Kansas Sluggish In Win Over Texas A&M
by Owen on Jan 23, 2012 10:07 PM CST
in Kansas Jayhawk Basketball 2011-12
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PrintBill Self used the term dumb to describe his teams effort at halftime of this one. Dumb, soft and selfish are the three terms that he specifically used in describing his teams early performance and that effort led to a less than encouraging grinder of a game on Monday night.
After jumping out to an 11 - 0 lead it looked as if Kansas was going to cruise. Then things turned into a dog fight with Kansas seemingly trailing and chasing the Aggies for much of the middle portion of this game. Too often the Jayhawks were caught settling for an early three while failing to work their offense and getting the ball into the lane. It really is a game that was a testiment to Texas A&M as they refused to fold and then they executed a solid gameplan with a little bit of help from the lackluster Jayhawk effort.
Fortunately Kansas was able to slowly pull away over the last 10 minutes. The Jayhawks were able to get the ball inside to Thomas Robinson more consistently and the defensive effort stepped up just enough to give the Aggies some trouble on the offensive end.
Kansas wins by a final score of 64 to 54. There weren't a tremendous amount of positive points to be taken from individual Jayhawk performances but Thomas Robinson did lead the Jayhawks with his 14th double double of the season. Robinson finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Jeff Withey also contributed double digits in the scoring column but more impressively he added 8 blocks while Tyshawn Taylor added a 17 points of his own most of which occurred early in the contest.
Other than that, Tommy Lasorda had some nice moments during the broadcast. Lasorda's golf clap following Robinson's key rebound and put back for a three point play around the 3:45 mark was perfection. Throw in Musburger and Knight and this was like sitting at McDonald's sipping on a senior coffee at 5:30 in the morning.
It's hard to say exactly why it is that Kansas seems so prone to the emotional and mental letdown when an opponent doesn't command respect. But it's that very issue that should be cause for concern as Kansas continues through the Big 12 schedule and into March. Sometimes you can get caught napping at the wrong time and it really comes back to haunt you.
All that said it is a win for Kansas, that's the goal at the end of the night and sometimes it isn't easy. The Jayhawks move to 7-0 in league play and hopefully there is something to be gained from the experience. Up next for Kansas is a trip to Ames to take on a dangerous Iowa State team in a game that many have circled as a potential stumbling block for the Jayhawks. In an increasingly competitive conference race, where Missouri is coming on very strong, every game becomes more important than the last.
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fyi
semi statistical recap wont be until tomorrow afternoon. I have something semi good for the morning though.
I write everywhere. You're probably better off following me on twitter
BETTER BE BETTER THAN SEMI GOOD BETTER BE ALL GOOD OR ILL BE MAD K
Shit happens when you win championships
by Andrew Clark on Jan 23, 2012 10:22 PM CST up reply actions
Semi-sweet chocolate is good in cookies
It’s all good.
"No time for questions. No time for games. Start kickin' ass and takin' down the names." - Dave Mustaine.
You're Picaso
if you can make something out of this game.
…
Or do you have great FB news?
ha no just another post i did yesterday/today
gotta attempt to get to bed tonight so i’m gonna write the recap in class
I write everywhere. You're probably better off following me on twitter
EJ is gonna make me kill myself someday...
THEO!
by wrigleyrocker12 on Jan 23, 2012 10:26 PM CST via mobile reply actions
You might be a bit angrier than me...
But I feel your pain. I’m sure he’s a good three point shooter, but he’s got an even better midrange game and canget to the rim. There is NOTHING better for a shooter than to see the ball go through the net. Why he doesn’t get himself easier looks to get himself going is beyond me.
by hiphopopotamus on Jan 24, 2012 8:36 AM CST up reply actions
I like EJ's defense of late
But his offense has taken a vacation, especially behind the arc. He still plays rushed. Not sure what the fix is for that.
I didn't get to see much of this game due to my indoor soccer game
Saw KU get up 9-0, then saw KU go from 44-40 to closing it out. Guess I’m good luck? Or bad luck? Or both?! zomg.
Team seems to still be in a hangover from Baylor, but honestly this didn’t surprise me. Games against the Aggies are always a slugfest, and it seems like we always struggle to score. Luckily, we always play great defense and TAMU just doesn’t have the weapons to win.
Games like tonight are why Self preaches defense. Our D straight up won it for us down the stretch. Withey didn’t allow anything down low. That guy is turning into a beast. I think the Morris twins and TRob wore off on him. He plays with an aggression and swagger he never showed before. He dunks on people and yells in their face. He uses his size to his advantage which he never did before.
