KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In its final game at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo., Kansas will be playing in front of a slow-filling crowd, as the mood is less-than-lively.
But the Jayhawks still have to take care of business in what for years has been their home away from home.
KU enters the game at 7-2, having knocked off Southern Cal in a gritty 72-62 home win Tuesday night, but after facing the Rockets today in Kansas City will have a 10-day layoff before returning to action Dec. 19 at home against Winston-Salem State.
One underlying storyline is a display of talent from Chicago’s Crane Tech high school. Aside from KU freshman Sherron Collins, two Crane grads will be suited up for Toledo.
And both start.
Senior 6-foot-6 forward Florentino Valencia averages 13.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game for Toledo, while sophomore 6-foot-5 two-guard Tyrone Kent averages 5.8 points and 3.5 boards per for the visitors from Ohio.
Toledo is led by senior forward Keonta Howell, who scores 19.8 points a night, and senior guard Justin Ingram, who boasts a 17.2 per scoring average.
FIRST HALF
Mario Chalmers opened the game up for KU with a pull-up jumper from 17 feet after KU won the tip. But Toledo’s Justin Ingram, the Rockets’ second-leading scorer, drove the lane past Brandon Rush for a gliding two. Mario Chalmers then missed a three and fouled Toledo after the defensive board to give the ball back.
Toledo couldn’t score, and the board was pulled down by Darnell Jackson, starting in place of Darrell Arthur to avoid early foul trouble.
Toledo took the lead though on five straight points by leading scorer Keonta Howell, who first hit a three-pointer from the right wing, and then drove the lane on a fast break to put Toledo up 7-2 with 17:37 to play in the first half.
Chalmers scored right out of a 30-second timeout for KU in similar fashion to which Howell had just done for Toledo. After a Florentino Valencia miss for Toledo, Brandon Rush tied the game with a corner three-pointer. It was promptly followed by a Toledo turnover.
Jackson then took an inside feed from Chalmers to earn the game’s first free-throw line trip. The junior from Oklahoma City, Okla., hit one of two, giving KU another advantage at 8-7 with 15:53 to play in the first half.
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Jackson scored on another dish from Chalmers, this time on a leaning layup, but it was quickly negated by a Tyrone Kent jumper on the opposite end of the floor.
Jackson then missed inside, and Toledo took back the lead on Florentino Valencia’s acrobating two points underneath the iron.
Jackson kept the see-saw score moving with a pair of free throws, and he was then subbed out at the 14-minute mark for Darrell Arthur, who entered the game along with Sherron Collins, replacing Russell Robinson.
After a pair of turnovers, Toledo’s Ridley Johnson swiped a loose ball after a no-look pass attempt from Sherron Collins and hit a three. Darrell Arthur tied it on the other end, but Keonta Howell hit yet another trey to put the Rockets up three at 17-14.
After that, Brandon Rush was whistled for just the Jayhawks’ second team foul of the game as the two teams headed for a full timeout at the 11:39 mark in the first half. Keonta Howell leads all scorers with eight points.
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After Rodrick Stewart was whistled for a pushoff when Toledo inbounded the ball, Ingram hit an NBA-range three for Toledo to make it a six-point Rocket advantage at 20-14.
Sasha Kaun was able to score for KU to provide some form of return blow with a leaner on the right side of the paint.
Darrell Arthur found himself at the line on KU’s next possession off of a Toledo miss, and Arthur hti one of two to cut the lead to three points. After a pair of Toledo clanks, Darrell Arthur slammed home two points emphatically while rattling the rim to bring KU within one.
Another Toledo turnover led to a Sherron Collins fastbreak layup and a 21-20 KU lead with 8:51 left until halftime.
Sherron Collins splashed home a corner three out of the timeout, making it a 10-0 KU run.
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Sasha Kaun extended it to a 12-0 run with an inside layup right out of the television break, followed by Howell quickly missing a three-pointer for Toledo. Robinson kept it going with his first points fo the game coming on a three-pointer.
Toledo finally ended the run with an Ingram free-throw line jumper, but KU still led 29-22.
Howell then hit a three to take back a little larger piece of the momentum. Brandon Rush and Ingram then swapped threes, keeping it at a four-point game.
Rush, though, moved around another screen to score from deep yet again. This time, Ingram clanked his response shot, but KU gave the ball right back, and Valentino hit two free throws.
But Rush continued with his hot hand, as he canned his fourth three-pointer of the game. A Valentino layup kept Toledo within six points at 38-32 with 3:27 left until halftime.
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Toledo missed a pair of shot attempts out of the timeout. On the other side of the ledger, KU has opened the game shooting at a 70-percent clip, going 14-of-20 to start, including 6-of-9 from three-point range.
A KU foul called on Russell Robinson put Toledo in the bonus at the 2:14 mark. Howell scored his 12th and 13th points of the game to make it a four-point game with KU leading 38-34.
