Simien: Jayhawks can learn from Villanova loss

By Gary Bedore     Jan 24, 2005

There’s at least one positive that came out of Kansas University’s 21-point blowout loss to Villanova on a snowy Saturday in Philadelphia.

“Luckily it wasn’t a conference game. It has no impact on us winning the championship,” KU senior forward Wayne Simien said.

“We can turn this into a positive. We can still accomplish a lot.”

Indeed, the loss in No. 2-ranked KU’s final nonconference game of the regular season likely will affect the Jayhawks’ position in this week’s top 25 rankings, but not in the Big 12 Conference standings.

KU, 14-1 overall, will take a 4-0 mark in league play into Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. game at Baylor (9-6, 1-3).

“We want to do well in all our games,” Simien said. “We always try to do our best, conference, nonconference, but by no means is it the end of the season. We’ll try to spin a negative into a positive, learn from it, come out and tighten things up and be ready to resume conference play.”

Simien was the most productive of KU’s seniors Saturday, scoring 15 points with eight rebounds, six assists and five turnovers in 29 minutes.

“They all have to do it,” KU coach Bill Self said of the seniors. “Wayne, I think, was the most positive of a very negative day. He was the most positive from a leadership standpoint.

“Aaron (Miles, 1-of-4 shooting, five assists, three turnovers) has to do his thing. Keith (Langford, 3-of-10, eight points) has to do his thing. Mike is limited what he can do not playing as many minutes,” he added of Michael Lee, who had three points and two turnovers.

“Collectively, they can all do a better job. I can do a better job, too.”

Freshman center Sasha Kaun had a big game with 11 points, three blocks and five boards in 18 minutes.

“I think Sasha was the best player for us,” Self said. “He’s going to be good. He’s starting to come.”

The other freshmen struggled in chilly Philly. Darnell Jackson, Russell Robinson and Alex Galindo combined for three points in 21 minutes. Robinson and Galindo were inserted early then banished to the bench after committing two turnovers and charging.

“Coach has made it very clear as far as guys the past couple games, if guys don’t cut it out on court, no matter who they are, they’ll come out right away,” Simien said.

“It was nothing personal,” Self said of his substitutions, which included the starters sitting for a long second-half stretch. “I was trying to get some guys in there who would play well.”

Self, who recently said, “no, no, no,” when asked if a substitute had to do something positive right away lest get the hook, explained what he wanted out of his rookie big men — including Galindo, who has played a lot of power forward as well as small forward.

“They need to do what they can do — run, seal, play good defense, go after every ball. They can put pressure on their big guys, set screens … it’s what they’ve got to do,” Self said. “The point stuff is a bonus. We’ve got to start rebounding. We can’t run if we don’t do that. These guys, put Alex in the mix, they all can do it. They should get offensive rebounds.”

Next chance to show improvement is Tuesday … back on the road, back in conference play.

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