What this means…from the Windy City
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“Kansas blew a 14-point lead, once again proving you must put away a team when you have them down. Again, not much good can be gained from this loss.
KU appeared to have a Florida hangover, but that’s no excuse since they had a game sicne beating the Gators.
Brandon Rush did little, the Jayhawks lost.”
Inside the numbers
3: That’s how many points preseason All-American Brandon Rush scored for the Jayhawks. Bill Self has been on the 6-foot-6 swingman ever since arriving in Lawrence to be a more aggressive offensive force. Rush hit an early three in aggressive style, but had nothing but tough breaks when trying to do the same the rest of the afternoon.
18: That’s how many points DePaul senior Sammy Mejia scored in the second half of Saturday’s loss. The Blue Demons had little to know offensive continuity in the first half, but Mejia took care of that, as he was paced by a 3-for-5 performance from three-point range and a key turnaround jumper late in the game to put the contest on ice. He also had nine rebounds and three steals in a huge performance.
2: That’s how many consecutive wins DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright has posted over Bill Self. Wainwright brought his Richmond Spiders into Allen Fieldhouse three years ago and handed Self his first home loss as the Jayhawks’ leading man.
0-for-2: Combining two one-and-one trips to the free throw line late in the game for Russell Robinson and Brandon Rush, that was the total result of their performances. Both translated into DePaul points on the other end, as free throw woes continued to be a problem for KU.
Just in case you missed it…
A real turning point came with KU leading 47-41 late in the game, when KU had maybe its toughest defensive lapse to swallow on the entire afternoon. Russell Robinson fouled DePaul’s Karron Clarke in the corner while taking a three-pointer. Clarke hit three free throws to cut KU’s lead in half, and that sparked a 23-10 DePaul run to finish the game, including eight straight points from Sammy Mejia.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
Brandon Rush disappeared. After hitting an early three-pointer, the sophomore was for the most part absent offensively. He continued his solid rebounding of late by registering seven, and he also had three assists, including an important, unselfish inside dish to Julian Wright for one of KU’s final field goals. But a preseason All-American needs to fill up the point column, especially on the road. Rush did nothing of the sort, going 1-of-8 from the field.
