What this means…from Lubbock, Texas
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“It’s not easy to win on the road in the Big 12. KU once again learned that the hard way. The Jayhawks came ready to play in building an early lead, but lost all offensive flow in the middle portions of the game before waking up finally down the stretch. It remains to be seen how damaging a loss this will be in the standings. KU cannot afford to go 0-2 in Texas with a game at Baylor next on Wednesday. It was a nice comeback, but KU should have never been down 12 points to begin with.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“When a Bob Knight-coached team is executing his motion offense well, it serves as a terrific illustration that it’s not always the team with the better basketball players that wins, often it is the team that plays better basketball. The Kansas players need to realize that their only path to elite status is to play 40 minutes of inspired defense. They don’t shoot well enough to rely on so-so defense against decent teams.”
Eric Sorrentino, Journal-World sports writer
“What is it about Darryl Dora and Kansas University? Two years ago on Valentine’s Day, the Gonzales, Texas, native drained a three-pointer with 3.6 seconds left to give Texas Tech a one-point victory against Kansas in double overtime. Saturday, Dora had a game-high 19 points and shot 7-of-14 from the field. Dora is the fourth-leading Red Raider scorer, averaging only 5.2 points per game. KU’s 13-1 run was impressive and made the game exciting, but the TTU power trio of Dora (19 points), Jarrius Jackson (15 points) and Martin Zeno (14 points) was too much for the Jayhawks.”
Inside the numbers
10: Texas Tech snapped the Jayhawks’ 10-game win streak with the upset victory on Saturday. No. 8 Texas A&M will face No. 12 Oklahoma State in a Big 12 powerhouse game tonight at 8 p.m. If the Aggies win, they’ll sit atop the Big 12 Conference as the only team with a 4-0 conference record.
2: Saturday’s game represented the second time in two years Texas Tech has upset a Top 10 Kansas team. Red Raider fans stormed the court on both occasions. Two years ago on Valentine’s Day, Texas Tech forward Darryl Dora hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds to hold off the Jayhawks.
19: Kansas jumped out to an 8-0 lead, but Texas Tech went on a 56-37 run, a 19-point deficit, to claim the lead for the majority of the second half. Kansas fought back, though. The Red Raiders led by 11 at one point in the second half, but the Jayhawks eventually tied up the game on a pass in the lane from Sherron Collins to Darrell Arthur, who completed the layup. The 13-1 late KU run tied the game at 62.
4: Kansas only attempted four free throws on Saturday. It made two of them. Texas Tech converted 15-of-20 free throws on the afternoon.
Just in case you missed it…
Sasha Kaun was a bit too ambitious in going for a rebound to open the second half. After Texas Tech guard Jarrius Jackson missed a mid-range jump shot, Kaun boxed out his man in the lane, with no Texas Tech players positioned below the free throw line. Kaun tried to tip the long rebound away from Tech players near the top of the key and toward the basket. The only problem was that he tipped it too far – into the basket for two Texas Tech points.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
Saturday was the second game in a row Sherron Collins played more minutes than Mario Chalmers down the stretch (granted, Chalmers fouled out on Saturday). Chalmers took the last shot in regulation of KU’s 64-58 overtime victory at Iowa State. However, Collins hit arguably the most crucial three-pointer the next game against Missouri. Then on Saturday, the Chicago native cradled in a layup with 4:30 remaining, hit a straightaway three-pointer with 3:25 left, and dished a beautiful pass to Darrell Arthur to tie the game and complete a 13-1 KU run. Collins has had more looks lately, too. Chalmers had nine shot attempts against Iowa State, five against Missouri, and five against Texas Tech. Collins had five attempts against Iowa State, eight versus Missouri, and seven against Texas Tech.
