Later, Sooners

By Gary Bedore     Mar 10, 2007

Brandon Rush‘s coach ordered him to be more aggressive in the second half.

Maybe more importantly, so did some of his peers, not enthralled with the Kansas University sophomore’s three-shot, three-point, first-half effort in Friday’s Big 12 tournament quarterfinal game against Oklahoma in Ford Center.

“Everybody in the locker room said something. Mario (Chalmers) said something. He said, ‘We need you right now,'” said Rush, who responded with 13 points off 5-of-8 shooting the final half, most off drives to the hole.

His slashing ability helped the Jayhawks awaken from an early slumber – “It was really tough getting up (at 7 a.m.) today,” Rush said – and break open a two-point game at halftime to dump the Sooners, 64-47.

The victory pushed the Jayhawks (28-4 overall, 14-2 Big 12) into today’s 1 p.m. semifinals against Kansas State (22-10), a 66-45 quarterfinal winner over Texas Tech.

“Brandon is key to our team. When we get him going, everybody gets going,” Chalmers said. “I said, ‘Come on, just be more aggressive. Attack the basket.’ He was like the old Brandon the second half, playing great ‘D’ and getting in the attack lanes.”

Rush’s effort, plus a defensive performance that held OU to one field goal in 15 tries the first 15 minutes of the half and 4-of-20 shooting the final 20 minutes, quieted an Oklahoma team that fell to KU, 67-65, just two weeks ago in Norman, Okla.

Go figure

11 First-half field goals by Oklahoma4 Second-half field goals by the Sooners0 Second-half three-point field goals by Oklahoma2:6 OU’s second-half assist-to-turnover ratio3 First-half points by KU’s Brandon Rush13 Second-half points by Rush20-14 OU’s first-half rebounding advantage20-14 OU’s second-half rebounding deficit

“They were getting straight line drives on us,” OU coach Jeff Capel lamented after his Sooners fell to 16-15 overall. “Brandon Rush got one on the left wing when he drove it right down the middle. Looked like Moses had a staff and the sea parted right there. That’s disappointing.”

Rush was one of two Jayhawks to score in double figures.

The other was freshman forward Darrell Arthur, who scored 10 points and grabbed three rebounds with two blocks in 16 minutes.

Not bad for a guy who was floored by a nasty virus after awakening Monday morning. He was able practice part-time this week and answered the call versus the Sooners.

“I was told to not play him more than three minutes at a time, and it maxed out at 10. I broke that a little bit,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He was winded at times. It was good he was able to do some positive things. He should be able to go more tomorrow.”

Arthur said he was in a world of hurt Monday.

“I woke up feeling pain up here,” he said, pointing to his chest. “I had to go see a lung specialist. He told me there’s nothing but a little virus there and I should be better by the end of the week. The doctors gave me medication that helped me out. I felt a lot better after I heard I could play in the tournament.”

Making Arthur feel worse were early-week Internet posts from somebody who indicated the 6-foot-9, 230-pound freshman had a heart attack and was being treated at the hospital.

“They (doctors) didn’t think it was my heart,” Arthur said. “I heard about that (message-board post). It upset me a little bit. It wasn’t my heart.”

Arthur, who Self said had some shortness of breath and lung pain that was deemed a virus after a battery of tests, felt energized Friday.

“I had a lot of bounce,” he said. “Julian (Wright, seven points, 15 minutes) was in foul trouble, so I tried to help the team as much as I could, play as much as I could.”

Fellow freshman Sherron Collins, who had been scoreless the last two games, rallied for eight points off 4-of-8 shooting, though he missed four threes. Chalmers had nine points and Sasha Kaun eight on a day the Jayhawks held the Sooners to 31.3 percent shooting.

Big 12 tournament scoreboard

Friday’s GamesKansas 64, Oklahoma 47Kansas State 66, Texas Tech 45Oklahoma State 57, Texas A&M 56Texas 74, Baylor 69Today’s Semifinals1 p.m. – Kansas vs. Kansas State3:30 p.m. – Oklahoma State vs. TexasSunday’s Championship2 p.m. – semifinal winners

Really the only negative for KU again was free-throw shooting. KU hit 11 of 22 charities to OU’s 15 of 19.

“We talked about as a staff on the bench we weren’t going to talk about free-throw shooting. But to answer your question, ‘Yes,”‘ Self said, asked if he was concerned. “We’ve got better shooters than 11-of-22. But we’re not going to talk. Sometimes the more you talk about missing short putts or free-throw shooting, the more it gets in your head. I don’t believe it’s in our head to the point where we have a phobia about it or anything. You’ve got to make free throws in the postseason.”

Playing defense like KU does helps in the postseason, too.

“We were focused on defense and rebounding the second half,” Rush said. “We were aggressive.”

Now if he can remember to be aggressive the first half today.

“Brandon shied away from taking action the first half,” Self said. “We are not going to be a real good team unless we have our best offensive players stepping up and making plays or taking shots.”

“When he’s making plays, we’re at a different level,” junior Russell Robinson said. “I always know Brandon will come through. It might take awhile, but I know he’s going to get there.”

