Though none of the current Oral Roberts players were playing as Golden Eagles when Bill Self used to roam the sidelines in Tulsa, Okla., the ties are still there, adding a little something extra to tonight’s matchup between 0-1 ORU and the 1-0 Jayhawks.
Self coached at ORU from 1993-97, where he compiled a record of 55-54. Though that storyline is nothing more than cosmetic for the visitors, as they’re more focused on avoiding the program’s first 0-2 start since the 2001-02 campaign, in which the Golden Eagles opened up 0-4.
KU comes in rolling, however, after last Saturday’s 91-57 season-opening blowout of Northern Arizona in Allen Fieldhouse.
Two names to watch on the visiting side are Ken Tutt and Caleb Green. Both are seniors, and are ORU’s pulse on each end of the floor. Tutt, a 6-foot-1 guard, scored 26 points in the Golden Eagles’ 69-65 loss to Loyola Marymount. Green, widely regarded as one of the country’s top big men, stands 6-foot-8, and opened the season with a 12-point, 12-rebound effort.
Kansas, on the other hand, had five players – Brandon Rush, Julian Wright, Darnell Jackson, Sherron Collins and Darrell Arthur – score in double figures in the throttling of NAU.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse
FIRST HALF
After a bevy of bad shots to start the game, Russell Robinson got KU on the board first just over a minute into the game with a leaner nestling against the paint in the midst of being fouled. The ensuing free throw gave KU an early 3-0 advantage.
A Jayhawk turnover on their next possession set up Caleb Green, ORU’s top inside threat, at the line for a pair after being hacked on a follow up to his own miss. He hit both, and then Shawn King swatted Darnell Jackson on the other end to give the ball back to the visitors.
A littany of turnovers ensued, continuing an ugly start on both sides. Mario Chalmers, in his first start since the exhibition opener against Washburn, finally took advantage of one, when he went in for an easy, uncontested two following a Russell Robinson steal.
At the 16:21 mark, Darrell Arthur checked in for his first action of the night, taking the place of Jackson, who got off to a rough start.
Arthur started with a smooth post move which earned him a trip to the free throw stripe. He hit both to put KU up 7-4.
A fadeaway corner three misfired for Ken Tutt on the other end, keeping him off to a slow start as well, and took the game into its first full timeout, with KU still up three.
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Following yet another turnover out of the timeout on the KU end, freshman Sherron Collins made his first appearance, relieving Russell Robinson.
ORU scored on the next trip down the floor with an inside two from Kelvin Sango. Arthur followed that with a miss on a baby hook on KU’s end, and it resulted in ORU’s first lead of the game on a baseline floater from Adam Liberty.
Self was forced to blow his first timeout of the night when ORU made it a 6-0 run with an emphatic dunk from Shawn King to put the Golden Eagles up 10-7.
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Chalmers followed the break in action with a three-pointer from the right wing, but Sango answered with a tough inside move against a KU double team.
Arthur, though, out of another timeout, missed a layup inside at an awkward angle to keep ORU in front, 12-10.
Darnell Jackson back in the game made up for offensive inefficiency with toughness on his first opportunity, drawing a foul after two misses, and hitting both of his free throws to tie the game, 12-12.
In the process of KU tying the game, though, Collins drew a pair of fouls and a seat on the bench. One was a no-brainer on the defensive end, but the other drew the ire of the Fieldhouse faithful. On a fastbreak, he went coast-to-coast, and thought he’d nailed the tough part of a pretty three-point play. Instead, it was called a charge, and the teams headed to the second television timeout tied, 12-12.
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With Brandon Rush offensively absent so far – having missed the one shot he took – Julian Wright provided a spark with just over 11 minutes to go in the half. He blocked a baseline attempt, brought it down court, and eventually took a feed and made a nice up-and-under to give KU back the lead, 14-12. A Caleb Green foul following an ORU turnover then put KU in the bonus at 10:45, but Robinson missed the front end of a one-and-one.
After Wright turned the ball over on another fastbreak, Tutt got himself in the scoring column on the other end with a fastbreak dish from Green. The momentum continued to swing the Golden Eagles’ way as Darnell Jackson then drew a charge on the other end for his first foul of the night.
