A healthy Nick Collison makes all the difference for Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.
“It helps to not be dying out there,” said Collison, who scored a career-high 26 points and contributed a career-best seven assists in KU’s 91-79 victory over Colorado on Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
The 6-foot-9 sophomore forward scored 23 points combined in KU’s previous two games losses to Baylor and Iowa State while suffering from flu-like symptoms that lasted a little more than a week.
“I’m pretty much all the way back. That’s huge,” Collison said.
Collison said using an inhaler helped him shake the bug a couple of days ago.
“That’s not the whole thing. I was getting the ball inside and making shots, too,” Collison said.
Collison hit 10 of 14 shots, several off feeds from roommate Kirk Hinrich, who had eight assists and from Jeff Boschee, who had four.
“I talked to Kirk and Jeff yesterday and said they had to get the ball inside,” said KU coach Roy Williams, who wanted to get a healthy Collison and Eric Chenowith (17 points, nine boards) involved early, especially with Collison feeling better.
KU had been missing a lot of inside offense with Drew Gooden out the last four games (wrist injury) and Luke Axtell also out because of back woes.
The fact Collison surpassed his previous career best (23 versus DePaul) pleased Williams, whose team hit an even 50 percent of their shots to CU’s 39.4 percent.
“Nick Collison was flat out sick last week at Waco and Iowa State. He kept trying. I’m really happy to see him bounce back tonight and have a heck of a night,” Williams said.
So was Hinrich.
“Coach talked to me and Jeff yesterday. He put it on our shoulders, telling us to make sure Nick got involved in the game early,” Hinrich said. “That’s what we did. We wanted to get it inside and did. Nick did a great job after being under the weather a little bit.”
Kenny Gregory (20 points, nine boards) and Jeff Carey (seven points, nine boards) were also solid for the Jayhawks, who improved to 20-5 overall and 9-4 in the Big 12. CU dropped to 15-12, 5-9 after losing its 24th straight game to Kansas.
Carey and Gregory teamed for an unlikely basket right before halftime.
Boschee missed a free throw with :04.4 left, the ball kicking to Carey who retrieved it in the corner. Carey turned and launched the ball high in the air. Gregory grabbed it and slammed at the buzzer, giving KU a 41-32 lead.
“If it went in, I’d say it was a shot. Since it didn’t and Kenny scored, I’ll say it’s a pass,” Carey quipped after being charged with a shot on the stat sheet.
Seriously folks …
“I was thinking there was not much time left and I knew there wasn’t time to turn and shoot. I just wanted to get it up there and maybe somebody could get a rebound and put it in,” Carey said.
Gregory did that with his vicious slam.
“Jeff threw it up. I went to crash the boards and was able to dunk it over some guys. I’m happy to be at the right place at the right time,” Gregory said.
Gregory also had a remarkable one-handed, five foot shot off the glass with 9:08 left, giving KU a 71-61 lead. His shot was part of a 9-2 run that stretched a 63-59 lead to 11 points.
“I’ll have to see it on film to see why I made that decision (to use one hand ala Michael Jordan),” Gregory said after hitting 10 of 15 shots. “I got in there and saw too many trees, so I decided to go that way.”
He also had a 360 degree breakaway dunk with 2:59 left, giving KU an 85-73 lead and drawing the loudest ovation of the night.
“It’s up there,” Gregory said, asked if it was one of his career favorites. “I didn’t dunk it as hard as I wanted to. Being that it was near the end of the game I decided to try something for the fans. It was a good way to end the game.”
“I like watching Kenny Gregory dunk as much as anyone. I enjoyed it,” noted Williams.
The Jayhawks, who survived CU’s 21 of 22 free throw shooting, plus a 15-point, 16-board effort from Stephane Pelle, will travel to Nebraska for a 2:30 p.m. tipoff on Sunday.
Three-point goals: 6-15 (Harrison 3-6, Mohr 2-5, Wilson 1-1, Winston 0-1, Brimmer 0-2). Assists: 12 (Mohr 4, Winston 3, Brimmer 2, Mosley, Pelle, Harbert). Turnovers: 15 (Harrison 3, Pelle 3, Harbert 2, Fox 2, Mosley, Winston, Mohr, Brimmer, Wilson). Blocked shots: 1 (Fox). Steals: 11 (Pelle 2, Brimmer 2, Wilson 2, Mosley, Harrison, Morandais, Harbert, Fox). |
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Three-point goals: 3-15 (Hinrich 2-4, Boschee 1-6, Collison 0-1, Gregory 0-1, Carey 0-1, Ballard 0-2). Assists: 22 (Hinrich 8, Collison 7, Boschee 4, Gregory 2, Carey). Turnovers: 14 (Hinrich 3, Boschee 3, Collison 2, Ballard 2, Gregory, Chenowith, Nash, Carey). Blocked shots: 7 (Chenowith 3, Collison 2, Carey 2). Steals: 8 (Hinrich 3, Gregory, Chenowith, Boschee, Ballard, Carey). |