Not so fast, Tigers

Miles sparks KU's rally past Mizzou

Aaron Miles did something at halftime of Monday’s Kansas University-Missouri basketball thriller that he need never do, at least in the eyes of his teammates.

That is, tell the other members of KU’s starting five he’s sorry, for what he deemed his own lousy first-half play.

“He challenged himself. He kind of apologized to us in the huddle about his performance the first half,” senior Wayne Simien said after watching Miles, KU’s senior point guard, collect nine assists and 10 points in the second half of the Jayhawks’ 73-61 comeback victory over the Tigers.

With Miles registering one assist, two turnovers and four points, the Jayhawks (17-1 overall, 7-0 Big 12 Conference) sleepwalked the first half against the Tigers (10-11, 2-6), who led 36-28 at the break.

“Aaron took it upon himself to step it up and be the leader he is,” Simien added. “He took over the second half for us.”

Miles hit back-to-back threes in a 18-6 run that turned a game-high deficit of 11 points — 41-30 with 19:13 left — into a one point lead, 48-47 at 13:27.

He also fed J.R. Giddens for a lob slam and Christian Moody for a lob layup on consecutive possessions, giving KU a 54-51 lead at 9:30.

And Miles hit two free throws and fed Moody for a layup off an inbounds pass during a back-breaking 12-1 run that turned a 54-all tie into a back-breaking 66-55 lead at 5:18.

Not bad for a guy who felt he needed to apologize at the break.

Kansas University's Aaron Miles, left, Christian Moody, center, and Wayne Simien celebrate as the Jayhawks begin to pull away in the second half. After a sluggish first half, the Jayhawks rallied for a 73-61 victory against Missouri on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse.

“If we’re not playing well, I take it upon myself to let them know I’m going to do better,” Miles said with a shrug.

“You may say it was me (turning game around), but I’d say it was Keith moreso, the way he was attacking,” Miles added of Keith Langford, who had nine points the second half, including eight in the 18-6 run that erased that huge 11-point deficit.

Miles, after his 3-for-3 three-point performance against the Tigers, has hit eight of his last nine threes over three games and 23 of 39 for the season.

“Like coach said, when he plays like that, he’s the best point guard in the nation,” sophomore J.R. Giddens said after scoring 15 points which included the alley-oop slam that gave KU a 52-51 lead at 10:25 and a deep straight-on three that busted a 54-all tie at 8:09.

“We keep saying that every game,” KU coach Bill Self said, asked if it perhaps was Miles’ finest hour.

The Jayhawks did not collectively have their finest hour against MU, which closed the first half with a 20-4 run and seemingly scored at will by taking the Jayhawks to the hole until Self went to a zone defense with 11 minutes left, KU down by a point.

The Jayhawks did not look like the same team that whipped Texas on Saturday by 25 points. They lagged, 41-30, early in the second half.

25Points scored by Missouri’s bench2Points scored by KU’s bench21.3Percentage-point increase in field-goal shooting for KU (36.4 percent to 57.7 percent) in first to second halves1, 9Assists by KU’s Aaron Miles in first, second halves

“We played so bad the first half it was miserable,” Self said. “We didn’t feel the electricity like we did against Texas. We spent so much energy on Texas.

“I just kept thinking we couldn’t have a letdown against Missouri, the team we arguably have the biggest rivalry against. We played like there was a bit of a hangover, but at halftime it seemed like we flipped a switch.

“I said, ‘This is Missouri. There’s no game more important to our fans and to you. We’ve got to change our whole mind-set.”’

The Jayhawk starters, who scored 71 of the 73 points on the night, flipped a switch and changed mind-set, that’s for sure.

“We knew they’d have to go through hell and back to get it done here,” a defiant Langford said of the visitors.

Simien, who scored 22 points and had eight boards in 37 minutes, felt the same way.

“We definitely expected Missouri would come out and play us tough and hard,” Simien said, “but we didn’t expect to take the beating we did the first half. We knew we had to play better. We had a will to win tonight.”

Kansas' J.R. Giddens slams home an alley-oop against Missouri. Giddens finished with 15 points against the Tigers.

The fans helped.

“The fieldhouse is magical,” Giddens said. “We have to protect our home. Nobody’s going to come out and punk us. If we go out, it’s going to be a fight. We’re going to go out swinging. Tonight we kept swinging.”

Nobody swung harder than Miles.

“Anybody can have a bad half,” Self said. “He came out and was great the second half. It all went through Aaron.”

He led a KU offense that committed just three turnovers the second half in hitting 15 of 26 shots for 57.5 percent. His final assist to Simien in the closing seconds was a big one as he passed Jacque Vaughn for first place on the school’s all-time double-digit assist list (19 games).

“His passes were perfect. Look at his shooting. I think he’s the best,” Moody said.

Winning is all that matters to Miles, asked if it was his best half ever.

“I leave that all up to you to decide,” he said with a grin. “I’m just happy we got the W.”