**9:00 p.m.**: Not that the ship needed righting, but Bill Self admitted that this win felt good, no matter how shaky things got at a couple of points in the second half.The mood outside of the KU locker room was almost one of relief, as the Jayhawks now head into their most anticipated home game of the season on the right foot. There was loud hip-hop bass coming from the swinging doors of the locker room and little tension in the players’ voices.Darrell Arthur’s play was a major topic of discussion, and Self confirmed what many already believe – the offense simply runs smoother and everything else falls into place when things are run through the big men.Arthur finished with a much-needed 18 points and 10 rebounds. His 18 shot attempts were a season-high, and he was obviously taking out some pent-up offensive frustration on the Cyclones.Some of the talk also revolved around the upcoming KU-KSU game Saturday night. Let that hype machine begin. Bill Self hit on the topic of defending the league’s top 1-2 tandem a bit…_”It’s kind of a unique situation, watching tape for the next two days. Teams have struggled playing them one way, they’ve had success playing them the same way. Teams have had success guarding them one way, then if you guard Beasley and Walker one-on-one, they can go for 75. But Baylor won. We double-teamed Beasley a lot, they kicked our butt. There’s gonna be some thinking going on on how’s the best way to defend them.”_The players didn’t get too deep into it, but you can tell they’re ready for 8 p.m. Saturday. Sherron Collins put it best…_”I’d say they brought more energy (in the first meeting), at the point and time. We were tough, but we didn’t rebound and do the little things that we were supposed to do. It was emotional because Beasley guaranteed victory, so theypretty much had something to back up for, but now, it’s up for grabs and we’re gonna come in and we’re gonna play.”_Here’s some final numbers of note…-KU was 7-of-11 from three-point range – by far its best single-game percentage of the season. Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers were each 3-of-4.-Russell Robinson may have had the night’s most impressive line: five points, five assists, 10 rebounds. He had two turnovers, which didn’t come until the final minutes with the game out of reach.-KU thumped ISU on the boards, 43-30.-Sherron Collins played 18 minutes and looked a bit smoother than he did Saturday, but both he and Self said health-wise he has a ways to go.Looking forward to Saturday. We’ll be talking starting early in the day. See you then.**7:51 p.m.**: Left with nothing else to say, the Iowa State student section began chanting ‘Put-in-Bra-dy’ in the closing moments. Hence, this one’s over and done with. Good mental toughness shown by KU in the second half as well as sound execution for the most part the entire night.Be back after postgame interviews with notes, nuggets and numbers.**7:36 p.m.**: Make that twice now tonight that ISU not only got on a run but went into a Bill Self timeout with the techno music blaring at an incredibly high decibel rate. And make that twice that KU has not been distracted further by it.The Jayhawks haven’t looked as clean in this response to a Cyclone run, but they’ve been just as poised and calm, drawing and-ones inside on two occasions (Rush and Kaun) and continuing to attack the rim, which has worked well tonight.The Cyclones did it to themselves a bit this time, though, as Wesley Johnson got a bit too eager with the ball on two occasions, once resulting in the turnover and the second time in a bad, bad miss. Rare for No. 4, who you should be reminded is one of the friendliest men in the Big 12. Hard for anyone to pull against him.**7:10 p.m.**: That might have been the most important stretch of game so far tonight for the Jayhawks. I’m talking about the 8-0 run after ISU closed to within six points at 36-30, of course.This place was freakin’ nuts after Bill Self called the timeout following Sean Haluska’s jumper from the free throw line. Kernkraft was blowing on the sound system, and this place might have a better bass presence in its loud speakers than anywhere in the country. Add in a fueled-up crowd, and KU could have easily folded.The Jayhawks, though, did what they’ve done best all night, and that’s run offense through the big men. On the first possession, it resulted in an 18-foot jumper for Darrell Arthur, and then a Darnell Jackson flying two down the lane added to it. Throw in four straight free throws from Sherron Collins and Russell Robinson and KU is again soundly in control.That said a lot for this team emotionally, especially after its mental strength was called into question a bit in the road games played on the Big 12 slate so far this year.