FLOOR BURN AWARD: KU @ BU - Feb 4
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This was a different team than was on the floor in Austin three nights earlier. This team brought one key ingredient: hustle! If we didn’t bring hustle we would have endured the same fate we suffered in Austin. We didn’t start out a hot team last night. Our “three amigos” freshmen were colder than the arctic front blasting over America now. If we didn’t hustle, and continue to hustle all night, Baylor would have pulled away from us and gave us a good pounding.
Since we hustled all night, that single asset kept us in the game and didn’t allow Baylor to pull away because we dominated the boards and got a fair share of loose balls. Possessions mattered in this game and we did an excellent job of controlling possessions.
It may seem that Naadir Tharpe is the obvious choice here for the FLOOR BURN AWARD because of his offensive domination, but this game required a lot more than Naadir’s hot hand to secure the victory. This truly was a team effort, so many Jayhawks deserve a carrot for playing an important role in the win.
First off, Naadir. He was the man on offense, knocking down 22 points off a blistering 9-of-13, 4-of-6 from trey. He did more than knock down shots, he ran the team and kept the tempo moving. There was no jogging in this game! He also nabbed 5 rebounds and had 4 assists. He limited his turnovers to 2, pretty solid performance on the road!
Next, Perry Ellis deserves a juicy carrot, too. He scored 14 points off 5-of-10 shooting and had 10 rebounds, giving him a double-double on a night he had to face the big, athletic Cory Jefferson in the post, and he limited Cory to only 1 rebound! Perry also had 2 assists to go along with 2 blocked shots. Perry brought energy with him and he was rewarded with good play and excellent stats… and a victory for his team!
I’m glad I can compliment Naadir and Perry for this game. When things go wrong (like in Austin) I first clamp down on these two for not pulling their weight. From here on out we have to count on these guys more than the rest. Every game counts and competition will tighten. They’ve both been in this position before.
As the first half was winding down, and we were behind by a few points, Wayne Selden quietly did his thing. He didn’t rack up points or rebounds… he shut down Heslip. Self moved him over to Heslip in hopes of shutting him down, and that is exactly what Wayne did. Heslip’s day was over from that point forward. He didn’t score another point, and it was his 3’s that were keeping Baylor in the game. Wayne deserves a lot of credit! Wayne also helped in other areas, scoring only 4 points but grabbed 3 rebounds and helped our offense with 5 assists including a couple off of penetration that helped break down Baylor’s defense.
Tarik Black had a great game. He played 23 minutes while Joel Embiid only logged 17 minutes, because of his foul trouble. We needed presence in the post. That was an area we were lacking in Austin. Tarik came through with 9 rebounds, 6 points and a steal. He wasn’t the defensive presence Joel was, but he definitely cushioned our loss of Joel, and actually played better offense than Joel did in this game. Few teams in this country have a decent 5 they can bring in off the bench who can do what Tarik does.
Last, Andrew Wiggins deserves a lot of credit. He wasn’t on his game on this Texas swing, but he hung in there, and gave us a big push at the end which gave us a safe margin of victory. Andrew gave us plenty of hustle, leading the team with 3 steals along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Those are good stats for a guy who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn all day. Everyone looks at Andrew for points, but he will go through ups and downs with his shot. Other areas of the game he can give us solid performances every night; like rebounding, lockdown defense and team defense. Andrew gave plenty of effort away from the ball, and we needed a possession advantage in this game.
We should take a big lesson away from our road journey to the Rattlesnake State. Our game with Texas showed how bad we can look when we don’t bring hustle to the game. Our game with Baylor showed us how we can win even if we don’t play our best basketball if we just hustle for 40 minutes! Our Baylor game could have been a repeat of our Texas game and would have if we hadn’t brought hustle with us!
Rock Chalk!
Conference Season Tally:
Wayne Selden 4
Perry Ellis 2
Joel Embiid 2
Andrew Wiggins 2
Naadir Tharpe 2
Tarik Black 2
Frank Mason 1
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@drgnslayr I think Andrew is smelling some fun dunks from stealing the bb! It’s like a switch has gone off for him. I think he’s getting it! Have a question, we’ve been talking about reviews. Did you see the end of Texas/TCU game? They reviewed a TCU player getting a foul for knocking down Ridley. Checking to see if it was a flagrant. They ruled off the common foul and gave the ball to TCU. Announcers said they had never seen them take away a common foul. Is that right? Ridley plowed the TCU player over to start with! Could they have called that w/the review?
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Unfortunately, I missed that game!
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It was my understanding that the review could be used to determine if the foul was common or flagrant but not to reverse the call. This is the advantage that floppers have, because once the call is made, it cannot be reversed…at least this was my understanding, but I could be wrong.
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@JayHawkFanToo well they reversed it, no call. Confusing! Did you see it?
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No, I did not see it but the topic is often discussed when a players flop and get away with it. I w ill have to do some Googling and find out if it is allowed.
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@JayHawkFanToo I’m not doing a very good job of explaining it, no flopping on this.
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Sorry if I confused you. I just mentioned flopping because when discussing it. they always mention that once a foul is called, it cannot be reversed. Review can be used ONLY to determine if it was a common or flagrant foul but not to overturn the call.
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@JayHawkFanToo I hope you can find it.
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Under the new rules:
“When it comes to an elbow above the shoulders, referees will be allowed to use a video monitor to determine the severity of the blow. If deemed inadvertent, the referee could call a player-control foul or even nothing.”
I guess they decided to call nothing…I did not know they could do that. I will guess that many ref don’t even know this, otherwise some of Smart’s more outrageous flops could have been reversed.
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Seems contradictory to their early enforcement of hand check rules… calling even the smallest hand check.
Actually, I agree that it should fall under the discretion of the refs as to the penalty because of the variation in severity. But the refs need to all go to one school in preparation for a season, and they need to go back to school at the end to be graded on their season.
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@drgnslayr this is really becoming my favorite thread of anywhere, so hats off you, kind sir. Naadir flat smoked them, and maybe I saw a different player I had never seen before. I wasn’t quite sure that I was actually watching Naadir. And Jimmy Dykes is going on about Naadir being the best shooting point guard KU has ever had. I keep thinking - this is Naadir. He was so amazingly smooth, poetry in motion. I am watching a star being born, one that I never saw coming. He wasn’t just busting the zone, he was creating his own shots, and burying it. So, I get to looking back at Naadir’s stats, and he is like 15 for his last 23 from the 3. And I’m thinking… it’s time to give that kid the green light. We’ve all been waiting for Coach to get Greene, Francamp, and/or White more minutes to develop our 3 point game, and it was there all the time. I think that Wiggins had the biggest breakthrough, and will never be the same after the Baylor game. You could tell he was a little uptight the whole first half, until he launches the 3/4 quarter heave that found its way in. In the 2nd half, he gets a steal, goes on a runout,gets a lob, and finally nails a jumpshot or two. What was amazing was watching him not look distressed whatsoever coming out 2nd half after going 1 for 9. Mentally, he didn’t look down at all. I think his mental game is coming around, which will highly accelerate what we see on the court. The best is yet to come…
