Some thoughts…from Boston
Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer
“KU’s inside players, Jackson and Arthur played very well and the Jayhawks were able to squash the home team despite seeing a 25-point lead dip to 14 the second half.
Very nice victory on the road. Again, a lot of KU fans in the stands. It’s amazing how well fans travel with this team.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“Many guard-driven college basketball teams need to hit their perimeter shots to win. Not Kansas. The Jayhawks have too many ways to win games and they won this one on the inside. Darnell Jackson’s emergence and Darrell Arthur moving his game closer to the basket can only help.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“What continues to impress me about Darnell Jackson is just how good he has been this season in transition. Tom Keegan wrote a feature this summer about the slimmed-down Jackson, and you’re seeing him in his collegiate prime right now. Many worried after last season about replacing Julian Wright’s versatile presence in situations such as those. Jackson has filled the gap nicely, and Darrell Arthur is developing well alongside him, as Tom mentioned.”
Inside the numbers
39: Bill Self listed off a couple of team-wide new year’s resolutions following last Saturday’s win at home against Yale. One of them was rebounding, and the Jayhawks did one of their best jobs on the glass this season in the first game of 2008. KU outrebounded BC 39-24, and had 23 defensive boards compared to 11 offensive rebounds for the Eagles.
78.9: The other resolution which showed immediate improvement to start the calendar year was free throw shooting. The Jayhawks were an impressive 15-of-19 from the stripe. Even more impressive was three Jayhawk big men – Jackson, Arthur and Sasha Kaun – combining to shoot 13-of-16 at the line.
25: Darnell Jackson has been scoring bigger than ever for KU this year, but what’s more impressive about his career-high 25 points was the efficiency from which the performance came. He was 9-of-13 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. There were loads of NBA scouts here, as there are with any marquee matchup on the East coast, and I’m sure not one of them left without remembering Jackson’s showing.
22: Darrell Arthur matched Jackson in both efficiency and output, and deserves mention, too. He provided several of KU’s 10 dunks, scored 22 points, was 10-of-12 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the line. More important – especially in front of the scouts – was that he decided to stay where he belongs on offense, and that’s in the paint.
2: One reason the Jayhawks were able to close the first half on that impressive 25-7 roll was because they went into the half having turned the ball over just twice.
8: BC guard Tyrese Rice said the Jayhawks’ late run after letting their lead slip to 14 points was going to happen anyway. But the Eagles certainly helped it along from an emotional standpoint. After Mario Chalmers and Rakim Sanders were tangled up, a near-fracas took place at midcourt. Nothing was exchanged other than a few words, but the obviously charged-up Jayhawks went on a quick 8-0 run, celebrated after each bucket for the next few minutes and ran away.
Just in case you missed it…
While KU is scoring the old-fashioned way right now, with the big men filling up the scoring column, Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson are finding other ways to remain key contributors, as they always have. It’s just that those ‘other ways’ have sometimes fallen out of focus when they’ve scored big in the past. Robinson finished with five assists and a pair of steals, while Chalmers had six dishes and four swipes.
Hopefully you didn’t miss it…
Jackson and Arthur were at their best, but so was KU as a team in the first half. Statistically, the first 20 minutes of this game were probably the best 20 that 14-0 KU has played all year. The Jayhawks shot an even 50 percent from the floor before halftime, outrebounded BC 20-9, had 12 assists to just two turnovers and forced the Eagles to give the ball away 10 times.
They said it…
Darnell Jackson on his confidence at this point and his new career-high in points: “I have a lot of confidence. I always have confidence. My job is just to play hard for my teammates and coaches…25, it could have been five, could have been zero, I’m happy with it, but I don’t care about more points or more rebounds, as long as I do what I have to do on the court.”
Darrell Arthur on sealing a road game with a big lead late in the second half: “We’ve been working on late-game situations a lot (in practice), and I think it’s starting to help us…We’ll put four minutes on the clock, and we’re up four or down four, and try to keep a lead in that situation.”
Darrell Arthur on the emotion added following the near-skirmish midway through the second half: “Adrenaline just starts going through your body and just makes you want to go at them…I don’t know what happened, but it got us sparked up and we went on a big run.”
Mario Chalmers on the mini-confrontation with BC’s Rakim Sanders: “Anytime you have competition, you’re going to have a battle between two players. He’s a great player, I just tried to lock him up and we got into it a little bit. But other than that, it was nothing other than friendly competition.”
Notable…
…KU is 14-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 season and the fifth time in school history. The Jayhawks are also one of just six undefeated teams in Division-I…KU has won 16 of its last 17 games away from Allen Fieldhouse…The Jayhawks are 2-0 against the ACC this season…and 32-21 all-time…KU’s starting lineup was the same for the fifth straight game (Jackson, Arthur, Rush, Chalmers, Robinson)…the Jayhawks are a combined 37-3 this season in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball combined…KU’s 10 dunks were a season-high…KU has held 85 of its last 88 opponents under a field goal percentage of 50, including 13 of 14 this year…Darnell Jackson’s career-high 25 points were also the most scored this season by a Jayhawk…Arthur tied a career-high with 10 made field goals. That is the season-high for a KU player this season…KU’s 10 steals marked the 10th time this year the Jayhawks have recorded double-digit swipes…
