What this means…from press row
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“This major blowout really meant nothing. I mean, Dartmouth would have been better off playing one of the smaller local colleges – Baker, Haskell or Rockhurst – rather than KU.
It’s just a ‘W,’ that’s all it is.
Brady Morningstar showed some flash in the second half. Too bad Jeremy Case couldn’t stick a few threes for some confidence.
But it’ s on to DePaul now.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“Going from playing Florida to playing Dartmouth three nights later would be like taking out Angelina Jolie on a Saturday night and dating Janet Reno on a Tuesday night.
Oh well, at least the Jayhawks did the right thing – they didn’t show they felt they were bettter than to have to play such a bad team, and played hard.
It was a chance for Brady Morningstar to play extensive minutes and show that he has some playmaking ability.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“I guess I’m most impressed that the Jayhawks played at a high tempo and never let up on a team they by all means deserved to beat by the margin they did.
Elaborating on that, the Jayhawks’ rebounding intensity and tenacity was phenomenal. If they play that hard under the glass all season, they’ll have an upper hand no matter who the opponent. Attribute a lot of that to having just played the nation’s top front court.
DePaul should be a win – the Blue Demons are not very deep. It’s on the road, but heck, as a Chicago native, I know that it’s pretty much a road game for DePaul as well. Not only will KU have a lot of fans, but the Blue Demons rarely get the college hoops atmosphere with their home games being played in Rosemont, snuggled next to O’Hare airport – about a 20-30 minute drive from their Lincoln Park campus.”
Inside the numbers
32: Obviously, it’s the number of points Dartmouth scored. But it should be pointed out that it’s the lowest point total ever scored by an opponent against KU at Allen Fieldhouse.
7:55: That was how much game clock dripped off in the second half before Dartmouth could score its first field goal out of the break. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise, though, considering it took them 6:30 to score their second field goal of the game after making their first just under three minutes in.
3: That’s not only how many assists freshman Brady Morningstar had, but also how many boards he tallied to go wtih his five points. Not a bad all-around night for the Free State product in some extended action. He played 13 minutes.
9: That’s how many personal fouls the Jayhawks had Tuesday night. Considering how wild Dartmouth was with some of its scoring opportunities, that’s a fantastic number. No one had more than two fouls for KU, and the Jayhawks blocked seven shots inside. Darrell Arthur had five of those swats.
Just in case you missed it…
Rodrick Stewart hit a pair of three-pointers for the Jayhawks, and played some solid minutes all-around for KU. He had eight points, two assists, two rebounds and just one turnover in 15 minutes. That experience will be huge if he’s going to be relied upon as KU’s ninth guy in the rotation. Also don’t forget, his next home game – next Tuesday vs. USC – will be against his twin brother, Lodrick, with whom he played alongside in SoCal as a freshman.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
Julian Wright and Russell Robinson, KU’s two ‘glue guys,’ again doing it all. Russell’s line included just four points, but seven assists, two boards and two steals, while Jullian’s 12 points were accompanied by three steals, three assists and eight rebounds. Those two might have found their respective grooves, which gives Bill Self reason to smile.
They said it…
Brady Morningstar on his crowd-pleasing lob finish from Jeremy Case: “I wasn’t really expecting it at first, but then I saw his eyes and we made eye contact, and I just tried to finish it, nothing too fancy.”
Darnell Jackson on KU’s toughest opponent being a Florida hangover: “Everybody’s excited about the Florida game, we won, but it’s over now, we can’t get it back….The next day we were still talking about it. We watched the tape and there were a lot of things we made mistakes at. (Coach Self) was on us pretty tough because when we’d get up a couple poince we kept thinking the game was over, but we have to stay on them, keep putting the pressure on them.”
Bill Self on the state of Sasha Kaun’s knee: “I think his knee’s a little bit sore, to be honest with you. He’s not reacting or moving even like he did a week ago. It’s going to be a work in progress. The doctor said it’s going to be very sore…He’s so sped up right now, it’s so hard for him to get something going. He has the ball from two feet, he wants to hurry it up there instead of gathering it and going strong. And I think a lot of that is confidence in his leg, because he doesn’t feel like he can jump on it yet.”