Julian Wright scored his first points of the game ont eh next KU possession with a jumper from the top of the key. Toledo tehn turned the ball back over the KU, and Sasha Kaun scored his fifth and sixth points inside on a feed from Julian Wright. He then wiped a Toledo shot off of the glass, and Julian Wright was fouled in transition, sending him to the free throwl line with less than a minute left until halftime.
Wright hit both to put KU up 44-34. Toledo couldn’t get a clean look before the half, as that was the count heading into the break. Since trailing 20-14, KU outscored Toledo 30-14 the rest of the way. Brandon Rush leads KU with 12 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting, while Toledo’s Keonta Howell leads all scorers with 13. KU is shooting 72.7 percent from the floor after one half.
SECOND HALF
Howell opened up the second half with a three-pointer after Brandon Rush missed one of his own on the other end. Mario Chalmers then missed another trey, and Kashif Payne hit a pull-up jumper for the Rockets to slice the halftime deficit in half at 44-39.
A Russell Robinson miss off of a Darrell Arthur screen opened up another window of opportunity for the Rockets, but Payne turned it over on a wild pass in the paint. Another Toledo miss was followed by Chalmers losing the ball off of his foot on the other end, as Bill Self whistled a second timeout to try and wake his club up wtih 17:11 left in the game.
Out of the timeout, KU had a solid defensive stand, and on the opposite end, Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur each missed inside looks. Rush got a third chance for KU, though, and worked his way to the free throw line. He hit both attempts to score KU’s first points of the half at the 16:32 mark. Toledo was then called for its second straight traveling violation.
Darnell Jackson kept KU’s little run going with his first points of the second half on a spinning inside deuce off of a Brandon Rush drop-in pass, putting KU up 48-39 with 15:46 left.
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Florentino Valencia hit one of two free thorws after drawing Darrell Arthur’s third foul out of the timeout, but Arthur answered with a turnaround two just seconds later to again put KU up 10 points.
Arthur again scored a couple minutes later on a turnaround from the opposite side of the paint by putting it off the window. Toledo finally answered with a Jonathan Amos three-pointer, and then rebounding a Brandon Rush missed three.
Amos scored another two in transition off of a bad Sherron Collins pass, but Brandon Rush hit his fifth three of the game on a second opportunity in the same trip down the floor, and followed it by swatting an errant Toledo shot.
The momentum came to a close after another Collins turnover, this time while trying to enter the ball in to Sasha Kaun. It was followed by a Shane Ross jumper for Toledo, making it a 55-47 game with 10:16 to go.
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Howell hit a two for Toledo to make it a six-point game again, but Sasha Kaun hit his first field goal of the second half in return and was hit in the process. The free throw missed off the back iron, but kept KU up 57-49.
A television timeout stopped play at 7:54, with Toledo maintaining possession after a loose ball scramble.
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Kaun hit a turnaround, one-hander off the glass out of the timeout to put KU up 59-49, giving him his first double-figure point total of the game.
The game though appeared to be tilted for good in the Jayhawks’ favor at the 3:41 mark, as Toledo’s Kashif Payne and Justin Ingram began bickering at one another following a turnover which led into a television timeout.
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Darrell Arthur missed a two-handed slam on a Mario Chalmers lob out of the timeout, but Brandon Rush continued his solid overall day by following the long rebound with a one-handed slam on a drive from the wing, putting KU up 61-49.
Ingram hit a two off the glass before a 30-second Toledo timeout, and then out of the break he hit a three to pull Toledo within seven points at 61-54 with 1:46 to play.
Put into the one-and-one, Russell Robinson missed KU’s first free throw attempt, but a Toledo three misfired, and Robinson was sent back to the line after a few passes.
Robinson hit one of his next two to give KU an eight-point advantage, but a Florentino Valencia inside two-pointer made it a six-point game again with a minute to play.
Robinson got yet another trip to the line after Toledo was called for an intentional foul. He again split a pair to put KU up seven, but the Jayhawks got the ball on the sideline.
Fouled for a third straight time was Robinson, who split a pair for the third straight trip, making him 3-of-7 at the line in the closing minutes. After Toledo blew a pair of chances to score, Julian Wright was sent to the line with :33.7 left and KU up 64-56.
Wright missed both free throws, but KU squeaked around for the offensive board, and this time it was Chalmers heading to the line. Chalmers finally restored some normalcy to the stripe by swishing both to put KU up 10. Valencia scored again for Toledo, but it would be the Rockets’ final points of the game.
Chalmers went back to the line and hit a pair, giving KU the 68-58 win, sending the team on a high note into the 10-day layoff before returning to action Dec. 19 at home against Winston-Salem State. Brandon Rush led all scorers with 19 points, while Sasha Kuan had 10 for the Jayhawks.
