Thursday, November 29, 2007

Coast to Coast...like Tyus Edney against Mizzou

Kansas 87 Florida Atlantic 49 - Since i've been in sales meetings all week, I missed tonight's game. You won't get your big recap, so here it is: Brandon Rush led the Jayhawks with 17 off the bench. Darnell Jackson replaced Sasha Kaun in the starting lineup and scored 13 and Darrell Arthur shook off a knee injury to lead KU to the W, spoiling former KU star Rex Walters' return to Allen Fieldhouse. Playing without injured guards Sherron Collins and Tyrel Reed, Jeremy Case and walk-on Conner Teahan stepped in with a combined 16 points on 4-5 from deep. Teahan is now a crazy 8-10 for the season from three point land.

UCLA 83 George Washington 60 - UCLA welcomed back PG Darren Collison with a blowout win over GW at Pauley. Collison played 26 minutes off the bench and scored 14 points while dishing out five dimes. Kevin Love had a strange stat line, going 2-4 from the field and 7-10 from the line. Russell Westbrook led the Bruins with 19. UCLA looks like the most complete team in the country with the way they play D.

North Carolina 66 UCLA 55 - Want to know why Ohio State lost a game in which they led at the half? Freshman Kosta Koufos was 1-10 from the field and the Buckeyes were outrebounded 54-38. Wayne Ellington scored 23 to lead a Tar Heels team playing without starting PG Ty Lawson. OSU Frosh John Diebler broke out of his slump with 19 points.

Georgetown 66 Old Dominion 48 - Roy Hibbert scored 14 and Austin Freeman 11 to avenge last year's bad loss to the Monarchs. Despite being outrebounded by ODU, the Hoyas controlled the game and won going away. I just always find myself rooting against JT3 and his team thanks to his a-hole father.

Texas 98 Texas Southern 61 - DJ Augustine had 20, Damien James had 19, and Justin Mason had 16 for the Longhorns who annihilated Texas Southern. Rick Barnes has his team running all game long and it is working. The problem is his lack of depth and overuse of his starters. This will haunt them come March. Mark my words.

Texas A&M 76 Alabama 63 - Four starters were in double figures for the under the radar Aggies. The one who didn't, DeAndre Jordan, may be their best player. The Aggies are for real and will be tested this weekend when they travel to Tucson to meet Arizona in what could be Lute Olson's first game back on the bench. PF Richard Hendrix had 19 and 12 for the Tide.

Michigan State 81 NC State 58 - Which Spartan team will show up each night? Last night was the good Green as the Spartans blew out a solid NC State team. Drew Neitzel had 17 to go with Goran Suton's 16. It makes one wonder how you can blowout the Wolfpack and barely scrape by against Oakland U.

Xavier 93 Oakland 68 - Watch out for Sean Miller's Musketeers. Unlike MSU, Xavier blew away Oakland thanks to all five starters scoring in double figures.Josh Duncan had 18 and 8 and Stanley Burrell had 17.

KU quotes from kusports.com

Mario Chalmers on the defense stepping up from Sunday: “We know we’ve got a big matchup with O.J. Mayo coming up, and we just want to work on our defense. And I think that’s how Arizona stayed in the game with us, because our defense, we couldn’t stop Chase (Budinger) and we couldn’t keep them off the boards, so we just tried to do a better job of that tonight.”

Mario Chalmers on the upcoming matchup with Mayo: “He’s a pretty good player, but I think we’ve just got to keep somebody on him at all times, don’t let him get open shots, make every shot he takes tough...We know we can make an even bigger name for ourselves if we can stop O.J. and stop USC, and they know they can make a big names for themselves if they beat us, so it’s competition.”

Darnell Jackson on his first start of the year: “It doesn’t make a difference to me at all. If I come off the bench or start, I still have to do my job...When they call your name and you run out there and everybody’s yelling, it gives me a lot of energy, and when I’m in the game, especially if I was just to get a steal or take a charge, it just makes my momentum go higher.”

Darnell Jackson on the prospects of going on the road for the first time: “It’s gonna be a lot different because the circle’s gonna get a lot tighter, we’re not going to be playing at home, so when we’re out there, we’re gonna have to make sure we execute and make sure we don’t give them second chances at their home court.”

Bill Self on starting Darnell Jackson over Sasha Kaun: “I think that he’s earned that. I think he’s played well and I think Sasha’s labored, and maybe that will get Sasha going a little bit, but if we’re gonna experiment and do some different things, it’s best to do it early on. And I’d say right now that Darnell’s earned that right to start.”

Bill Self on Brandon Rush’s performance: “I thought tonight, he probably wasn’t as aggressive tonight as he was against Arizona, but he was aggressive shooting the ball. One thing about it, when Brandon’s gotten in the game, he’s given us some offense off the bench when he first checks in usually. But he looks better and better, doesn’t he? He’s moving better, and his moves to the basket aren’t quite what they will be, and tonight when he tried to elevate on that first one when the guy blocked his attempt down, I think that’ll be a finished play a month from now.”

Bill Self on O.J. Mayo coming up this weekend: “I can tell you a little bit, but I haven’t studied them at all yet. O.J.’s terrific. He could be the best player we’ll play against all year. He could be. But there’s a lot of guys like that, but he’s that good.”

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