VANDERBILT COMMODORES
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Famous Alumni
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From KU Sports
Center Damian Jones (7-0, 245 junior) and guard Wade Baldwin (6-3 soph) had 17 points apiece while Jeff Roberson (6-6 soph) had 10 points. Seven footer Luke Kornet had eight points and six boards. Josh Henderson (7-foot senior) had nine points.
“They are a lot bigger. We are standing height 6-7 1/2 with Perry (Ellis). They are 7-foot, 6-11,” KU coach Bill Self said. “We’ll have to play bigger than our standing height and utilize our quickness inside.
“Vandy would be hard to play no matter what. With no days to prepare for a team that runs 100 different sets … Kevin (Stallings, coach) has said it’s the most unselfish team he’s had. It’s like the open man is the go-to guy.”
“They have a great team. Their bigs are good,” Ellis said. “It’s got to be a team effort. We’ve got to grind the game out and get good effort.”
Even though Mickelson played 10 minutes and picked up four fouls, he will have to play longer minutes tonight.
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@wrwlumpy great job, as always
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That’s really good 3 point % for them. This is going to be tough tonight.
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@wissoxfan83 They’re also a very big team with three 7 footers who play big minutes. On paper, this is a bad match up for KU because this is the type of team that has historically neutralized Perry in the past. Vandy is also a really deep team as well so KU doesn’t have that edge either. This is going to be much like the MSU game in which KU cannot get dominated on the glass.
Self has talked about playing Perry at the 3 this year, this is the game to pull the trigger on that so KU can have Lucas and Mickelson in the paint fighting for rebounds. This should not be an easy game for KU and we should see how much Self has learned about this team from the MSU game.
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Impressive pics, thanks for sharing
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KU is still more talented and athletic team. If we play to our strengths - fast pace, greater perimeter focus, we will have no problem winning this game
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@wissoxfan83 They are shooting 42% from three and we are at 41%.
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We did do an excellent job on Alford. and the rest of the outside shooters except for Hamilton. Svi was great on defense last night.
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This is the third game in three days, so…
The two keys to this game will be who can score most efficiently on tired legs and who can rebound better on tired legs.
KU clearly lost its shooting legs the second half against UCLA. So Self will encourage some early three-point shooting before the legs give out, but will quickly shift gears to Bad Ball. We should see KU shooting three point baskets in the first five minutes of each half and then defaulting to Bad Ball the last 15 minutes of each half. Bad Ball will make their bigs work hard, fatigue and foul on defense. Tired legs fouled up can’t fight for position.
KU needs to turn this into short three shooting by KU versus long three shooting by Vanderbilt the last 15 minutes of each half.
Stay close and win the last five minutes, when Vanderbilt starts missing long threes from tired legs and their bigs are fouled up.
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@jaybate-1.0 Vandy is in the same boat as KU, two blowouts that mean they’re as rested as can be just like KU. I also don’t see KU beating Vandy with bad ball either because of Vandy’s depth. KU has to be able move the ball and Mason and Ellis have to take advantage of that ball movement.
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But of course they are not in the same boat. Vanderbilt is taller, when it is tired So unless KU plays in a way that saves it’s big man and fatigue Vanderbilts big men before the end, then KU LOSES, unless Vanderbilts bigs at the 5 are no better than Lucas, Bragg, Mickelson, and Traylor. Are you trying to say there big men are not better? I have not seen them yet.
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@jaybate-1.0 I think we out run them!
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maybe. But to outrun someone, you usually have to out rebound them first in order to get the ball out on the break. Can KU you rebound three 7 footers? If they can, then your approach would work.
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@jaybate-1.0 thinking our d will cause some fast breaks
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It’s still fascinates me you think three games in three days would be awash for two such apparently strikingly different teams.
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We can hope. Defense can tip the balance when teams get tired near the end of three games in three days, especially in a hot climate player used to
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Maybe someone who’s been inside that gym call tell me…have they solved the problem they had a few years ago with the slippery floor?
Hmmm, as I type this, the ref just had them wipe up a wet spot on the court. Guess not.
This was a big issue in that game Gonzaga played on the Marine base a couple of weeks ago.At least HCBS seems to be making sure that the players get plenty hydrated.
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@jaybate-1.0 Why? Vandy has great depth and has played two blowouts so they haven’t expended much energy either. I’ve been off work all week so I’ve gotten to watch a lot of teams play this week and Vanderbilt is very good team, they’ve been one of the 3 or 4 best teams I’ve seen this year with Michigan St., Iowa St. and Kentucky. If you ask me 10 teams I would pick as legitimate Final Four threats right now, Vanderbilt is on that list of teams. They have three 7 footers who all play big minutes and are all really good. Damian Jones is a projected lottery pick and will be the best player on the floor for either team tonight and Luke Kornet is a kid who could easily develop into a lottery pick next year.
Vandy and Gonzaga are the two best front courts in the country and we’ve all seen how much KU has struggled against teams with good size in the post in the past couple of years. If Self insists on feeding the post all night, it’s going to be extremely difficult for KU to win this game tonight.
