Kansas University’s football team is off to its first 2-0 start since 1997 following a 21-3 victory over Tulsa and a 63-14 thrashing of Toledo.
“We just want to let people know you can’t take us lightly,” sophomore receiver/cornerback Charles Gordon said.
Apparently, oddsmakers didn’t get the message. Northwestern (0-2) is a three-point favorite against the Jayhawks for Saturday’s game at Evanston, Ill.
For the third straight week, the Jayhawks will face a quarterback being touted for postseason honors.
KU sacked Tulsa’s James Kilian seven times in the season opener and limited the second-team All-WAC quarterback to 91 yards passing and intercepted him twice.
The Jayhawks came up with two more interceptions against Toledo’s Bruce Gradkowski on Saturday. The junior ranked second in the nation last year when he completed 71.2 percent of his passes, but he was 15-of-28 against KU. Gradkowski finished with 215 yards and two touchdowns, but he lost two fumbles in addition to his interceptions.
“Our defense continues to play very aggressively,” KU coach Mark Mangino said Monday during the Big 12 Conference coaches’ teleconference. “We did a great job against a highly touted quarterback, putting pressure on him. Our pass defense was very good.”
The Jayhawks have outscored the opposition 84-17 and rank 10th in the nation in scoring defense (8.5 points per game) and 11th in the nation in total defense (219.5 yards per game).
KU’s revamped defense will be tested in its first road game by a Northwestern offense that ranks second in the nation in passing (370.5 yards per game). Quarterback Brett Basanez has passed for 741 yards and four touchdowns.
“Northwestern has lost two games to two very good football games, TCU and Arizona State,” Mangino said. “They have an excellent quarterback who throws the ball very well. … They’re a very good 0-2 football team. We have to be well prepared going into Evanston, and we will.”
Northwestern lost its season opener, 48-45, in overtime at Texas Christian and suffered a 30-21 loss to Arizona State on Saturday at home. The Wildcats will play host to KU at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ryan Field.
“I’m doing much better now,” Welty said Monday. “It had hurt for quite a while, but after visiting a chiropractor and visiting with our trainer, I recovered pretty quickly.”
Another KU recruit, Ottawa lineman Caleb Blakesley, was scheduled to have an MRI on his injured right knee Monday and should find out the extent of the damage later this week.
Back in the day, Roy Williams hoisted his share of shots at T.C. Roberson High School in Asheville, N.C.
But the two-time all-conference point guard, who was named all-Western North Carolina in 1968, never came close to launching as many bombs as UMKC’s Michael Watson.
The country’s leading scorer has averaged 23.1 shots per game entering today’s clash against Kansas.
Tipoff for the nonconference game is 2 p.m. at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. It’ll be shown live on channels 13 and 38 (cable channel 15).
“He’s taken probably more (shots) in one game than I took in 10,” KU coach Williams quipped of Watson, a 6-foot-1 junior who has made 92 of 255 shots overall, including 44 of 128 three-pointers.
“I am pretty good with numbers and can remember most things with numbers even 100 years ago when I played … I don’t ever remember shooting more than 15, 16 times a game,” Williams added. “I shot a lot more in college when I played intramurals (because) none of those guys could guard. Michael shoots it up there, but I think they decided for their team to be successful, he’s got to score.”
The former Kansas City Central High standout averages 25.6 points a game for the 1-10 Kangaroos, who average just 64.1 points per game while allowing 72.3.
Last year, Watson hit 12 of 26 shots en route to 29 points in UMKC’s 79-68 loss to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.
“If I shot 28 times a game I better score 40 or 50 or I’d be mad at myself,” said KU sophomore Keith Langford, who averages 11.7 shots a game.
“If anybody shoots 28 times on our team, we better have two or three starters not playing. If somebody is scoring 28 points on 28 shots, that’s putting it up there. I welcome him to shoot 28 shots against us if they are contested.”
Nick Collison is KU’s team leader at 12.1 shots per contest.
| When: 2 p.m. today.Where: Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.Television: Channels 13 and 38 (cable channel 15).Records: KU 8-3; UMKC 1-10.Series: KU leads 2-0.Last Meeting: KU won 79-68 on Dec. 8, 2001, at Lawrence.Up Next: Big 12 Conference opener at 8 p.m. Monday at Iowa State. |
KU senior Kirk Hinrich may be the Jayhawk assigned to guard Watson, who averaged 21.9 points a game last year for the Roos, 18-11 in Rich Zvosec’s first season as head coach.
“He’s a talented player. Last year I was amazed at all the tough shots he hit,” Hinrich said. “I know he will probably get his shots. He’ll probably get his points. Hopefully we’ll try to make it hard for him to score. We have to make sure our team goes out and takes care of business.”
The Roos lost three starters off last year’s team, but nobody expected a 1-10 beginning.
“They have had a tough go and it was even tougher the other night because I heard that Michael Watson was sick and didn’t start,” Williams said of Tuesday’s 64-61 home loss to Monmouth. “But, then I saw he played 34 minutes so it didn’t make a lot of difference. They’ve had a tough year so far and our job is to make sure that it stays tough for at least one more game.”
KU will travel to Iowa State on Monday night for the Big 12 opener for both teams.
“I’m not trying to belittle UMKC, but they’re not ranked like Arizona and Wyoming,” Williams said of upcoming nonconference foes. “Once this one’s over Saturday, every game we play is a heck of a challenge and as far as fine tuning, every part of our game, we’ve got to improve.”
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