**6:51 p.m.**: I can’t say I’m opposed to the timing of that half. Shoot, the second half is going to start before 7 p.m. That’s flat-out insane.As for the action…I maintain that’s the most impressive all-around first half KU has put together since Jan. 5 at Boston College.Offensively, things are working through Darrell Arthur, and as a result, everything else is simply falling into place. Arthur’s line is the light at the end of the tunnel he maybe saw after Saturday’s horrendous output. He had 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, seven rebounds, two assists and no turnovers.The Jayhawks had 23 first half rebounds, pulling down 16 on the defensive end while allowing the Cyclones just five offensive caroms. What made the half go by so fast was the fact that the two teams combined for just four personal fouls – two apiece – and Iowa State’s Rahshon Clark shot the only charities in the first 20 minutes.A quick, clean half of basketball. The key, though, as always, is maintaining it.Some more first half numbers…-Brandon Rush had another offensively quiet second half, but still he was aggressive. He had three points on 1-of-5 shooting, hitting his lone three-point try, and pulled down a pair of impressive defensive rebounds.-Clark had one point in the first half for Iowa State, and it was the only point scored by anyone not named Hubalek or Johnson for ISU. Wesley Johnson was chucking a little bit, but was 3-of-5 from deep. The rest of the team outside of the two double-digit scorers was a combined 0-for-15 from the floor. Ouchie.-Tyrel Reed played not a single second in the first half. If this one’s out of hand 10 minutes into the second half, might not be a bad idea to get him some road experience.-Again, KU’s first foul didn’t come until the 6:35 mark. Soak that in.Here’s to a quick and painless second half, just like the first (knocking on the wooden table I’m seated at…).**6:27 p.m.**: The good – KU didn’t commit its first team foul until the 6:35 mark of the first half.The bad – It was called on Darrell Arthur (though that’s not all that bad, and it was at least a legitimate foul while going for a block of ISU’s Rahshon Clark).**6:19 p.m.**: Well, it’s pretty apparent that KU’s goal right out of the gates tonight was to involve Darrell Arthur. On each of the Jayhawks’ first two offensive possessions, he was given an entry feed while posted up, scoring once and missing the other time. It set a nice tone.Arthur has six points so far, but what that idea did was establish the Jayhawks’ offensive principles early, and everything has grown from there. ISU is looking to Arthur every trip of the floor defensively, and it’s opening things up for everyone.What’s more impressive, though, is the Jayhawks’ swagger that has reappeared from seemingly nowhere. Really haven’t seen it since the second half against Baylor 17 days ago.Also, Sherron Collins looks somewhat springy on that knee, as he’s wearing no brace. He may have drastically improved since Saturday, by the looks of things.**5:52 p.m.**: Both teams just exited the floor before coming out for gametime, as we’re just a few minutes away from the tip.As a final note from pregame warmups, Sherron Collins went through the shootaround and stretching and all that jazz without the aid of a knee brace to protect his bruise. KU is wearing its traditional road blues.**4:44 p.m.**: With a belly full of delicious grub from Hickory Park, I’m ready to go. You would be, too. I look forward to no restaurant in the Big 12 on road trips more than that place. I suggest the 1/2 chicken dinner, then the Snickers sundae to top it off. Good stuff.Anyways, lets go…**So after doing a lap around the floor** with players filtering out of the locker rooms to shoot around, I took in an unusual site. See, for KU, the bevy of walk-ons usually appear first on the floor, with the scholarship guys emerging in uniform about 15-20 minutes later.Tonight, for the first time I can recall all year, Darrell Arthur came out with the walk-ons to loosen up and get in some early shots.Could be a sign.Could mean absolutely nothing.I’m going with the latter.But there’s no debating that no player will be more watched by the Jayhawk Nation tonight than double-zero.