Some thoughts…from Allen Fieldhouse
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“It was an efficient enough victory for the Jayhawks.
KU built and early 19-point lead and once again didn’t put the opponent away as Colorado crept to single digits.
However, Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers saved the day with big games.
Bill Self said after the game he’s unhappy with the play of his big men, indicating they are soft. The big men seemed to agree and said they’ll have to work on rebounding.
Not much to say about this one except it was the Rush-Chalmers show offensively, with Russell Robinson chipping in with one of his better offensive games in a while.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“Maybe it happened for a reason.
Maybe the reason it happened was was so that the next time a Kansas basketball player thinks about making the fancy play, he makes the easy one instead.
Julian Wright could have flushed a two-handed dunk. Instead, he was about to attempt a windmill and fumbled the ball out of bounds. He didn’t play the rest of the first half.
Meanwhile, Colorado had the ball and was trailing by nine points early in the second half. It was a game again, however briefly, and it was difficult not to think about how much different it would have seemed if the margin had been 11 points instead of nine.
Enough with the fancy stuff.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“It’s hard to comprehend exactly what Julian Wright was thinking on that ‘dunk’ attempt. It was a high-risk, not-so-big-reward type play. Keegan’s right…unnecessary.
You’ve got to credit the Jayhawks’ team defense. Richard Roby went for 30 points and you could hardly notice, because not only did KU render the rest of the CU offense useless, but offensively the Jayhawks could answer every time.
Roby was the first visiting player to score 30 or more points in Allen Fieldhouse since Nick Fazekas of Nevada dropped 35 on Dec. 1, 2005. This time, though, the overall outcome was much more positive for KU. All this one meant was that Roby looked good for the NBA scouts on hand.”
Inside the numbers
14: Colorado ripped down that many offensive rebounds, which was a sore spot after the game for KU coach Bill Self. He proceeded to call his big men as having played ‘soft.’ Colorado took home the edge in total rebounds, as well, at 36-34. KU, though, only missed 28 shots all night, and of those misfires, the Jayhawks rebounded nine of them.
3: Mario Chalmers hit a trio of three-point shots Saturday, which matched his total from the previous five games combined. It was also just his second double-digit point performance of the conference season, and the 21 points he scored was his hightest total since putting away 22 against Detroit on Dec. 28.
30: Not that the Jayhawks were saints in the ball protection department with 19 turnovers, but the Buffs gave the ball back to KU 30 times, which was the most the Jayhawks had taken from an opponent this season. The previous high was 25 turnovers committed by Southern Cal on Dec. 4. The most important of those was at the 11:20 mark in the second half, when Mario Chalmers was fouled immediately by Xavier Silas after a steal. The foul was called intentional, and the two free throws followed by a Brandon Rush three bumped KU’s lead from nine to 14 points within a span of 28 seconds.
11: KU’s 11 three-pointers made for a new season total, topping the nine that the Jayhawks drained against Tennessee State on Nov. 21. Even more impressive, though, is the percentage KU shot from long range, hitting on 11 of its 17 attempts. Along with Chalmers’ three treys, Brandon Rush had three as well.
Just in case you missed it…
Julian Wright’s blown highlight reel attempt, while Bill Self said it wasn’t even a dunk attempt, went in the books from the KU stats crew as a blown dunk. It came at the 7:51 mark in the first half, when Wright tried for a windmill jam as opposed to just getting the ball in the hoop in a sure-fire fashion. It prompted Self to grab Darrell Arthur off the bench while Wright remained on the floor for a minute, got up and limped off. He didn’t play the rest of the first half, which is a smart move on Self’s part. To Julian’s credit, though, he’s a smart kid, and it’s a guarantee that he will learn from that instance.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
Brandon Rush put home a two-handed slam in the first half with Richard Roby draped on his back in transition. Rush wanted a foul and never got the call. He stared down the official nearby and then glared at Roby. It set him off, and after that play, just three minutes into the game, he scored 17 more points. That’s what players of Rush’s caliber are supposed to do – find a reason to be ticked off and feed from it all day long.
They said it…
Brandon Rush on Julian Wright heading to the bench for the final eight minutes of the first half: “Yeah, I figured that (would happen), yeah. Julian knows he messed up really bad, and then he tried to play it off by laying on the ground like he’s hurt, but that’s Julian. But he came out in the second half and played better. He had his mind right. I think he was trying to windmill. It didn’t work out too good.”
Bill Self on Julian Wright’s dunk miss: “It wasn’t that he misseed a layup or missed a dunk, he missed it because he was trying to do something spectacular. And whenever he doesn’t play well, it’s usually because he’s trying to do something sepctacular. I think it’s frustrating because no matter what’s been said, he still wants to make spectacular plays as opposed to good plays. He had an opportunity to get just as big a cheer from the crowd making a good play as he did trying to do something that he saw as being spectacular. Julian can be as good as he allows himself to be. He can be one of the premier players around. But sometimes we make the game harder than what it is.”
Bill Self on wanting more from his big men: “I thought our perimeter was very good. And I thought our big guys were as bad as our perimeter was good. So I would give us a passing grade…Same thing, we don’t rebound the ball, and our big guys, they’re not rebounding the ball. To me it’s hard to give us too good of a performance because I don’t think our big guys played. I think it can be summed up in one word, and that is our big guys play soft.”
Russell Robinson on snapping out of his offensive funk: “I’m not thinking about it. I’m just letting it come. A little bit of just playing the game and letting the game come. I think I was pushing it, kind of hunting a little bit.”
