Some thoughts…from Allen Fieldhouse
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“Another home blowout victory had to please the masses at Allen Fieldhouse.
Rodrick Stewart gave some nice minutes as Russell sat out the game. The good news is RussRob said he could have played if needed.
It was a classic blowout, not as bad as last week’s rollover of Nebraska, but a blowout nonetheless.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“Kansas played under control on offense and was terrific defensively, but the blowout actually has a chance to do the Jayhawks as much harm as good with the NCAA Tournament committee because it calls attention to how poor the bottom of the Big 12 is this season.
The upcoming games – at Oklahoma, which has just one Big 12 loss at home (Texas A&M), and at home against a young, super talented Texas team – will catch the attention of the committee, as will the Jayhawks’ performance in the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“Sherron Collins did a fantastic job in his second start as a Jayhawk of not getting too far ahead of himself. He could have pushed it and turned the ball over like he did repeatedly at the beginning of the year, but instead he played the same game he had while coming off the bench all season, finishing with 12 points, six assists, three steals and just two turnovers.
As Darrell Arthur is again coming into his own, now with back-to-back double-doubles, Brandon Rush has disappeared offensively in the past two contests. Monday in a raucous atmosphere at Oklahoma would be a good time for him to snap out of his small funk. It’s not that he hasn’t been aggressive enough, but his shot just hasn’t fallen. That stuff happens.”
Inside the numbers
10: Saturday’s win clinched a perfect 10-0 record for KU over the Big 12 North. Believe it or not, with how weak the North division is this year, it’s the first time the Jayhawks have done so since the 2001-02 season, in which KU went 16-0 in the Big 12 and wound up in the Final Four about a month later.
19: That’s how many turnovers KU was able to either force ISU into or simply benefit from on the other end, and it was a result of the Jayhawks defending the opponent for 40 full minutes regardless of the scoreboard, just as they did last Saturday against Nebraska.
3: Anyone thinking the absence of Russell Robinson’s uniform number from the lineup would have huge implications didn’t have a ton to worry about Saturday. KU didn’t skip a beat. A lot of that was thanks in large part to Sherron Collins simply doing what he’s done off the bench over the past month. The rest was thanks to Rodrick Stewart filling in as a defensive stopper off the bench.
18: Mario Chalmers’ game-high 18 points kind of got lost in the mix Saturday, which is almost hard to believe. His stat line also included seven rebounds, but more importantly for KU, it was Chalmers’ second straight offensively heavy game. If you look back through the game played this season, when Chalmers scores and is smooth on offense, Kansas rarely struggles.
Just in case you missed it…
Rodrick Stewart played a season-high 16 minutes, and was the most noticeable beneficiary as far as playing time is concerned in the wake of Russell Robinson’s injury. His stat line, which included two points, three rebounds and two assists, wasn’t overly impressive, but he was definitely involved in keeping KU from missing a beat without one of its steadier contributors.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
KU continued its recent tear, winning its sixth straight game. All six have been against Big 12 North opponents, but before anyone gets too far ahead of themselves, remember that KU is the only Big 12 North team right now with a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament. Whether KU is really a different team now than it was earlier in the season will be more visible in the next week against Oklahoma and Texas.
They said it…
Rodrick Stewart on helping shut down Iowa State’s Mike Taylor: “I do it everyday in practice, I feel like I can guard anybody. I’m in practice guarding some of the best players everyday.”
Darrell Arthur on the team’s continued tough rebounding efforts: “The last couple weeks in practice, we’ve just been doing 2-on-2 rebounding drills, and it gets pretty physical down there, and we just try to go after every ball. We just take that to the game, and it seems to work.”
Julian Wright on KU’s big men all clicking Saturday: “We hope to be playing like that collectively, not just one or two bigs. Just everyone coming off the bench or whoever’s in the game, being aggressive. We work on it everyday, so it’s time for us to start playing like we practice.”
Bill Self on how many blowouts KU has been involved in lately: “From a coach’s perspective, I think you’d like to have a nice balance, but we’ve played more close games than we played last year, I believe. But who knows, you can’t simulate game situations in practice and have it be the same feeling and atmosphere you can in the game. In a perfect world, sure, we’d like to play more close games, but the reality of it is we’re playing pretty well right now.”
