victory over Washburn on Nov. 25? Washburn is counting the game as an exhibition contest. However, KU is counting it as a regular-season game.
Confusion arose over the date by which NCAA Div. II teams may play exhibition games. So the Div. II regional committee rules all games against Div. I opponents would be exhibitions this season.
MORE:www.kusports.com
Three-point goals: 2-13 (Novak 2-5, Walk 0-1, Yanders 0-2, Dobbins 0-2, Brakebill 0-3). Assists: 10 (Yanders 4, Brakebill 3, Walk 2, Dobbins). Turnovers: 14 (Gaines 3, Yanders 3, Novak 2, Walk 2, Rueter 2, Brakebill, Wallace). Blocked shots: 1 (Rueter). Steals: 6 (Rueter 2, Gaines, Yanders, Dobbins, Novak). |
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Three-point goals: 5-15 (Axtell 3-5, Boschee 2-6, Hinrich 0-2, Kinsey 0-2). Assists: 23 (Hinrich 8, Gooden 4, Collison 4, Gregory 3, Boschee, Nash, Axtell, Zerbe). Turnovers: 11 (Kinsey 3, Gooden 2, Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Collison, Carey). Blocked shots: 7 (Chenowith 3, Collison 3, Axtell). Steals: 5 (Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Gooden). |
