Some thoughts…from Lincoln
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“Obviously KU won the game in the opening minutes, racing to that amazing first-half lead.
Brandon Rush and Julian Wright were great early and it was simply a rout from the beginning.
Self was upset at Julian Wright for making a bad no look pass in the second half, so he obviously wasn’t totally pleased with the one-sided game.
Still it’s good to win and win big on the road.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“No need to wonder any longer just how good Kansas could be if they put it all together, because that’s what they did for a blistering 17 minutes or so in the first half, building a 43-8 lead with great shooting, dominant rebounding, extraordinary defense and tireless transition play in both directions.
The fact that it came against an opponent much smaller and less talented doesn’t make it any less impressive.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“Julian Wright’s hot start spoke to just how peak-and-valley his game can be. But it was a positive for KU that he obviously had no ill effects from the national laughter that came from Saturday’s miscue in the open court against Colorado.
Russell Robinson continues to be aggressive in conference play on the offensive end, and when Nebraska again began to show a pulse early in the second half, he scored seven points, including a three from the top of the key to make sure they remembered who was boss on this night.
And like Gary said, they can’t complain about a road win. Especially by 20 points.”
Inside the numbers
1: After allowing Colorado to repeatedly crash the boards on Saturday and finish the game with an advantage in the stat category, KU’s big men held Nebraska to just one offensive rebound all night, which made an 0-for-14 stretch on the offensive end that much more excruciating for the Huskers and helped the Jayhawks at one point build a 35-point lead.
26: That was Kansas’ rebounding margin in total over Nebraska, which was the Jayhawks’ second-largest advantage on the glass in a single game this season, coming close to the 29-rebound spread KU had on Nov. 28 in a win over Dartmouth.
0: That’s how many points Nebraska’s leading scorer, junior forward Aleks Maric, had in the first half. He scored one point on a free throw to start the second half, and finished the game with nine, meaning he really didn’t score a meaningful point all night. On top of that, during Nebraska’s brutal first half scoring drought, he had three big traveling calls underneath the hoop.
2: Brandon Rush scored 20 or more points for the second straight game, marking the first time this year he’s accomplished the feat. It speaks to the aggression he’s shown on the offensive end, including a take-charge attitude in the first half as KU constructed its daunting lead.
Just in case you missed it…
Darrell Arthur, despite four personal fouls – three of which came in the first half – had one of his more efficient nights of the season, with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and seven rebounds, helping the freshman forward continue to work his way out of a midseason swoon. It came on a good night, too, as Sasha Kaun went scoreless for just the second time in 19 games played this season.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
Julian Wright’s four consecutive made field goals to start the game only helped him live up to a promise he made to his teammates all day in the team hotel, telling them he was going to come out like ‘a beast.’ Wright earned the right to sit and rest during the game’s stretch run, scoring 17 points and taking down seven rebounds in just 26 minutes played. Plus, with a fast break dunk opportunity in the second half, he took the easy road in one-handing it in the simplest of fashions. Lesson learned.
They said it…
Bill Self on his team’s fast start: “We played great…early. That’s about as well as you can execute. We shot it, we defended, rebounded, took care of it. That was about the best 17 minutes a team can play, I think, or at least our team can play. And of course they missed some shots and everything, but I thought our defense was outstanding. We ran well. We did a lot of things well. And then we didn’t play as well after the first 17, 18 minutes, but we played so well then that we lost a little focus.”
Bill Self on Julian Wright’s big opening to the game following Saturday’s rough outing: “The reason saturday was tough was because the media and everybody else makes a big deal out of him making a bad play. Saturday wasn’t tough. In all honesty, you guys probably made it tougher than what it was. But I thought it was good that he bounced back from that.”
Brandon Rush on KU letting Nebraska find a flow in the second half: “We got to get that mindset of just ‘bury a team,’ because we let them get back and start making some plays and think they can play with us. We’ve got to get better at that, so that’s probably what we’re going to emphasize in the next couple of days.”
Brandon Rush on Julian Wright’s start Monday night: “Around the hotel, he was saying he was going to come out and be a beast, he was gonna go into beast-mode, and he did today. I think Julian played an excellent game. He sparked the whole team. He went eight points straight, so I think he had a pretty good game.”
Russell Robinson on the bittersweet finish to the first half: “All we did the first half was tease ourselves – we teased the fans, teased the coaches, because we came out and played at a level that, you know, everybody expects us to play at, and we did that for 15, 16 minutes. That last couple minutes, though, we let them get a little run and it carried over to the second half.”
Julian Wright on what he learned from Saturday’s game against Colorado coming into Monday’s win: “I haven’t even thought about it, it’s just not anything I hover over, you’ve got to learn to laugh at things and move on. Going into this game, I just know that I usually am aggressive. Trying to make up for something, you can’t make up for anything in the past. You’ve got to just keep playing hard, making team plays, and I was just fortunate to start the game with four baskets and give our team a boost, especially on the road.”
