Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotoKansas University’s basketball fans were enthused, to say the least, at halftime of the Jayhawks’ 96-51 rout of Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
The guy whose opinion matters the most, however, was not.
Coach Bill Self’s face was as red as a Santa Claus suit at the break, his Jayhawks leading, 54-22.
“Coach is real hot. That’s probably the worst halftime chewing I’ve gotten when up 30 or 40,” senior Wayne Simien said. “He was upset at a lot of things.”
KU’s second-year coach was upset at pretty much everything except the 60.6 percent shooting which staked KU to its 32-point lead.
“From a coach’s standpoint, I’d say tonight was about as poor as we played this year,” Self said after his No. 2-ranked team improved to 6-0. Louisiana-Lafayette fell to 3-4. “If we didn’t make shots, then I’d be saying we played very poorly.
“I didn’t think we guarded at all tonight. Guys beat us off the bounce, beat us to loose balls and rebounded better. I’m happy we won, and it was comfortable, and guys got a chance to play, (but) you play like that on the road, you get your butt beat if you don’t make shots.”
Keith Langford, who scored 24 points, and J.R. Giddens, who added 16, exploded for 19 and 14 off combined 12-of-16 shooting the first half as KU put away the Ragin’ Cajuns.
“Keith played really well, and J.R. got us off to a good start, but it was a poor performance by us. We should have had more pride playing on the defensive end and rebounding,” Self said.
He was especially miffed at the work of the Jayhawk freshmen big men.
C.J. Giles, Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun combined for 10 points and five boards in 32 minutes.
Freshman guard Russell Robinson had five points and an assist in 15 minutes, while Alex Galindo, who played power forward, had nine points and two boards in 11 minutes.
“Without being too candid, I’d say very poorly,” Self said of the play of KU’s freshmen big men. “I don’t think it had anything to do with scoring points. I think it had to do more with reaction time, being alert, doing what they’re supposed to do. It’s been simplified for them, and I don’t think they did that. I’m not picking on them. All our freshmen — throw Russell in the bunch — they played like it wasn’t as important tonight.”
The low point of Self’s night came 35 seconds into the second half, when Louisiana-Lafayette’s Chris Cameron scored after the Cajuns’ grabbed three offensive rebounds after misses.
Self called a timeout after the bucket.
“The only reason I called a timeout is, I challenged them (at halftime), and we gave up three offensive rebounds in 15 seconds, and they scored,” Self said. “That was the reason, to try to get their attention, at least do what I say I was going to do.”
Of the timeout, Langford said: “Someone made a defensive mistake. Coach wanted us to play like it was 0-0. We were not doing that. A lot of times, if you make shots, it’s a false sense of what you are doing.”
Langford sure made his shots. He had 19 points after 14 1/2 minutes, and freshman Nick Bahe pretended to take Langford’s temperature on the bench during a timeout.
| 60.6KU’s first-half shooting percentage11Kansas players who recorded at least 1 assist62Points scored by Keith Langford in the past three games combined |
“Me and J.R. made some shots, but we were missing box outs, screens. There were stretches we were really unsound. It probably has to do with being ahead by a large margin,” Langford added.
KU rolled, 42-29, in the second half.
Self was able to sit Simien and Langford the final 10 1/2 minutes.
Aaron Miles, who had seven assists and one turnover, led the way with 25 minutes, while Langford played 23, Simien 21, Giddens 19 and Christian Moody 15.
“I like switching roles and cheering the other guys on,” Simien said. “I think it was good for us.”
The Jayhawks enter finals week and next will meet South Carolina at 7 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
WIBW video: WIBW video: KU blows out UL-Lafayette
Hear Bill: UL-Lafayette postgame comments
Get the stats: KU vs. UL-Lafayette box score
Photo Gallery: KU vs. UL-Lafayette
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