Roy Williams’ words of wisdom are starting to sink in.
“I’m glad I finally took coach’s advice,” Kansas University senior guard-forward Kenny Gregory said after grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds several that led to stickback baskets in the Jayhawks’ 101-61 rout of Boise State on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
“It’s helping the team out and helping me get some easy baskets,”added Gregory, who finished with 25 points, two off his career high.
Williams has been hounding Gregory about the value of rebounding particularly offensive rebounding.
After chatting with KU’s coach about defense and rebounding at the pregame meal, Gregory, KU’s 6-foot-5 jumping jack, hit the glass for five offensive boards.
For the season, he’s averaging 21.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
“I just try to get in there and mix with the big guys,” Gregory said. “They say I’m only 6-foot-5, but I try to use my jumping ability and knack for knowing where the ball is going to fall.”
Gregory, who hit 11 of 15 shots, scored six points in a 14-0 run that hiked Kansas’ 14-13 lead to 28-13 with 10:17 left in the first half.
He totaled 15 points and eight rebounds the first half as the Jayhawks (4-0) rolled to a 57-24 lead over Boise State (0-2) of the Big West Conference.
“Kenny is a leaper, a high flier. He has a knack for knowing how the ball bounces,” said KU senior center Eric Chenowith, who scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. “Kenny was unbelievable on offense. He made so many quick moves to the basket.”
“Kenny was sensational,” noted junior Jeff Boschee, who hit four threes and scored 14 points after not attempting a three against North Dakota in KU’s 92-61 victory on Friday.
Included in Gregory’s arsenal was a three-point basket.
“Kenny was impressive,” KU coach Williams said. “He and I met this afternoon before pregame and again tried to emphasize the defensive end of the floor and getting to the offensive boards.
“He is doing a better job taking the ball to the basket. He’s 11-for-15 and missed two from two inches. One I thought he was fouled on. The other he missed point blank and Drew (Gooden, 20 points, six boards) put it in.
“He shot the one three and it was OK with me,” Williams added. “I am a lot more confident in Kenny now than I was last year. If he wants to do that every night, I’ll let him,” Williams added, referring to Gregory’s shooting display.
Gregory came up big as did the Jayhawks’ team defense.
Boise State hit just 36.7 percent of its shots. The Broncos’ leading scorer, Abe Jackson, didn’t score the first half and finished with just nine points.
“It’s the most excited I’ve been the entire season about our defense,” Williams said. “It’s the first time I’ve been even halfway pleased with what we’ve done defensively. I loved our work on the backboards (48-22 advantage) and loved our ability to get good shots and make good shots.”
KU hit 62.7 percent of its shots (42-for-67).
Boise State played Cincinnati close in its opener Saturday night at Cincy, falling 73-61. KU wasn’t going to let this game be close.
Boise State | 24 | 37 | 61 |
Kansas | 57 | 44 | 101 |
Attendance: 15,600.
“I told them it’d be a much more difficult game than Friday’s,” Williams said of KU’s 31-point win over North Dakota. “We saw some tape and they saw the score of the Cincinnati game.”
“I think coach was concerned,” Chenowith said. “He mentioned they played Cincinnati very tough. We had two great days of practice getting ready. We wanted to come out and send a message and not let them play with us.”
The only real negative Monday, Williams said, was turnovers. KU committed 24 turnovers, 14 the second half. Kirk Hinrich had 10 assists, but six turnovers.
“He doesn’t feel real good about his play and I don’t either,” Williams said of Hinrich, a sophomore point guard. “I told him we’ll come in and watch some tape together. He is a heck of a player. He set the tone for our defense tonight. Up front he decided he was not going to get beat on the drive.”
The Jayhawks led the Broncos, 14-13, at 15:17 then went a 14-0 run that stretched the margin to 15 points 28-13 at 10:17. Gregory, who had 15 points the first half, scored six straight in the run, including a slam dunk off a feed from Gooden, plus a steal and driving layup.
KU kept on the defensive pressure and increased the run to 34-7, leading 48-20 with three minutes left in the half. By half’s end, KU led 57-24 courtesy of a 43-11 half-ending surge.
The second half was academic. No way could Boise get back in the game.
“The only thing discouraging and it was really discouraging was the way we handled the ball in the second half,” Williams said. “We had 24 turnovers. That’s just silly. We can’t be silly. The second half it was just ridiculous.”
Three-point goals: 6-21 (Woods 4-6, Jackson 2-8, Skiffer 0-1, Armstrong 0-1, Nabors 0-2, Hordemann 0-3). Assists: 13 (Skiffer 5, Jackson 3, Morgan, Nabors, DeFares, Hordemann, Armstrong). Turnovers: 15 (Skiffer 6, DeFares 3, Jackson 2, Woods, Morgan, Nabors, team). Blocked shots: 1 (Tillman). Steals: 10 (Jackson 3, Hordemann 3, DeFares 2, Woods, Morgan). |
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Three-point goals: 6-9 (Boschee 4-6, Gregory 1-1, Hinrich 1-2). Assists: 27 (Hinrich 10, Gregory 4, Boschee 4, Chenowith 3, Collison 2, Gooden 2, Nash, Harrison). Turnovers: 24 (Hinrich 6, Gooden 4, Gregory 3, Kinsey 3, Carey 3, Boschee 2, Collison, Chenowith, Nash). Blocked shots: 10 (Gooden 4, Chenowith 3, Collison 2, Carey). Steals: 6 (Gregory 2, Collison, Boschee, Gooden, Kinsey). |