Bad shooting nights occur and this was one for KU. 39% over all and 15% from trey. We caught the rare fair whistle on the road and made FTs, or this would have been a blow out.
Our usually productive guards--Frank, Wayne, and Devonte--were horrendous. They combined for 5-18. They combined for 7 turnovers; that's a lot from your best ball handlers. Wayne played particularly poorly all over the floor.
And yet if we had shot decently, we would have walked away with the game. We were +9 on the glass, plus 4 on strips, even on blocks and we only made one more turnover. We even were +3 on total FGAs. You are supposed to win games with those kinds of edges.
Two Okie Ballers played it the old fashioned way. Not an eyelash worth of differences in the approaches to the game. Keep it in the 70s. And shoot 13 (KU) to 14 (KSU) 3ptas.
The only real difference was this: Bruce Weber played this way because he had to. He has no good outside shooters. Bill Self played this way because he wanted to. He has the trey shooters that would have let him not play this way. More about this later.
Next the benches. Take ours. PLEASE!!!
KSU Bench: 30
KU Bench: 14
No sense piling on futher. The numbers speak for themselves.
And then there was the "Committee to Animate the 5" aka Cliff, Jam Tray, and Landen.
5 Rebounds
Ciff 4
LL: 2
JT: 2
Total 8
5 Points:
Cliff 0
LL 2
JT 1
Total: 3
5 Assists
Cliff 0
LL 1
JT 0
Total 1
5 Fouls
Cliff 4
LL 2
JM 1
Total 7
So, our composite big man had 3 points, 8 boards, 1 assist, and 7 fouls.
It is arguable that it would have been better to have played 4 on 5, than to have played 5 on 5 with our composite big man.
We outscored them 38 to 32 in the paint.
But we lost.
And we were beaten by a not very good team.
And we brought a knife to a knife fight.
And because we have no credible center, we brought a pocket knife to a bowie knife fight.
We had a machete called three point shooting in a scabbard. Its edge was dull from lack of use and so we only pulled it 13 times and made only 2.
It was a very long way to come for the JarHead Jayhawks to come to crap out.
The team has lost its focus. in mid February.
It has forgtten what it has learned.
And it has spent so much time working on inside out attack the trey gun has rusted and won't fire.
They are tied for the lead in the B12.
If they hole out from here, they are assured of a tie for the title.
But can they?
If the trey gun is rusted, or they are in a slump, likely they might not hole out.
But bottom line on this game is the shot horribly and lost by seven to a not very good team.
Next game they should shoot back to their average and win.
Next couple of games probably.
The game may not matter that much, if its just a bump in the road from bad shooting.
But it matters a lot of the team has lost its way.
But this team has always bounced back.
It should bounce back from this one also.
I told people a few days ago.
The Marauders of Frank Merrill were going to go through more horror, before they got to Myitkina.
This was one of those horrors.
They got ambushed on a jungle trail on the way to Myitkina.
But there is no stopping.
They must march on now.
They must catch up on their rest as they march.
The next meeting with the enemy is a week away.
Texas.
They can take some breaks.
But on they march.
Then West Virginia.
Then Oklahoma.
A brutal three games.
They are way out in enemy territory.
No reserves and no more supplies.
No more help.
And it doesn't matter now whether it should have been done this way or not.
It was done this way.
Now it is march on.
No more nothing but fighting.
And Myitkina.
No one wants to be them now.
They are alone.
The going just got tough.
And its going to get tougher.
