Jeff Boschee charged out of the northwest tunnel of Allen Fieldhouse during the second half of Wednesday’s Kansas-Valparaiso basketball game.
He returned shortly after taking care of a nasty upset stomach.
“I didn’t throw him out, but I thought about throwing a couple of ’em out the way we were playing defense,” Kansas coach Roy Williams quipped after the No. 2-ranked Jayhawks’ 81-73 victory over the unranked Crusaders.
As elated as Williams was with big men Drew Gooden and Nick Collison they combined for 44 points and 33 rebounds and scored 10 points in an 11-2 run that broke a 68-all tie in the final five minutes he was steamed at KU’s overall team defense.
“Right now we are struggling a little big guarding the basketball. Our problem right now is stopping dribble penetration because people penetrate and pitch,” Williams explained.
KU had similar problems in Saturday’s 93-85 win over a quick Tulsa team.
“It’s technique, desire and sometimes it’s just quickness,” Williams said, noting Tulsa’s guards were among the quickest KU will play all season but not Valpo’s. “I may have to give you 10 yards of cushion, but you are not going to drive me to the basket. Not anybody in this room is ever gonna drive me to the basket because I’ll kill you before you drive it to the basket. It’s an attitude we’ve got to have on our team.
“It’s not, ‘That’s all right. He just drove in there, coach.’ It’s not all right. Your life may depend on it because mine depends on it.”
At least Valpo’s shooting percentage following the penetration and dish was way off.
Valpo guards Antonio Falu, Mile Stovall and Stalin Ortiz scored 18, 13 and 10 points respectively on 4-of-17 three-point shooting. Overall, Valpo hit eight of 32 threes, not good enough for a win over the 11-1 Jayhawks.
“If you tell me they’ll make eight of 32 every night I’d say, ‘Heck, let’s let ’em shoot,”‘ Williams said. “The thing you’ve got to do with three-pointers is get out and guard people. If you let ’em stand out there and shoot like it’s a H-O-R-S-E game, they are going to beat you.”
At one point, Williams he was most vocal during a time out with 7:43 left yanked freshman Keith Langford for soph Bryant Nash and then yanked Nash for seldom-used freshman Michael Lee in a three-minute span.
He was looking for somebody anybody to play defense.
“At one point I was really disgusted. I challenged everybody. I said, “Kirk is the only guy we have playing defense,”‘ Williams said.
Hinrich, who celebrated his 21st birthday Wednesday, had an off night on offense with four points on 2-of-5 shooting.
Down the stretch, it was Gooden and Collison’s offense that saved the day.
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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). |
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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). |
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| Valparaiso | 33 | 40 | 73 |
| Kansas | 40 | 41 | 81 |
Officials: Rick Hartzell, Steven Pyatt, Rob Wolff.Attendance: 16,300.
Gooden hit for 30 points one off a career high on 11-of-21 shooting. He hit seven of nine free throws and had 18 boards.
Collison, who had 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting, accepted a pass from Gooden and converted a short shot with 4:35 left, busting a 68-all tie.
Collison converted two free throws at 4:16 to give KU a 72-68 lead. The Jayhawks never looked back, outscoring Valpo 13-5 to close the game.
“Last game Kirk made plays down the stretch,” Gooden said. “Today it was Nick. I think this team is very confident down the stretch. We have confidence we are going to make plays.”
Gooden followed Collison’s four-point flurry with a tap at 3:27, giving KU a 74-68 lead.
“It would have been nice if we could have done some things earlier to not make it as close a game as it was,” Collison said. “But it was good to make plays down the stretch and win the game.”
Though perturbed at the defense, Williams was thrilled with KU’s play the final five minutes. KU, which led by as many as 12 the first half, hit a season-low 41.3 percent of its shots.
“I like the fact when the score was tied we score three of the next four possessions,” the coach said. “The bottom line is when the score got tied, our kids made plays.”
Valpo fell to 10-5.
“I challenged us to make sure we got Collison and Gooden involved a heck of a lot more,” Williams said. “Look at their lines and they were involved a heck of a lot more. Drew gets 30 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, no turnovers it’s about as good as it gets. Talk to him now and he’ll tell you he can play even better.
“That score is tied and Nick Collison gives fantastic effort,” the coach added of the player who scored his 1,000th point in a Jayhawk uniform. “So far this team has been able to answer some challenges when they’ve had to step up and make plays they’ve been able to do that.”
KU opens the Big 12 portion of its schedule on Saturday at Colorado.
“I told the kids they should feel good about what they accomplished. We played a very good schedule, the past three or four weeks ranked in the top 20 to 25. To be 11-1 against that kind of schedule, the kids should feel good,” Williams said.
