Kansas is 9-3 on the season and won its first game of a three game homestand with a 79-43 victory against Albany (Dec. 30).  The Jayhawks are averaging 79.4 points per game and giving up 62.7 for a +16.8 scoring margin. KU leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense at 37.7 percent and free throw percentage at 73.1 percent. Two of KU's three losses have been by one point to UMass (61-60) and in overtime to Syracuse (89-81), i.e. two possessions.  Junior guard Sherron Collins leads KU in scoring at 16.9 points per game. Collins has led the team in scoring in nine of 12 games this season and has a team-high 26 three-point field goals and 57 assists. Sophomore center Cole Aldrich is next in scoring at 14.2 points per game and leads the team with 9.6 rebounds per game.  Aldrich has led Kansas in rebounding in nine of the last 10 games. He also has six double doubles in that span, second most in the Big 12. Aldrich has 29 of KU's 57 blocked shots for a Big 12-leading 2.4 per game. Freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor is scoring 10 points per game and leads Kansas with 20 steals. His 1.7 steals per game are 10th in the Big 12 and tops among league freshmen. Freshman forward Marcus Morris (8.5 ppg) is second on the team with 5.8 rebounds, tops among Big 12 freshmen. Sophomore guard Brady Morningstar has made multiple three pointers in each of his last three games and is scoring 7.4 points per outing. Freshman forward Markieff Morris has started the last three games and is third on the team with a 4.9 rebound average. He is scoring 5.6 ppg. Sophomore guard Tyrel Reed (6.8 ppg) is coming off a career-high 12 points against Albany with four assists. Freshman forward Quintrell Thomas (2.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg) and freshman guard Travis Releford (3.7 ppg) also see time in KU’s rotation. Thomas was 6-for-6 from the free throw line against Albany and Releford had seven points and four rebounds against the Great Danes.

About Tennessee

Tennessee is celebrating its 100th year of men’s basketball and brings a three-game winning streak to Allen Fieldhouse. The Vols, defending Southeastern Conference champs, have won four of their last five and are 1-1 in true road games and 4-2 away from home this season. UT, 9-2, is outscoring opponents by +12.3 points per game, averaging 84.5 to their foes’ 72.2. Tennessee also controls the boards, outrebounding opponents 42.7 to 32.8 for a +9.9 margin. Junior forward Tyler Smith leads the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game and is third in rebounding with 5.6 rpg. Junior forward Wayne Chism is next in scoring at 11.8 points per game and he leads the team with 8.5 rebounds per contest. Junior guard J.P. Prince is scoring 10.9 points per game, while junior guard Bobby Maze is at 9.5 ppg, freshman guard/forward Cameron Tatum at 9.2 ppg and freshman guard Scotty Hopson at 8.8 ppg. Maze leads the team with 49 assists and 16 steals on the season, while Tatum has a team-high 17 three pointers. Sophomore center Brian Williams (6.6 ppg) is second on the team with 7.5 rebounds per contest. He, Chism and freshman guard/forward Renaldo Wooldridge (6.6 ppg) have seven blocked shots each to lead UT. Tennessee is deep as Smith (29.7 minutes per game) and Maze (27.1) are the only two Vols to average more than 22 minutes per game and seven other UT players average 16-plus minutes per game.

The Series

Kansas and Tennessee have yet to meet in men’s basketball but the Jayhawks are no stranger to the Southeastern Conference. KU has faced nine of the 12 SEC teams and has a 28-29 record against the conference. KU is 3-0 vs. Georgia, 2-0 vs. South Carolina, 1-0 vs. Mississippi, 3-1 vs. Florida, 3-1 vs. LSU, 8-5 vs. Arkansas, 2-2 vs. Vanderbilt, 0-1 vs. Auburn and 6-19 vs. Kentucky. The Jayhawks have yet to play Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi State. Under head coach Bill Self, Kansas is 4-1 against the SEC. The last KU-SEC contest saw Kansas defeat Kentucky 88-76 in the in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

A Kansas Win Would…

Improve Kansas to 10-3 on the season… Give KU a 1-0 series edge against Tennessee… Even KU’s series against current membership of the Southeastern Conference at 29-29, including 5-1 under Bill Self… Extend KU’s home court win streak to 32 games, the fourth longest in NCAA Division I… Improve Kansas head coach Bill Self to 152-35 while at KU, 359-140 overall and 2-0 against Tennessee… Give Kansas a 624-106 all-time record in Allen Fieldhouse… Make Kansas 1,953-788 all-time.

Youth Movement

The 2008-09 Kansas basketball team is young. How young? Ten of its top 11 scorers are freshmen or sophomores and the two classes are neck-and-neck in scoring with the freshmen scoring 38.2 percent of KU’s points and the sophomores 37.8 percent. That’s a combined effort of 76 percent scoring from KU’s underclassmen. Below is a breakdown of KU’s scoring for 2008-09. Note: KU’s seniors Brennan Bechard and Matt Kleinmann are walk-ons and have combined for 14 points.

Kansas Scoring for 2008-09

Freshmen – 38.2 percent (364 points)

Sophomores – 37.8 percent (360 points)

Juniors – 22.5 percent (215 points)

Seniors – 1.5 percent (14 points)

KU Freshmen in the Big 12

The Kansas freshmen are making quite the impact in the Big 12. Guard Tyshawn Taylor leads the Big 12 freshmen in assists with 3.8 per game and steals at 1.7 per contest. He is third in scoring with 10.0 points per game. Marcus and Markieff Morris are 1-2 in the conference among freshmen rebounders with Marcus at 5.8 rpg and Markieff at 4.9 rpg.

