Update #10: Final, KU wins 76-56
LINCOLN, Neb. – Brandon Rush scored his 19th and 20th points out of the break, and Jamel White came back with a three for Nebraska, to make the deficit a little more respectable for the home squad.
Sherron Collins added a deuce on the baseline, and a Charles Richardson miss led Bill Self to begin to empty the bench. Darrell Arthur drew a foul off of a Matt Kleinmann miss, with less than 90 seconds to go. Rodrick Stewart missed a three, but KU drew an offensive board, and Stewart was put on the bench after a charging call in which he tried to clear a Nebraska defender while going for a dunk.
Brandon Rush led all scorers with 20 points, while Julian Wright had 17 points and Darrell Arthur added 12 for KU. Nebraska’s Ryan Anderson was the only Husker in double figures, scoring 19 points on six successful three-point attempts. Nebraska’s leading scorer, junior Aleks Maric, scored all nine of his points in the second half and went just 3-of-7 from the field. KU now has five days until taking on Texas A&M at 8 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
Update #9: 3:27, second half, KU leads 72-50
LINCOLN, Neb. – Paul Velander hit another three for Nebraska out of the break, which is one of the very few things they’ve done well in the second half. Russell Robinson missed a longball of his own in response, giving Nebraska a chance to saw the deficit under 20 points. Charles Richardson missed an awkward three, though, and Brandon Rush turned it right back over while driving on the offensive end.
Ryan Anderson missed a long two on the baseline as the game dripped under the four-minute mark, and with 3:27 to go, the game went to its final extended break with KU leading 72-50.
Update #8: 6:33, second half, 72-47
LINCOLN, Neb. – Marcus Perry hit his second three-pointer of the second half, and Darrell Arthur came back down for an uncontested dunk, making him the third Jayhawk to move into double-figures in the point column.
Ryan Anderson continued to not go away, hitting his fifth three of the game at the 10:19 mark, putting Nebraska over the 40-point barrier.
Chalmers came right back with his second three-pointer of the game, as Kansas has refused to let off of the gas pedal despite holding a massive lead on the Huskers.
Sek Henry threw down a transition dunk to make it a 70-44 game heading into a full timeout whistled for by the Nebraska bench. After KU again couldn’t score, Bill Self was forced to whistle for a timeout after watching Ryan Anderson hit his sixth three of the game. During the break, Self lost his top a bit, chewing out his players for some relaxed defense.
KU turned the ball over out of the timeout, with the clock nearing the eight-minute mark. Maric couldn’t make anything of it, though, missing a short hook off the back iron. Sasha Kaun came back with a brick of his own, giving the ball to Nebraska with just over 7:30 left.
Maric missed again, and Kaun, still scoreless, again matched him. Arthur ended the mini-drought, and a foul on Kaun brought the game to standstill with just over 6:30 to go.
Update #7: 11:46, second half, KU leads 65-36
LINCOLN, Neb. – Mario Chalmers answered a quick Nebraska three with a runner in the lane, and after that Maric scored his first field goal of the game, with a two-pointer off the glass inside making it a 57-29 game.
Brandon Rush scored two inside, and Maric came back to score again in the paint, but as the Nebraska junior big man continues to heat up, the deficit isn’t going down too much.. Rush went to the free throw line on a bonus trip just over eight minutes into the game. He missed the front end of it, and Ryan Anderson came back with his fourth three of the game to make it a 60-36 contest.
Rush came back with another three-pointer, and Julian Wright kept up with him, stealing another ball at midcourt and taking it in for a fastbreak dunk, putting KU up 65-36 with 11:46 left in the game.
Update #6: 15:44, second half, KU leads 55-24
LINCOLN, Neb. – Aleks Maric got onto the scoring column with his first point after getting to the foul line to start the half. He hit the second of two attempts, and Ryan Anderson followed it with his third three-pointer of the game, making it a 43-20 game just over a minute into the half.
Russell Robinson started KU’s scoring in the second half with a spinning layup on the next offensive trip, and then forced a steal on the defensive end. Julian Wright took a feed and got to the free throw line, hitting two free throws to extend KU’s lead to 27 points.
Maric got to the free throw line again, this time hitting both attempts and giving him three points on the night, but Mario Chalmers one-upped him with a three-pointer, giving KU 50 points on the night.
Jamel White hit two free throws after drawing a foul on Brandon Rush, but again KU matched the task, this time with Russell Robinson scoring for the second time in the second half on transition. Robinson then came back to hit his first three of the game, giving him nine points on the night and seven so far in the second half.
Update #5: Halftime, KU leads 43-16
LINCOLN, Neb. – Darrell Arthur hit one of two free throws out of the timeout to put KU up by an even 30 points, and Nebraska’s crowd finally let out some cheer after the Huskers scored….after a foul was called. The possession was left empty, as the NU drought continued.
Arthur came back to score on a second-chance shot inside and draw a foul in the process. His free throw put KU up by a demoralizing 39-6 margin with 3:14 left in the first half.
Another Strowbridge three attempt, another miss, but KU came up empty-handed, and Strowbridge scored NU’s first two-point basket of the game at the 2:26 mark, driving and drawing a foul in the process. The free throw missed, though, as KU still lead 39-8.
Julian Wright hit two free throws to put KU up 41-8 after he was fouled rebounding Strowbridge’s missed free throw. Sherron Collins was then fouled by Sek Henry after forcing yet another Nebraska turnover. Collins hit both of his free throws, as well.
