Ames, Iowa ? Call them hot, smoking, en fuego, or maybe even forgetful that their big hoss was back inside.
Whatever the case, Kansas University’s perimeter players had a first half full of swishes and crowd-hushing three-pointers in a 71-66 men’s basketball victory over Iowa State on Wednesday at the Hilton Coliseum.
Never mind that preseason all-everything forward Wayne Simien was back in KU’s lineup, looming large in the paint for the first time since Dec. 20.
Heck, some of KU’s guards admitted they were so used to playing without him, it simply slipped their minds to make sure Simien got his touches early.
“It’s going to take awhile,” KU coach Bill Self said. “For the last 31/2 weeks, we learned to play without him. Now we’ve got to learn to play with him.”
No worries. The Jayhawks led for most of the first half. And when Simien wasn’t able to contribute due to the lack of touches, the outside shooters made up for it three points at a time.
The Jayhawks nailed their first five three-ball attempts to keep ahead of a scrappy Cyclone squad. Despite shooting 64 percent from the field, KU led just 38-35 at the break, leaving horrific wonderings as to what the score would have been had KU not had the outside touch.
“We wouldn’t have won the game,” Self said.
Hot-and-cold sophomore J.R. Giddens, who forecasted to reporters Tuesday he was destined to get “wet” soon after a two-game dry spell, hit three of his four three-point attempts and finished with 13 points, but two crucial turnovers sent him to the bench for most of the game’s final minutes.
By that point, the shooting had cooled off, but not before Aaron Miles, Alex Galindo, Russell Robinson and Simien connected from long range, helping KU shoot 44 percent from downtown and 54 percent overall.
“We came out on fire,” said Galindo, who finished with eight points. “We slowed down and started missing shots, but we just came here to win, and, somehow, we got it.”
First-half shooting made a big difference in KU’s staying unbeaten at 12-0. Now if only it can keep those hands hot from outside — while remembering to get the rock in to Simien consistently, too.
“He creates a lot of double-teams and open shots for us,” Galindo said of Simien. “It was a tough win, and it helped to get off to a good start like that.”