TRob is a superstar, but if Withey keeps playing like this, even on nights where he isn’t scoring, KU is going to be nearly impossible to beat. Its the Kansas basketball pedigree. Our guards might be off, but your going to have a tough time outplaying us in the paint.
I give Manning a raise every year. Shit, make him the highest paid assistant in the country. I don’t care. If you are 6’8 (or taller) and have a resemblance of athleticism (and I have neither of these traits) you are going to become a good player. I can’t wait to see what he does with a guy like Landen Lucas, Traylor, etc.
Shit happens when you win championships
Not a slugfest IMO
well except for TRob flipping the A&M guy to the floor
Mostly it was just bad, no really mediocre BB.
Except for Withey’s blocks (repeatedly!), and the FT’s from him, and of all people TRob, this could have been Acie all over again.
if we play like we did tonight gonna be impossible to beat, but instead but nearly impossible to win. we have just gotta get out of this mode which i truly feel alot of the times that we can just turn it on whenever we want we just seem to go thru the motions alot of the times and then finally figure out oh shit we have a game. the ONE BIGGEST THING and coach slef commented on this in anothe article is we just don’t close out on the defensive end. we played solid if not really good defense for 30 out of the 35 second clock and then don’t finish breakin down or committing a ridicilous foul thats what is really sad. agreed. a win is a win. but in the 1st half it was like robinson wasn’t even on the floor alls we seem wwe wanted to do was jack up three’s, but good teams find ways to win games like this, but we took a step backwards tonight. all i can say to the guys is GOOD LUCK your gonna need it this week in practice. lol your gonna need it. coach self is not a happy camper
for me, a disappointing result
i am not seeing anything in this team that is going to take us very far in march…
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
--Albert Einstein
by Home Run Tony Cogan on Jan 23, 2012 10:57 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Defense
If teams can’t score on you. its easier to beat them.
#basketballexpert
Shit happens when you win championships
by Andrew Clark on Jan 23, 2012 11:01 PM CST up reply actions
but A&M can't score on anyone
and they actually did alright in the middle.
by dagger108 on Jan 24, 2012 12:05 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
problem is teams are scorin on us, refer to above to my comment on closing out on the defense coach selfs echo’s these thoughts if you don’t play the defense for the full 35 then your gonna get burnt we break down way to often at the end of the possession which was evident numerous times last night. givin up the lane or wide open jumpers you just can’t do that your gonna get killed. they just seem to let up give up the open j or commit a silly foul and then have to play another 35 seconds of defense. don’t get me wrong i like this team i think they have already exceeded expectations , but are we gonna make any kind of a run in the tourney in march if we play like we did tonight? UH NO. go hawks
Playing D for 30 of 35 seconds
has been happening all season. All three of our losses were muey frustrating in that way.
The name of that song played at KC Comets games in the '80's was Giorgio Moroder's "The Chase." Now you know.
Well, obviously not...
But we’re not playing like this game in and game out. if you didn’t expect a letdown last night, you’re delusional.
by hiphopopotamus on Jan 24, 2012 8:38 AM CST up reply actions
More an issue of the offense going flat
Spent the entire first half shooting jumpers instead of driving the lane and getting shots in the paint. Improved a bit in the second half but was still helter skelter.
Tough defense? A killer starting 5?
I think we have plenty of ingredients for a deep tourney run. Our ceiling is also, more than any other team, completely contigent on how hard we play. Playing hard is not a problem in the NCAAs, and the extended timeouts actually help a team like us with limited depth.
by 2.1 seconds left on Jan 24, 2012 10:10 AM CST up reply actions
A quote from the APs recap of the game:
“then Robinson answered two foul shots by Turner by tracking down a rebound like a ravenous beast, putt it back on the glass and getting fouled in the process. The free throw made it 58-47.”
Can we start calling TRob the Ravenous Beast?
Shit happens when you win championships
by Andrew Clark on Jan 23, 2012 10:57 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Even during the early lead, I thought we looked bad
When we were on offense, I felt like I was watching an intramural team. We weren’t running any semblance of an offense and the first guy that got anything approaching an open look chucked it up. It’s just that the shots were going in early on. I didn’t agree with everything Knight had to stay tonight, but I thought he was very right to identify that our offense runs through the post (although he was oddly slow to realize that part of our offense is post men passing out of the double team to the opposite wing for an open three) and we absolutely failed to do that for most of the first half and much of the second.