Ryan Anderson hit the third three of the night for Nebraska, and Brady Morningstar tried one of his own coming back down on the other end. He missed, went for the board and fouled Henry in the process.
Henry hit both free throws, but the scoreboard didn’t look any less lobsided, with KU still leading by 30. KU is also winning the rebounding battle 25-9, which was a major sticking point for Bill Self after Saturday’s win over Colorado.
Kyle Marks scored again for Nebraska with just under 15 seconds to go, making it 43-16, and it would be the final score of the first half. Julian Wright has a game-high 13 points, including the game’s first eight, while Brandon Rush has 12 of his own. Darrell Arthur also has eight for KU.
Update #4: 3:47, first half, KU leads 35-6
LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska’s frustrations still wouldn’t go away, as Maric was called for a travel underneath coming out of the timeout. Darrell Arthur after a near-turnover on the offensive side hit his second field goal in the form of a 10-foot baseline jumper. And Nebraska missed again on the offensive attack. Julian Wright’s response was a three-pointer atop the key, giving him a game-high 13 points.
Surprise, surprise, another Nebraska miss from deep, as the Huskers were stuck at six points nearing the five-minute mark in the first half. And after a KU turnover, Maric was called for his third travel in a matter of just minutes.
Nebraska’s Jay-R Strowbridge missed yet again from three-point range, as Nebraska’s scoreless streak extended to nearly 12 minutes. On the other end, Mario Chalmers hit one of two free throws to push KU’s lead to 35-6. Strowbridge missed again, as Nebraska is now 2-of-16 from the floor, compared to KU’s 13-of-24 showing with 3:47 left until halftime.
Update #3: 7:19, first half, KU leads 29-6
LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska’s early slumps continued, as the Huskers’ Chris Balham, a Shawnee Mission West product, was called for a push-off on the first possession out of the timeout.
Brandon Rush turned it into a long two-point jumper on the other end, giving him 12 points already and pushing Nebraska’s drought without a field goal to nearly six minutes. It extended with another missed three and a defensive board by Russell Robinson.
Charles Robinson Jr. missed another long Nebraska two after KU failed to capitalize, but a block of Sasha Kaun on the other end awoke the Nebraska crowd, which has been silent almost all night. Though, again, Nebraska came up empty-handed, and Sherron Collins put himself in the scoring column with a difficult left-handed layup, and he then followed it up with a three-pointer, giving KU a devastating 29-6 lead with 7:59 left in the first half.
Maric remained scoreless off of a missed baby hook underneath, but KU’s first turnover of the game at the 7:19 led to another timeout on the floor.
Update #2: 11:46, first half, KU leads 22-6
LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska air-balled a three-pointer out of the timeout, and Brandon Rush aggressively pulled up and stroked a trey of his own just seconds later, putting KU up 15-6. Wright then blocked a three at the other end and drew a foul with it, and Rush came right back to hit another three, giving him eight points already along with Julian Wright.
Darrell Arthur became the fourth Jayhawk to score at the 13:26 mark, putting KU up 20-6 after yet another missed Nebraska three, leading Doc Sadler to blow for a 30-second timeout.
Rush just kept the hits coming out of a quick break, slashing to the hoop and getting himself to the free throw line after a Nebraska turnover. Rush hit both shots, putting Kansas up 22-6 and almost completely silencing the Devaney Center.
Nebraska saw the shot clock diminish deep on its next possession and couldn’t get a good look at the hoop, missing a wild baseline jumper. Darnell Jackson moments later was called for a foul, bringing the game to its second extended halt.
Update #1: 15:31, first half, KU leads 12-6
LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska opened the game with ultra-sticky man-on-man defense, but Julian Wright swooped in from the right wing to put home the game’s first two points off the glass. That was followed with a turnover while looking for an open man in the corner on the other end.
Wright then tipped home another two just seconds later, with four points in the first minute. Wright kept the hot start going, with a steal on the defensive end, and he was fouled in transition. Wright hit two free throws to put KU up 6-0.
Marcus Perry finally got Nebraska on the board with a three on the left wing, but Wright came back immediately to bank in a 12-foot jumper off of the glass. KU kept the pressure on, as Russell Robinson then forced a steal, and on a third-chance offensive opportunity, Brandon Rush became the first Jayhawk other than Wright to score, hitting a jumper from the free throw line.
After Sasha Kaun drew a foul and Aleks Maric underneath, and then grabbed an offensive board, Robinson got in the scoring column with a deuce, but Ryan Anderson answered immediately for Nebraska, hitting the Huskers’ second three of the game. That was followed with a Sasha Kaun foul, sending the game to a break at 15:31 with KU leading 12-6.
Pregame
LINCOLN, Neb. – Playing tougher in the paint might be more than necessary for Kansas University’s big men tonight in a Big Monday showdown at Nebraska.
KU coach Bill Self called out his bigs after Saturday’s 97-74 win over Colorado, and Nebraska will propose just as much of a threat in the paint tonight. On top of that, a hostile environment at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, with fans lined up and yelling outside the gates, will try and play sixth man to the best of their ability. The Nebraska fans did their best to organize a ‘Red-Out’ for tonight’s game, trying to create even more impressive of an atmosphere.
The Jayhawks enter tonight’s contest having been outrebounded in three of their last four contests. Tonight’s top foe for the KU forwards will be 6-foot-11 junior Alex Maric, who is averaging 17.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game for the 12-7 Cornhuskers, who are off to just a 1-4 start in Big 12 play. After a 62-61 loss at home to Texas on Jan. 24, the Huskers were thumped in Manhattan on Saturday by K-State, 61-45.