Arthur followed his first basket with the night with an emphatic swat on the other end, keeping KU’s lead at two, but Green hit ORU’s first three-pointer to put ORU back up one. After Arthur answered again, ORU’s Marchello Vealy canned another three for the visitors, to put their lead at two, 20-18 with just over eight minutes to play in the half. Vealy followed it with another three which took a trip around the rim and backboard to silence the home crowd and put ORU up 23-18 with 8:06 left before the break.
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Out of the timeout, not only did Russell Robinson miss a point-blank layup, but Arthur was whistled on the other end for a goaltend on Adam Liberty after he slipped around the defense for an open backdoor feed from Green to put ORU up seven points. After KU failed to score again, ORU got the ball again after a jump ball underneath. Vealy followed it with yet another trey to put ORU up by double digits, 28-18.
Chalmers ended the drought with a deuce in the lane, and after a block ont he other end, he took a feed from Rodrick Stewart for an uncontested layup to slice the deficit to six, at 28-22. Chalmers lead all KU scorers with nine points following the two quick hoops.
Vealy followed an ORU timeout with his fourth three-pointer of the game after Green made another sensational pass from the post. Arthur answered with another KU two, keeping the Jayhawks within range and down just seven. Vealy’s fourth three-pointer quadrupled his career total in threes entering the game, and it tied him already for his career high in points in a single game at 12.
Rush finally broke the scoring column on the next trip down in a bonus situation, but was only able to make one of two, and couldn’t get KU closer than seven. And, you guessed it, Vealy answered with another three-pointer to put ORU up 10 again, 35-25.
Rush continued to heat hup with a tip in off of his own miss, and then KU’s second three of the night, and on top of it came an Adam Liberty travel under the KU hoop to send ORU into the half’s final television timeout up 37-30.
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Green continued his fantastic start with a fadeaway jumper on the baseline, giving him nine points, but Rush didn’t cool during the break, hitting another jumper, this time from the free-throw line.
Arthur picked up a loose ball on the offensive end after a broken play to hit his third field goal of the game with 40 seconds to go before the half, pulling KU within five points. An ORU airball gave KU the half’s final possession, but Arthur was left with the ball behind the arc and misfired, keeping ORU up 39-34 at the half.
HALFTIME
Marchello Vealy can be thanked for putting ORU up with his career-high five three-pointers. All of last year, he was 1-for-13 from long range. Caleb Green has nine points for the Golden Eagles.
For KU, Arthur leads the way with 10 points. Chalmers has nine and Rush has eight. While both teams are shooting near 50 percent from the field, the difference is ORU’s six-for-nine performance from three-point range.
KU also has 14 turnovers in the first half, which overshadows a 19-14 rebounding advantage.
SECOND HALF
After a Darrell Arthur miss to start the half, Robinson swooped in for a nifty rebound, and Darnell Jackson followed a Brandon Rush miss to pull KU within three. Jackson, however, exited the game after crumpling in a heap to the floor on his way back to defend with an apparent cramp in his left leg.
Liberty answered on the ORU end with a baseline two.
KU again had a pair of misses, but this time it was Wright scoring the third-chance basket.
After a couple moments of silence, KU again scored inside, this time on an Arthur layin.
Green hit a three and drew some wrath from the home crowd after hanging his hand in the air. It drew a similar response from Rush after KU’s subsequent score, but ORU still had the upper hand, leading 46-42.
Vealy then drew a foul after attempting to follow a Liberty miss, but the whistle brought the game to its first halt of the second half with 15:29 to go.
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Vealy hit one of two. Inbounding the ball was Matt Kleinmann, who is seeing his first action of the night. Also in is Darnell Jackson, and he welcomed himself back onto the floor with an easy layin off a pass from Brandon Rush to make it a three-point game.
After an offensive foul, KU’s Mario Chalmers made the Fieldhouse crowd reach new decibels off a steal at midcourt. He followed it with an emphatic one-handed dunk in the face of a Liberty. It also cut KU’s lead to just one basket at 48-46.
ORU called a full timeout to attempt to hush the crowd, and it worked thanks to a KU missed three and then a turnover following an ORU miss.
Green was able to score again, this time working the paint to put himself in double figures with 10 points. Rush responded with a one-handed floater which just dribbled in off the iron.
Vealy, though, continued his torrid evening from deep, finding the bottom of the twine for his sixth three-ball. It was topped off with a turnover on the other end, as Kleinmann threw an awkward pass into the post which was picked.