The good thing about this game is that it’s easily fixable. We know how to run our offense. We just need to do it again. The bad thing about this game is that I think Taylor’s early foul trouble made clear just how dependent on him we are. If I’m Fred Hoiberg, I’m designing plays t go right at Tyshawn early on and try to get him in fol trouble. We’re a different team without him.
I was thinking the same thing about Knight
I know certain guys have the green light to shoot an open 3 anytime they’re open but when you aren’t having a good shooting night individually and as a team sometimes a few extra passes can do wonders.
by jhwk316 on Jan 23, 2012 11:32 PM CST via Android app up reply actions
At least Conner eventually hit one 3 to quiet him
but we were really settling for 3’s. There were also times when we got the ball inside, and Withey in particular just kicked it back out without making any sort of move to the basket. TRob on the other hand worked his way into some wonderful double, triple and even quadruple teams, but somehow couldn’t find an open teammate even though there are 4 guys in white and only one other maroon player.
But Teahan, whatever his many faults, pretty much never takes a 3 outside of the flow of the offense
Elijah was the one jacking up threes before passing the ball into the post. Teahan’s looks were generally good. He just wasn’t hitting them.
Also, with the way A&M was collapsing into the paint (when Robinson and Withey were in, A&M would often have all 5 defenders in the pain when the ball went into the low post), anybody getting hot from the outside really would have exploited the opportunity. In some ways, it was nice to see that we can do enough in the post to win against a good defensive team whose focus was taking away post scoring.
i agree completely. and agree with what you said about knight also, but the biggest statement he made that i thought what kansas team are you watchin, was when he said we had alot of depth. WHAT? can someone please point out exactly where that is at? we have maybe 7 players 2 maybe maybe 3 at the very very most that play hardly any at all. mostly teahan then wesley and young a little but thats NOT alot of depth, especially compared to teams of past
I'm guessing it came up in the game thread but how about Bob Knight stating that Kansas had "tremendous depth" as a strength.
He’s a great bball mind but do a bit of homework on the team if you want to talk about it on tv.
Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
Rock Chalk Talk
Yeah,
almost fell off my couch when he said that. It’s pretty clear that post-coaching he hasn’t ever looked at a scouting report.
The name of that song played at KC Comets games in the '80's was Giorgio Moroder's "The Chase." Now you know.
Even worse than Mushburger's comment at the end
“Another example of a fine BB game.”
Either put them out to pasture or find them some dentures.
Another one that caught my attention...
was when he was talking about the Big 10 on a lead-in and said that you look at the Big Ten and say that there is no comparison between Kansas and Missouri and them athletically and then he stopped making his point. Is he giving us or them a compliment, and did he completely forget about Baylor being a player in the conference race? Any thoughts on what he meant by the first statement?
On a side note, does HCBS even like camping?
Bill Self was not a happy camper on Monday night….
- Caption from the Photo
There is a 2-week camping trip that he LOVES to go on each year.
I wonder if they go for a quick get away after a “dumb” game like this?
Any ideas why we didn't exploit the 3-wheeled Dash Harris in the 2nd half?
If we iso on him, TT, EJ, and maybe even Conner can beat him off the bounce the way he was gimmping around, but we never seemed to attack him.
It's not Kansas, it's everyone.
It’s hard to say exactly why it is that Kansas seems so prone to the emotional and mental letdown when an opponent doesn’t command respect.
It’s just human nature, and it happens to lots of teams in lots of sports. Maybe Kansas has more opportunities for a letdown since they have more wins, but I’d imagine Kansas b-ball’s frequency of not getting up for an inferior opponent is pretty similar to college b-ball teams at large.
Kila's slash for Apr 20 to May 4, 2011, right before he was sent down: .276 / .344 / .448
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jan 24, 2012 11:56 AM CST reply actions
agreed
I do think Bill Self has a couple tourney hangups that trickle down to us, but considering our track record of winning the games we “should,” I think we’re just fine in this department. No team gets up for every game.
by hiphopopotamus on Jan 24, 2012 12:02 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah this.
Even if you do get up for a “lesser” team, the kind of start that we had last night (11-0) just reinforces the players’ subconscious belief that it is going to be an easier game. You could tell that we came out keyed in and ready to play, but as soon as we got up 7-0 our game really started to deteriorate because we thought it was going to be that easy all night.
by 2.1 seconds left on Jan 24, 2012 4:09 PM CST up reply actions
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