Denverjhawks thoughts…

Truthfully, I haven’t had the chance to come up for air from football season and at this point RockChalk probably would give a better summary of the basketball situation.  Clearly another big test for a young team though, and one we need to win at home.  Looking forward to it, not sure on the score but I’m going to say Kansas wins by 8.

2008-09 Kansas Roster (*last game starters)

No. Pos. Name Cl.-Exp. Ht. Wt. Hometown (Previous School)

2 G Conner Teahan So.-1L 6-5 215 Leawood, Kan. (Rockhurst HS)

*4 G Sherron Collins Jr.-2L 5-11 200 Chicago, Ill. (Crane HS)

10 G Brennan Bechard Sr-2L (TR) 6-0 185 Lawrence, Kan. (Lawrence HS/Barton Co. [Kan.] CC)

11 F Quintrell Thomas Fr.-HS 6-7 240 Newark, N.J. (Saint Patrick HS)

*12 G Brady Morningstar So.-1L(RS) 6-3 180 Lawrence, Kan. (Free State HS/New Hampton [N.H.] Prep)

14 G Tyrel Reed So.-1L 6-3 185 Burlington, Kan. (Burlington HS)

*15 G Tyshawn Taylor Fr.-HS 6-3 180 Hoboken, N.J. (St. Anthony HS)

*21 F Markieff Morris Fr.-HS 6-9 232 Philadelphia, Pa. (Prep Charter HS/APEX Academy [N.J.])

22 F Marcus Morris Fr.-HS 6-8 225 Philadelphia, Pa. (Prep Charter HS/APEX Academy [N.J.])

23 G Mario Little Jr.-TR 6-5 210 Chicago, Ill. (Washington HS/Chipola [Fla.] CC)

24 G Travis Releford Fr.-HS 6-5 200 Kansas City, Mo. (Bishop Miege HS)

32 G Tyrone Appleton Jr.-TR 6-2 203 Gary, Ind. (Harmony Prep/Midland [Texas] College)

40 G Jordan Juenemann Fr.-HS 6-4 195 Hays, Kan. (Hays HS)

41 G Chase Buford So.-1L 6-3 210 San Antonio, Texas (Alamo Heights HS)

*45 C Cole Aldrich So.-1L 6-11 245 Bloomington, Minn. (Jefferson HS)

54 C Matt Kleinmann Sr-3L (RS) 6-10 250 Overland Park, Kan. (Blue Valley West HS)

Head Coach: Bill Self (Oklahoma State, 1985)

Assistant Coaches: Joe Dooley (George Washington, 1988); Kurtis Townsend (Western Kentucky, 1982); Danny

Manning (Kansas, 1991)

Tennessee Volunteers (*probable starters)

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class Hometown (Previous School)

0 Renaldo Woolridge G/F 6-8 208 Fr. North Hollywood, Calif. (Harvard-Westlake)

*1 Tyler Smith F 6-7 215 Jr. Pulaski, Tenn. (Iowa)

2 Daniel West G 6-1 165 Fr. Saginaw, Mich. (Saginaw)

*3 Bobby Maze G 6-2 185 Jr. Suitland, Md. (Hutchinson (Kan.) C.C.)

*4 Wayne Chism F 6-9 242 Jr. Jackson, Tenn. (Bolivar Central)

5 Emmanuel Negedu F 6-7 230 Fr. Kaduna, Nigeria (Brewster [N.H.] Academy)

10 Michael Hubert G 6-2 208 So. Hendersonville, Tenn. (Chattanooga)

11 Quinn Cannington G 6-4 165 Jr. Knoxville, Tenn. (Fulton)

21 Justin Jackson G 5-11 173 Sr Fredericksburg, Va. (Fredericksburg Academy)

22 Steven Pearl F 6-5 228 So. Knoxville, Tenn. (West)

23 Cameron Tatum G/F 6-6 196 RS-Fr. Lithonia, Ga. (The Patterson School)

24 Tanner Wild G 6-0 170 Sr. Huntington, W.Va. (Huntington)

*25 Josh Tabb G 6-4 196 Jr. Carbondale, Ill. (Harmony Community Prep)

30 J.P. Prince G 6-7 205 Jr. Memphis, Tenn. (Arizona)

*32 Scotty Hopson G 6-7 185 Fr. Hopkinsville, Ky. (University Heights)

33 Brian Williams C 6-10 267 So. Bronx, N.Y. (Harmony Community Prep)

34 Ryan Childress F 6-9 235 Sr. Cincinnati, Ohio (Moeller)

44 Philip Jurick C 6-10 250 Fr. Chattanooga, Tenn. (East Ridge)

Head Coach: Bruce Pearl (Boston College, 1982)

Associate Head Coach: Tony Jones (Concordia University, 1993)

Assistant Coaches: Steve Forbes (Southern Arkansas, 1988); Jason Shay (Iowa, 1995)

Upcoming Games

January

3 TENNESSEE (ESPN) ............ 1 p.m.

6 SIENA (JTV) .......................... 7 p.m.

10 at Michigan State (CBS) ....... 12 p.m.

13 *KANSAS STATE (B12) ....... 7 p.m.

17 *at Colorado (ABC) ........... 2:30 p.m.

19 *TEXAS A&M (ESPN) .......... 8 p.m.

24 *at Iowa State (ESPN) ............ 1 p.m.

28 *at Nebraska (ESPN2) ....... 6:30 p.m.

31 *COLORADO (ESPNU) ........ 3 p.m.