When ORU failed to capitalize, Rush was fouled taking a three which missed, but first there was a timeout at the 11:13 mark, with Rush to shoot three free throws out of the break and KU trailing 53-48.
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Rush was only able to make the final free throw attempt, while Green hit another tear-drop jumper in response on the baseline. Arthur was able to score again in the paint on a feed from Robinson, but Liberty continued his solid second half with a mid-range jumper of his own.
Vealy’s seventh three-pointer of the game came on the heels of a poor Darnell Jackson miss from 18 feet, and gave ORU reason to rejoice heading into a timeout at the 9:52 mark leading 60-51.
Darrell Arthur’s only answer out of the timeout was a dribble off of his foot to give the ball to ORU once again. Vealy had his first misfire from deep, but Sango followed it up underneath to push the lead back into double digits at 62-51.
After arthur was broke on a pair of free throws, Robinson hustled for another offensive board and fed him for another easy deuce. A louder crowd participation came when Vealy was then whistled for a travel to give KU the ball again. Mario Chalmers then had an inadvertent assist to Julian Wright after loosing the ball on his knee while knifing through the lane. But true to form, ORU came right back, this time with a three from Tutt – the Golden Eagles’ 10th trey of the night. It put ORU up 65-55 with 6:48 to go.
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Arthur opened the game’s final stretch with a basket, then drew an offensive foul from Green. He added to it by making a tough, twisting, deflected hoop on the baseline to quickly pull KU within six points at 65-59, and forced ORU to blow a quick whistle.
Liberty was able to quiet the crowd somewhat, though, after drawing a loud slap on an attempted jumper. He hit both free throws to put ORU back up by eight points. KU’s only answer was a Chalmers miss inside, followed by a missed tip-in attempt from Arthur.
Chalmers was able to help out, though, by earning a charging call near the arc on the next trip up the floor, and on the offensive end, Rush went to the line, but hit just one-of-two, making him two for his last five at the stripe.
Arthur was able to drop in another tough two inside, being the only Jayhawk to consistently make shots during the game, and he pulled KU again within five points at 67-62. But Green again got in his kitchen at the opposite end, drawing a foul while in the bonus. He made both free throws to again expand the Golden Eagles’ lead to seven points.
Robinson, though, was able to get a hoop-and-harm on the other end on a scrappy layup, making it a 69-64 game with the free throw to come after the final television timeout, leaving 3:55 to play.
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Robinson missed the free throw, continuing KU’s struggles from the line. KU was able to force a turnover, but Julian Wright tried to get cute with the ball by going reverse through his legs to avoid a defender and gave it right back. ORU missed, but Chalmers couldn’t make good on a three at the other end, giving ORU the ball agian with 2:45 to play and KU down five.
Green kept going with another two points, and the crowd silenced even more when King swatted a Robinson layup underneath in strong fashion.
On the inbound, Chalmers missed an inside floater, but Jackson, recently re-inserted in the game, followed it with a layup at the two-minute mark.
ORU couldn’t cash in on the other and KU got the ball back with 80 seconds to go down five. Jackson followed a Robinson miss to pull KU within three, and ORU whistled a thirty-second timeout up 71-68 with 1:17 to play.
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On defense, Jackson was whistled for a foul underneath when Liberty went tough to the hole, earning a trip to the line with 1:05 to go. After missing the first, he made it a two-score game with the second free throw.
Robinson drew a block on Liberty at the other end, and the double bonus gave him two free throw attempts. He made the first, but missed the second to keep it at a three-point game. ORU called a timeout with :53.1 to go after crossing the ball across the timeline.
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Tutt nailed one spike in the coffin witha three from the wing, and followed it with a few hard chest pumps. After a KU miss, ORU got the ball back, drew a foul and the streamline for the exits began in the stands.
Tutt made a pair of free throws, but with just :24.0 to go, there wasn’t much time for a late run from the Jayhawks. Chalmers earned a three free-throw trip, but made just two, and the foul fest began, wtih ORU putting on some cosmetic points at the end.
Dropping KU to 1-1 in the early season was a final score of Oral Roberts 78, Kansas 71.
Arthur led all scorers with 22 points, while Green had 20 for the Golden Eagles. Rush scored 14, while Chalmers added 13 for the Jayhawks. On the visiting side, Tutt had 12, along with Liberty. Vealy finished tied with Arthur for the game-high with 22 coming off of a 7-for-8 performance beyond the arc.
