It sure looks as if Kansas University's men's basketball team is jelling offensively at the right time.
The Jayhawks (26-6), who had their moments during the regular season in hitting 49.8 percent of their shots, made a combined 66 of 113 shots in last weekend's first and second-round NCAA Midwest Regional victories over Cal State Northridge and Syracuse.
That calculates to a sizzling 58.4 percent mark.
What's more, the Jayhawks canned seven of 14 threes in their 87-58 win over the Orangemen and nine of 18 threes in a 99-75 pummeling of Cal State Northridge. Both games were played at cozy Dayton Arena.
"Work your butts off and good things happen," KU sophomore point guard Kirk Hinrich said.
Listening to the coach helps, too.
KU coach Roy Williams prodded and pleaded for the Jayhawks to look inside first, shoot from the outside second, during the regular season.
He stepped up his requests a notch in Dayton.
"We insisted on it," Williams said. "I said, 'I'm not going to put up with any people going around the perimeter. We've got to throw the ball inside.' If you insist on it and you have talented players, it works."
KU's players and fans will be hearing more about working the ball inside in coming days as the squad prepares for Friday's game against No. 1 seeded Illinois. Tipoff is approximately 9:30 p.m. at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
"It has been an emphasis all year to get it inside," Williams said. "When we get the ball inside, we're pretty good, especially when we get a balance of inside and outside shots.
"All we did the practice (prior to the Syracuse game) was work on trying to get the ball inside against their zone. If you practice it and emphasize it all year, it's a little easier."
KU's Nick Collison, Drew Gooden and Kenny Gregory thrived inside against Northridge, a lot of the buckets coming off the fast break.
Collison he scored KU's first six points inside as the Jayhawks set the tone for the weekend canned 11 of 13 shots, good for 23 points.
Gooden made nine of 14 for 20 points. Gregory iced seven of 10 for 18 points. Pivot Eric Chenowith missed his only two shots, but had eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Jeff Boschee canned four threes and Brett Ballard two as the Jayhawks also connected outside.
Against Syracuse's 2-3 zone, Gooden cashed six of 12 shots for 17 points. Collison hit four of eight for nine and Chenowith two of three to go with eight free throws off inside hacks for 12 tallies.
Gregory had 15 points, many off slashing drives.
Meanwhile, Boschee iced four more threes in nine tries.
CBS color announcer Rick Pitino said more than once the Jayhawks put on "a clinic" against their first and second round foes.
The only negative offensively might have been turnovers.
KU, which will face an athletic team in Illinois, committed 15 turnovers against Northridge and 20 versus Syracuse.
"I told our staff, 'We are going to turn it over. We can't go crazy over turnovers trying to accomplish something,''' Williams said of comments to his assistant coaches before the Syracuse game.
"If you are trying to accomplish something ... scoring 87 points with 20 turnovers does not bother me."
The Jayhawks also played good defense in Dayton. KU held the Matadors to 39.1 percent shooting and Orangemen to 30.4 percent marksmanship. Combined, the two foes hit 13 of 30 and five of 27 threes respectively.
KU also rebounded exceedingly well.
The Jayhawks grabbed 102 boards to their foes' 48.
So it wasn't all offense in Dayton.
Yet offense makes the highlight films. And offense results in guys like Gregory viciously slamming the basketball and doing a jig after a second-half slam versus Syracuse.
"We want our kids to always show enthusiasm and have fun as long as they don't put anybody down," Williams said. "On the walls of the locker room two days (in Dayton) I wrote, 'Have fun.' But I don't know if I can do the shimmy like Kenny," he grinned.
To think, the Jayhawks were not having a lot of fun just two weeks ago when the squad hit five of 15 threes in a 62-57 loss to Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
"Disgust," Chenowith said of the players' attitude after that game. "We were miserable. But we rallied. We got after it the next couple days in practice. I really think those days of practice allowed us to win.
"It's the first time I think some good actually came out of a loss."
That's because Williams started talking a lot about team play and jamming the ball inside after that game.
"It was a collective agreement we were stinking it up," Chenowith said. "We had a meeting. Coach did a basic drill to show how important teamwork is. He put one guy (player) in one corner and one in another corner. He had five coaches on one sideline.
"The five coaches threw the ball up and down the court perfectly. The two guys couldn't throw it perfectly. It's a Marine Corps exercise that teaches you to trust your teammates. We realize how important our teammates are."
Upcoming slate
The Jayhawks, who had a light shooting practice Monday, will practice today and Wednesday. KU's charter will depart from Topeka's Forbes Field at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday and arrive in San Antonio is approximately 5 p.m. Game time for Friday's KU-Illinois game approximately 9:30 p.m. at the Alamodome.
Chenowith on Rome
Chenowith was a guest on Jim Rome's national radio talk show Monday.
Chenowith praised KU's upcoming foe Illinois.
"Coach (Bill) Self is a great coach. I watched him a little when he was at Tulsa," Chenowith said. "He really gets them ready to play. With (Marcus) Griffin and (Brian) Cook they are really strong inside. (Cory) Bradford is a great shooter. Last year when we played them we had a good first half and they came out and kicked us the second half."
KU led Illinois, 32-31, at halftime Dec. 18, 1999 at Chicago's United Center. The Jayhawks fell, 84-70.
"I feel better about our team now. We have a lot more confidence and we know how good Illinois is. We've got to come ready to play."
Mood swing
Chenowith still marvels at KU coach Williams making the mood light by having the Jayhawk players take turns knocking a stuffed monkey off his back at a team meeting Saturday.
"It was all fun. It's so stupid, but it really went a long way for us," Chenowith said. "I wouldn't call it a mental block, but we'd had some problems getting past second-round games."
In fact, Chenowith had never advanced past a second-round game in his three years at KU.
"That meeting relaxed everybody," he said. "We had fun and got a good win against a good Syracuse team. We've got some momentum now. Hopefully we can keep it going to the Final Four."
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