Kansas junior Drew Gooden is starting to put up monumental numbers every time he takes the floor.
“It’s starting to remind me of high school now,” Gooden said after scoring 30 points one off a career high and grabbing 18 rebounds in KU’s 81-73 victory over Valparaiso on Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
“I don’t pressure myself before the game just like in high school. Before, I would worry about scoring two points in one game and having to do better the next game. Now it’s like high school. I know I’m going to get shots and going to get rebounds.
“It’s starting to go in slow motion a little bit,” added Gooden, who has scored 30, 25, 27 and 25 in KU’s last four games with rebound totals of 18, 16, 10 and 21 in that span.
“I am not saying this is like high school and I’m starting to dominate. Don’t put that in the paper. I’m already in enough trouble what I say in the paper,” he added with a laugh. “I mean, I feel mentally like I did in high school.”
As great as Gooden played, he was reprimanded by coach Roy Williams early on for his defensive work.
“Coach said I needed to get out there and play some ‘D,”‘ Gooden said. “I was not playing good ‘D.’ Not good enough ‘D’ to win. I fouled Lubos Barton on a three-pointer and he made all three free throws. I went up and let a guy go by me. Coach got on me and I stepped up to the challenge.”
Williams liked the play of Gooden and Nick Collison, who contributed 14 points and 15 boards.
“Better players are supposed to play on game days. I don’t like those fancy guys with the diamond rings that can’t frickin’ play worth a darn on game days. Better players are supposed to play on game days,” the coach praised.
Birthday boy: The Jayhawks weren’t planning to take Kirk Hinrich out on the town on Hinrich’s 21st birthday.
“His girlfriend is in town. He might be caked up tonight with his girlfriend,” Gooden said.
Caked up? What’s that mean, Drew?
“Cuddling when watching movies,” Gooden quickly responded.
Boschee scores 12: Jeff Boschee left the court in the second half momentarily with a stomach ache.
He hit five of 12 shots and scored 12 points, all in the first half.
He should be OK for Saturday’s game at Colorado, since it’s not a flu bug.
“Just a stomach ache,” he said.
Of the Jayhawks’ effort on defense, he said: “At times it was tough tonight. We didn’t guard the ball as well as we should have. We’ve got to stop the dribble penetration.”
Doubling down: Williams gave props to the caller on his radio show who earlier this year irritated the coach by asking about KU guards “doubling down on defense.”
“The guy that complained about us doubling down he was right one time in the first half,” Williams said, noting a KU guard did double down in the post. “I was stunned. We threw it in there and somebody comes running into the post. It’s not what we’re supposed to do.”
More on next year’s slate: Kansas will play the University of Oregon next season at the Rose Garden in Portland, not on the Ducks’ campus in Eugene.
Portland is the home of KU freshmen Aaron Miles and Michael Lee. During the 2003-04 season, Oregon will return the game to Allen Fieldhouse.
Also, KU’s foe in the 2002 Pete Newell Challenge will be Cal-Berkeley. The game will be played on Dec. 28 at the Oakland Arena.
Stats, facts: Gooden hit his first three-pointer of the season. He was honored before the game for scoring his 1,000th career point Saturday against Tulsa. Collison became the 44th player in KU history to score his 1,000th point in the second half. KU hit 41.3 percent of its shots after hitting 46 percent versus Tulsa. Wayne Simien tied a career high with 13 points. Gooden’s 55 points in the last two games ranks second in the Williams era behind Paul Pierce, who had 56 versus Vanderbilt and Hawaii.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Three-point goals: 8-32 (Barton 4-11, Stovall 3-7, Ortiz 1-5, Gomes 0-1, Nelke 0-3, Falu 0-5). Assists: 14 (Nelke 4, Barton 3, Stovall 2, Falu 2, Grafs, Ortiz, Berdiel). Turnovers: 15 (Falu 4, Barton 2, Grafs 2, Stovall 2, Gomes 2, Ortiz 2, Nelke). Blocked shots: 5 (Grafs 3, Barton, Nikkila). Steals: 12 (Barton 4, Grafs 2, Falu 2, Nelke, Stovall, Ortiz, Berdiel). |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Three-point goals: 7-16 (Boschee 3-8, Hinrich 2-5, Miles 1-1, Lee 1-1, Langford 0-1). Assists: 25 (Miles 7, Hinrich 5, Boschee 5, Gooden 3, Ballard 3, Collison 2). Turnovers: 26 (Miles 7, Collison 4, Gooden 3, Hinrich 3, Ballard 3, Boschee 2, Nash 2, Simien 2). Blocked shots: 11 (Collison 6, Hinrich 3, Simien 2). Steals: 11 (Miles 3, Gooden 2, Hinrich 2, Collison, Ballard, Langford, Simien). |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Valparaiso | 33 | 40 | 73 |
| Kansas | 40 | 41 | 81 |
Officials: Rick Hartzell, Steven Pyatt, Rob Wolff.Attendance: 16,300.