Later, Sooners

By Gary Bedore     Feb 6, 2006

Not many, if any, fans had headed for the exits.

Nobody on Kansas University’s basketball team officially had thrown in the towel.

Yet to players, coaches and spectators alike, things sure didn’t look promising with 9 1â2 minutes to play Sunday in Allen Fieldhouse, with the young, unranked Jayhawks trailing an experienced, No. 19-rated Oklahoma team by 16 points.

“We were just about dead, but the guys didn’t quit,” KU coach Bill Self said after his squad rallied furiously down the stretch to claim a pulsating 59-58 victory.

The rally from a 50-34 deficit was three points shy of KU’s biggest comeback victory of all time. KU, which wiped out a 16-point deficit in a home victory over Georgia Tech last season, erased a 19-point deficit against UCLA in 1995, also at the fieldhouse.

“We had a bunch of young kids battling and hanging in there. Young kids aren’t supposed to be as tough as we were today,” Self added, elevating KU’s freshman class to “sophomores at the least.”

Freshman guard Brandon Rush, who was ineffective the first half after getting poked in the right eye by OU’s Terrell Everett, scored 10 points in a 19-3 run that tied the score at 53 with 2:59 left.

Those points – seven in a 15-0 stretch – came in the nick of time.

“I thought the game was about done,” Rush said after scoring 18 points, 12 the second half once his blurred vision cleared. “We had big doubts about coming back. Then the shots started falling, and we picked it up on defense.”

It was the defensive work of Rush, KU’s leading scorer, that eventually saved the day.

KU led, 59-58, with 19 ticks to play following a running jumper by Mario Chalmers, which immediately answered a three by Michael Neal at :27.

“It was the biggest shot of my career,” Chalmers said.

The slim lead then was protected by the 6-foot-6 Rush, who blocked a straight-on 12-footer by Everett with seven seconds left.

“I think it was the biggest play of the game,” said Rush, who said “yes,” when Self asked if he had enough energy to take a turn guarding the 6-foot-4 Everett down the stretch.

“I thought he was going to drive. He pulled up for the shot. I tried to contest it. I was able to get a block.”

Everett, who scored 14 points off 6-of-19 shooting, grabbed his own rebound and horsed up another outside shot. That one from the wing missed.

The rebound went to Rush, who was tied up by OU’s Neal with 1.6 seconds to play, KU still up by one.

“We talked to our guys and told them that (OU) had the possession arrow, and do not let them tie you up,” Self said. “If we would have batted it to halfcourt or anything, we would have won the game right there.

“OU did a good job tying it up. It wasn’t Brandon’s fault. There wasn’t much he could do.”

Visibly upset, Rush tossed the ball into the air instead of handing it to a ref after seeing the possession arrow go OU’s way for one final play.

“I’m surprised I didn’t get a technical. I got real mad. I thought it was a foul,” Rush said.

No foul was called, and because of the tie-up, OU (14-5, 5-3) was still breathing against KU (15-6, 6-2).

“They made us sweat. It’s a good thing we still had a foul to give,” Self said.

It was good for KU, because the in-bounds pass with just under two seconds left went to OU big man Taj Gray (13 points, 12 rebounds), who was hacked before shooting by C.J. Giles.

The clock was stopped with one tick left, and OU again received the opportunity to in-bound.

“Coach at first started talking about, ‘Foul him (if a Sooner gained possession in scoring position).’ Then he changed it and said, ‘Don’t foul,”‘ Giles said. “I saw he was wide-open. They weren’t in the bonus, so I had to get it (foul) for the team.”

Self said he didn’t want to risk a Jayhawk fouling a Sooner while putting up a shot, so upon further review dismissed the foul strategy.

It all came down to an eventful final second.

OU’s Neal accepted an in-bounds pass and fired a three from the corner in front of the Sooner bench. The shot, which fell way short, was well defended by KU’s Russell Robinson.

Neal said he felt contact on the shot, but “wasn’t expecting a call.”

“I didn’t touch him,” Robinson countered. “I wanted to be out there on him close. I knew he had only one second to put up a shot.”

A key on the play was Giles – who had three blocks in 12 minutes with at least five altered shots – denying an inside in-bounds pass to Gray.

“We put C.J. on the ball to take away the throw to the rim,” Self said. “That is what they tried to do the time before. Russell didn’t do a great job on Neal on the play. It wasn’t a good look, but he got off a look. We thought they would throw it to the basket. Fortunately for us, they threw outside, and he missed it so I’ll say it was good defense.”

No question putting Rush on Everett late helped immensely.

“Brandon had used a lot of energy. The last five or six minutes I asked him could he do it? He said yes,” Self said. “That may have been as big a difference in the game. He (Everett) didn’t score again after that. He didn’t get a decent look after that.”

Rush, who is known for scoring, accepted praise for his defense on Everett, who didn’t score the final 12 minutes.

“When coach asked me, ‘Did I want him?’ I said yes,” Rush said. “I got on him, held him down a bit.”

As a result, KU won its fifth straight game, grabbed sole possession of second in the conference and claimed its first single-digit victory of the season.

“Hopefully we earned a little respect,” Giles said.

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