[Saturday’s loss at Oklahoma State][1]saw the sophomore from Dallas have his worst game yet this season. The six points he scored tied a season-low, but it went much deeper than that.His three shot attempts were by far his fewest this season, he fouled out for the second time (first time in Big 12 play) and, on top of that, didn’t commit a single worthwhile foul if you ask Bill Self.The fact is that Arthur’s offense is needed tonight for multiple reasons.First, KU is going to need him going into the K-State game Saturday with something that resembles momentum. I’m not saying the guy needs to score 30 tonight, but he needs to build some confidence.Yesterday on [The Spodcasters][2], we pretty much were all in agreement that Arthur will never be a guy like Michael Beasley, who always wants the ball and demands it on many possessions. It’s just not in his persona. You can’t change who someone is.But that doesn’t mean you can’t get the offense through him on every possession. The onus there falls on the guards. Tonight, that means Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson, as Sherron Collins isn’t expected to play a ton of minutes, still nursing a bruised knee.That brings us to the other reason Arthur’s offense is needed – there’s going to be a dip in guaranteed scoring punch in the backcourt tonight.Chalmers and Robinson are both healthy, and against an overmatched Iowa State backcourt, both should likely do again what they did on Jan. 23, combining for 21 points and 10 assists…at least.But without Collins being a sure thing off the bench, the next best scoring option on the perimeter for KU off the pine is Tyrel Reed. The freshman, who looked solid in the summer in pickup action then in the early non-conference season before a pair of ankle injuries, has played just over two minutes on the road in league action this year. A.K.A. he’s no sure thing, either.Arthur needs this. I think he’ll do the job tonight offensively, but it all depends on the minutes he plays. At some point, he’ll need to rid himself of the reaching habit on defense. I don’t think three days between games will have done the trick in solving things long term, but the last thing he needs heading into Saturday is another sour showing.The big men this year have rarely let one bad game turn into two, **so I’ll predict 17 and 12 for Arthur as KU wins 85-66** – a result that is sorely needed given the recent ups and downs.**Earlier this week, I headed out to** Bramlage to watch Kansas State take on Texas Monday night.The reason K-State intrigues me so much still is the reason I still consider myself a staunch NBA fan – I love the drama.While Texas right now is without question the Big 12’s best team, no one can argue that K-State is the most interesting.I mean, has anyone ever sat back and truly looked over everything that’s happened within the Wildcat program in the past two-plus years?You go from Wooldridge’s neck brace to Bob Huggins materializing out of thin air to Frank Martin. You go from Jeremiah Massey to Cartier Martin to Michael Beasley. The fans all of a sudden care, the current football coach gets a luke warm reception at best when shown on the videoboard at hoops games and the program has actually established a recruiting pipeline.The thing I’ve learned with K-State is that you just never know what you’ll get. Saturday, Beasley and Bill Walker combine for 75 points and the ‘Cats lose by nine. Two nights later, Walker goes 0-for-14 from the floor, the KSU guards almost forget Beasley and his all-universe skills in the post exist in the final 13 minutes and, well, they lose again.I’m not willing to offer up a prediction on Saturday’s game until I see what KU looks like tonight. But Bill Walker will undoubtedly hold the key in my mind. He’s like the mystery behind Door No. 3 you pick instead of the guaranteed Hawaiian vacation on a gameshow.**Finally, killing some more time before the tip,** has anyone paid attention lately to what J.R. Giddens is doing? The guy is flat-out killing the Mountain West right now.Since scoring just four points in an 83-66 loss to BYU on Jan. 26, the former KU standout is averaging 22.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per contest over New Mexico’s last eight games. In that stretch, the Lobos and Steve Alford are 6-2, including last night’s 70-69 overtime loss to, again, BYU.More impressive to those KU fans who thought Giddens was nothing more than a long-range sniper and a highlight-reel dunker is that last night, he scored 30 points…without hitting a single trifecta. Guess that mid-range game developed, huh?The Lobos right now are 22-7 overall and 9-5 in the MWC, meaning they’re probably Tourney-bound. Sounds like a potential seven-seeded second-round matchup for KU, don’t you think? [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/feb/24/upset_squared/?mens_basketball [2]: http://www2.kusports.com/podcasts/spodcasters/2008/feb/26/spodcasters_022608/
