Some thoughts…from Columbia
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“Julian Wright’s 33 point outing was a pleasure to watch. He scored and rebounded and, for the most part, played under control.
Rush also was great and it was nice that Self was able to record his 300th victory at rival Missouri.
The Jayhawks bounced back nicely from the loss to A&M, a loss the fans way overreacted to. A&M is a good team; so is Kansas. Missouri still is a ways away, though Matt Lawrence can really shoot the rock.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“Those prolonged sluggish periods for the Kansas offense are history.
When Sherron Collins enters the game, he makes things happen. The defense collapses and he sees the opportunies created for teammates.
Even if Julian Wright has a polar-opposite game to the 33-point barrage he had in this one, Collins will find someone else to dish it to or will finish himself.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“And so goes the roller coaster season Julian Wright has had. One game, Bill Self might want to send him home at halftime. Then another, he sees the potential NBA lottery pick that the scouts salivate over.
He was certainly key Saturday, and what was most impressive was that he was as consistent as every in the low post, not really scoring much from more than 6-8 feet away. He was so good that he almost completely overshadowed solid performances from both Sherron Collins and Brandon Rush.
The Jayhawks never let the full court press get to them too much, and thanks to that, it helped KU coast away easily in an arena which so far had been a house of horrors for Bill Self and his players.”
Inside the numbers
16: That’s how many consecutive field goal attempts Missouri bricked during a 24-2 KU run in the first half. It began with the Tigers leading 16-8, and finished with Mizzou finally putting away another field goal (a Kalen Grimes layup inside) nearly eight minutes later.
33: Julian Wright put up the first 30-point performance of the Bill Self era at KU, and his total matched the 33 scored by Nick Collison, who was the last player to score 30-plus in a Jayhawk uniform. He did so in a Sweet 16 victory over Duke in the 2003 NCAA Tournament in Anaheim, Calif. Most impressive, though, is that he did it on 14-of-21 shooting. Pretty efficient.
100: Brandon Rush was a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the three-point arc, and it went hand-in-hand with another aggressive performance on the offensive end. He also had seven rebounds and was big in helping KU break Mizzou’s full court press.
8: On top of Julian Wright’s scoring prowess, he pulled down eight offensive rebounds. Darnell Jackson had four and KU had 13 as a team.
300: Bill Self wasn’t over the top regarding his 300th career victory, pointing out that there’s too much season left to get caught up in that. Though it was KU’s first win in three tries at Mizzou Arena.
Just in case you missed it…
As if KU needed any more motivation to play Missouri, the Tigers had a video played in the arena between Jayhawk and Tiger player introductions Saturday which showed highlights from Mizzou’s wins the previous two seasons over KU at Mizzou Arena, backdropped by heavy Metallica riffs. Most of the Jayhawks stood at attention and watched, including Julian Wright, who midway through looked away and tried to get others to do the same.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
It’s hard to imagine Julian Wright and Brandon Rush playing any better on the same day than they did Saturday. The two combined for 54 points and 19 rebounds, and together hit 22 of their 31 field goal attempts. No matter how everyone else around them plays, KU is a much tougher team when those two are clicking like that. But Sherron Collins added even more balance, scoring in double figures for the 10th time in 12 games, and tying a season high with seven assists – a feat he’d previously accomplished twice.
They said it…
Julian Wright on the pregame build-up, added to by a video at Mizzou Arena of the last two KU-MU games in Columbia: “I feel they were trying to get us rattled, make us think too much. That was last year. We have more experience now. It takes a lot more than that to get us rattled. It should fire you up if they show something like that before the game.”
Brandon Rush on that video: “It made me real mad. It got us angry inside. That was last year. They didn’t show the game we won at the Fieldhouse (on Jan.15). It made me really want to win.”
Darnell Jackson on winning his first game at Mizzou Arena: “I came here my first year and we lost. Came here last year and we lost. Sasha and I talked about it before the game. We needed to get our first win here. These Missouri fans are loud.”
Bill Self on Julian Wright’s performance: “He had the game in slow motion to him today, he wasn’t sped up, he played great, and the biggest reason he played great is because he was great on the glass. I don’t know how many baskets he made outside of three or four feet, but he was great around the basket.”
Bill Self on Wright and Brandon Rush clicking so well on the same day: “Those two allow us to be a pretty good team potentially, because we know their ceilings are pretty high.”
