DAYTON, OHIO ? The zone defense turned out to be a major factor on Sunday but not Syracuse’s highly publicized 2-3 zone.
This time, Kansas University’s point zone defense stole the show, holding the Orangemen to miserable 30.4 percent shooting in KU’s 87-58 second-round NCAA Midwest Regional victory at Dayton Arena.
| Syracuse | 34 | 24 | 58 |
| Kansas | 39 | 48 | 87 |
“Coach (Roy Williams) told us they don’t really like to play against a zone defense,” KU junior shooting guard Jeff Boschee said. “We feel we played good defense and we realize we caught Syracuse on a bad day. Their shots were not going down.”
Boschee hit four threes in nine tries. As a team, Syracuse hit five of 27 from beyond the arc.
“Our zone was good today. It made them miss shots,” KU senior Eric Chenowith said. “Our point is a zone defense, but with man-to-man principles. I think they were frustrated. You could see them yelling orders at each other.”
The Orange’s Preston Shumpert, Damone Brown and Allen Griffin were a combined 11-of-40 shooting.
“They are all good shooters,” Chenowith said. “They had a bad night. It’s a blessing. Think of how many teams have had good nights against us. We’ve had a lot of teams hit a lot of shots when they play Kansas.”
KU played well in all phases of the game Sunday in advancing to Friday’s Sweet 16 game against Illinois in San Antonio.
The Jayhawks hit 55.8 percent of their shots and seven of 14 threes.
Also KU cashed 22 of 29 free throws and, most importantly, outrebounded Syracuse 56 to 23.
The rebound margin of 33 was KU’s largest this season, third largest for KU in an NCAA Tourney game and ties for the fifth largest margin in any NCAA game.
“We knew we’d get rebounds with them in a 2-3 zone. They do a good job getting out on our shooters, but not boxing out. It has to give somewhere. Our five guys hit the boards tonight,” Chenowith said.
Drew Gooden grabbed a career-high 15 boards. Nick Collison tied a season high with 13, and Jeff Boschee snared a career-high seven.
“It wasn’t just me, it was the entire team,” Gooden said. “To me, it was Nick, Kenny (Gregory) and Eric grabbing rebounds. And Jeff. It was part of our mission. This team is on a mission. If you’ve seen our senior posters this year it’s ‘Men on a Mission.”‘
Three-point goals: 5-27 (Shumpert 3-11, Williams 2-9, Brown 0-1, McClanaghan 0-1, Griffin 0-5). Assists: 12 (Shumpert 3, Griffin 3, Williams 3, Duany, Thues, Celuck). Turnovers: 6 (Williams 2, Shumpert, Brown, Griffin, Duany). Blocked shots: 4 (Celuck 3, McNeil). Steals: 10 (Williams 4, Shumpert 3, Brown, Griffin, Thues). |
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Three-point goals: 7-14 (Boschee 4-9, Ballard 1-1, Harrison 1-1, Hinrich 1-2, Gregory 0-1). Assists: 17 (Hinrich 6, Gooden 4, Collison 3, Gregory, Boschee, Ballard, Kappelmann). Turnovers: 20 (Collison 6, Hinrich 4, Gooden 3, Boschee 3, Chenowith 2, Gregory, Ballard). Blocked shots: 5 (Gooden 3, Hinrich, Chenowith). Steals: 0 |
