Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotoJust win, baby.
All season long, Kansas University’s men’s basketball team has been piddling — except for Wayne Simien, and he’s on the shelf — at the free-throw line.
Yet in Wednesday night’s nail-biting 65-60 triumph over Texas A&M, arguably the most improved team in North America, the Jayhawks made 11 of their last 13 free throws.
Most of the season, too, veteran Michael Lee has been treading water.
Yet Lee came off the bench, played 28 minutes, scored 10 points and helped hold Antoine Wright, A&M’s leading scorer, to 14 points.
On the surface, the late free-throw shooting and Lee’s bullpen performance don’t seem all that important, but the whole is still equal to the sum of its parts.
Twice now — Saturday against Georgia Tech and Wednesday against A&M, the most improved team in the Western Hemisphere — Kansas has found a way to win with Simien on the bench in street clothes.
Asked how the Jayhawks had been able to subdue the Aggies, KU coach Bill Self couldn’t put his finger on any one thing — “Guys just made plays,” he said — but Self did muse how winning seems to beget winning.
“We were 0-8 last year when we were behind in the last five minutes,” Self said, “and I think we’re 4-0 this year when we’ve been behind in the last five minutes.”
In the Georgia Tech game, Kansas prevailed, 70-68, in overtime even though Alex Galindo missed four free throws down the stretch. It’s doubtful the Jayhawks would have survived the Aggies if they had missed four straight charities this time.
Christian Moody, the most improved player in the North America and perhaps the Western Hemisphere, was the only KU player who misfired at the line in the last 5 1/2 minutes. Moody bricked a pair with :23.5 showing and KU leading 61-58.
Eight seconds later, the Aggies’ Acie Law drove the lane for a two-point basket to cut the deficit to 61-60, and guess who was fouled one tick later. Yep, it was Moody.
So with :14.4 on the clock and KU clinging to a one-point lead, Moody stuck a dagger in the Aggies’ hearts by stepping to the line again and drilling both attempts.
“Moody missed those two,” guard Aaron Miles said, “and he said, ‘I’m making the next two.’ We’ve got to be confident like that.”
And how about Keith Langford? Only a 54 percent free thrower going in, Langford made his last five free throws. He didn’t just make them, either. He swished them.
“I’ve been listening to my You-Can-Do-It tapes,” Langford quipped. “Every time I go to the line, I say I’m zero-for-zero.”
When the nitty became gritty, Langford was 5-for-5 at the foul line, Miles and Lee both were 2-for-2, and Moody was 2-for-4. On the night, Kansas cashed 22 of 27 free throws. That’s 81.5 percent from a team that had been shooting 61.7 percent.
Still, the feel-good story of the night was Lee, who was The Forgotten Man in the Georgia Tech game, logging only two minutes against the Yellow Jackets with his parents in the seats.
“It bothered me,” Lee said about his lack of playing time, “but my family was with me when I was playing one minute a game when I was a freshman, and they’ll always be with me.”
Lee probably would have been destined for another two-minute stint Wednesday night if Langford hadn’t been forced to sit 15 minutes of the first half because of foul trouble and if J.R. Giddens had been able to hit the ocean from a row boat.
As it was, Lee made the most of his unexpected opportunity.
“He hasn’t had anything good happen to him in two or three weeks,” Self said. “We wouldn’t have won without Mike. He’s just been trying too hard. He’s a senior, and he wants it so bad.”
Two unexpected resources — Lee and free-throw shooting — were the critical factors in a game that ultimately was more important than the Georgia Tech game or Sunday’s trip to Kentucky, because how many Big 12 teams have ever lost at home to Texas A&M and won the league championship?
Thad Allender/Journal-World PhotoNorman, Okla. ? You never know when a football team won’t show up.
Second-ranked Oklahoma, for instance, could have had an emotional letdown Saturday after last week’s satisfying win at Kansas State. The Sooners could have been looking ahead to next week’s Bedlam Series battle with Oklahoma State.
Moreover, OU’s players could have been overwhelmed by the distractions of homecoming. And, when on their first series, the Sooners were forced to punt after two dropped passes, you had to wonder if Kansas University had happened to catch OU at the right time.
Wrong. The only commodity scarcer these days than flu vaccine is an antidote for Oklahoma’s poisonous offense.
All week, all everybody had been talking about in the Red Clay Country was Adrian Peterson, the sensational freshman running back who was about to join a group of Sooner immortals by passing the 1,000-yard rushing plateau.
Saturday’s pre-game stories in the Oklahoma newspapers were top-heavy with paeans to Peterson, touting the precocious freshman as the greatest thing to come out of Palestine (Texas) since Christianity.
In much the same way, Kansas coach Mark Mangino decided the Jayhawks had a better chance of stunning the Sooners if his defense concentrated its anti-venom efforts on neutralizing Peterson.
And for three quarters, KU’s defenders put Peterson into remission, allowing him only 23 yards on 11 carries.
Not that it mattered, because the ancient quarterback produced more than enough poison. That would be, of course, Jason White. Yes, White won the Heisman Trophy last year, but that’s old news. Heck, this is White’s sixth college season — he was granted an extra year of eligibility because of injuries — and hardly anybody talks about him anymore with the new kid in town grabbing all the headlines.
I ran into Dean Blevins in the press box Saturday. Blevins, a former OU quarterback who now works as a sportscaster in Oklahoma City, can’t believe how little respect White has received this season.
“He’s 10 times better than he was last year,” Blevins told me, “and he’s about eighth in the Heisman Trophy running.”
Nobody wearing a Kansas uniform could offer a legitimate rebuttal. All White did was throw for 389 yards and four touchdowns without tossing a single interception against a team that had stolen six passes in its previous two games.
“He’s the Heisman Trophy winner, and he showed it,” KU sophomore quarterback Adam Barmann said. “He was in supreme command of their offense.”
All White seems to lack is cachet. He has the arm, he has the offensive line to allow him time to throw, and he has an underrated corps of receivers who not only have NASCAR wheels but the ability to make acrobatic receptions as well.
When Kansas shifted its attention to White’s passing late in the second half, the Sooners went back to the run, and Peterson proved by gaining 99 yards in 11 carries, mostly by busting tackles, there is no cure for such deadly talent.
Last year about this time, Kansas was playing Baylor. This year, the Bears, everybody’s favorite Big 12 punching bag, are absent from the Jayhawks’ schedule.
Sure, Kansas would rather have played Baylor than Oklahoma on Saturday, but KU has no control over the conference schedule. OU is on a collision course with the national championship. Kansas wants to notch enough wins to go to a bowl game.
In that regard, Saturday’s Iowa State game in Ames, Iowa, is the most important game the Jayhawks will play all season, because if they don’t win that one their chances of winning the required six games virtually will disappear.
Sometimes in the course of a football season all you can do is retreat, regroup and reload for next time. And be thankful Iowa State cannot make a trade to obtain White and Peterson.
6Sports video: Jayhawks win Big 12 opener
Hear Bill, players: Texas A&M postgame comments
Photo Gallery: KU vs. Texas A&M
Get the stats: KU vs. Texas A&M box score
Scorecard: Grade KU’s performance against Texas A&M
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