Some thoughts…from Allen Fieldhouse

Gary Bedore, Journal-World KU men’s basketball beat writer

“100 points? Wow, and without one single three. Arthur, Collins and Robinson were great and the Jayhawks withstood a tough test from a good Baylor team. I’m speechless about the three-point thing. Great great win, though. It keeps KU in the hunt for the league title. A surprise loss woulda been a killer heading into Texas.”

Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor

“Scoring 64 points in a half without the benefit of a three-point field goal against a quality opponent such as Baylor requires playing at sprinter’s speed, and that’s the way Kansas played with Sherron Collins, pushing the pace. Collins is back and so is Brandon Rush, who frustrated Aaron Bruce into an unproductive night.”

Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor

“If Bob Knight coached KU tonight, he probably would have actually enjoyed the zero three-pointers hit, seeing how he constantly voices his disliking of the bonus shot from long range. As for the Jayhawks, they didn’t fret about it, and Russell Robinson put it best – KU was still able to play its game and get any shot it wanted. Brandon Rush looked plenty comfortable without the knee brace for the first time and his rebounding in the first half was big. I’m gonna guess Darnell Jackson scores big for KU Monday night, as he’ll now be coming off of back-to-back six-point showings.”

Inside the numbers

0: KU didn’t hit a three-pointer in a game for the first time since the 1999-00 season. Gary said it best in that that stat stands out even more considering the Jayhawks topped the century mark. It’s the third time in school history that a KU team has scored 100 without the aid of a single trifecta. The last time was in 1992, and the first in 1987. Bill Self also pointed out the rarity in 63 shots being taken by his players with just nine of them coming from long range. That’s one in every seven shot attempts.

64: KU’s 64 points scored after halftime marked the Jayhawks’ highest-scoring half of the season, topping the 58 points scored against Washburn in a half in the season’s third game. Brandon Rush was one blown dunk in the closing minutes away from giving KU six players in double figures in the point column. Inside the three-point arc, KU was efficient, going 32-of-54 from the floor.

22: Russell Robinson was consistent after a slow start against Baylor’s guard-heavy lineup. Included in his 22 point showing was setting a new career benchmark in both free throws attempted and made, going 14-of-15 from the stripe.

23: Darrell Arthur needed Saturday night after playing just two minutes because of three fouls Monday against Missouri. His 23 points were well-spread out against Baylor, and he did it in a variety of ways, with both tough inside buckets, free throws and nice mid-range jumpers. He also had 10 rebounds for the double-double.

17: Sherron Collins’ 17 points made this his most impressive performance since returning to action from his foot injury. It wasn’t the point total, though, but rather how it was put together. Collins was as fast as he’s looked since the injury, sparking most notably a big six-point run in the second half with a pair of acrobatic layups in transition sandwiching a sidearm bounce pass to Brandon Rush through traffic on the break which Rush finished with a finger roll.

1: After turning the ball over seven times in the first half, KU can pat itself on the back one more time for giving it away just once after the break during that 64-point spurt.

30: It’s hard not to throw some credit in the direction of Baylor guard Curtis Jerrells, who scored 30 points in about as tough a fashion as 30 points can be scored. He was 11-of-21 from the floor, 4-of-8 from three, had four rebounds and four assists.

Just in case you missed it…

Brandon Rush played for the first time this season without a knee brace and protective sleeve covering the better portion of his right leg. Self said after the game it didn’t play a role in how Rush performed. The junior was pretty solid, with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocked shots. Self said earlier in the season around Feb. 1 was when Rush would be pretty much back to normal, and taking the brace off to play for the first time on Feb. 9 makes that prognostication pretty accurate in hindsight.

Hopefully you didn’t miss it…

It was just another way in which KU has won a game this year, really. They’ve won grinders and blowouts, now add another track meet to the tally sheet. Though Self said afterwards this was a style he’d rather not revisit down the road, citing that allowing 90 points come tourney time means more than likely the end to your season. Despite allowing 90 points, though, Self said he was pretty pleased with the way his guards applied pressure, sighting the abundance of guarded shots Baylor was forced into hoisting. Most of them just happened to go in, which speaks to the abundance of talent Scott Drew has in the backcourt.

They said it…

Russell Robinson on responding to a slow start which put him on the bench for a bit: “It was definitely a lot of frustration because we didn’t get off to a good start. They hit some tough shots and took a nice early, but we had a chance to turn it around and we did…I was able to look at the game, catch my breathe and came out with a lot of aggression and sparked the team.”

Russell Robinson on Baylor’s guard set: “That’s the best set of guards I’ve seen, and hopefully that’s the best set of guards we’ll see all year, because they definitely, one-through-four, they can score the ball and are a pretty tough team to guard.”

Darrell Arthur on Russell Robinson’s play: “He was a big key. We needed him out there, he got in there, fought for some tough rebounds, got fouled, got to the line whenever he wanted to and I thought he had a solid game.”

Darrell Arthur on staying out of foul trouble: “I’m surprised I didn’t pick up one in the first half, thought I did pretty good playing in with my head and my feet.”

Darrell Arthur on going against an improved Damion James Monday: “Without Durant, I knew he was gonna start going off. But he’s always been a good player. I’ve been watching him for a long time now. He gets some things done, he can play inside, he can play outside. He’s got nice touch from three, he’s got a nice pull-up game, and he’s rebounding the ball real well right now, so it’s gonna be a tough matchup.”

Sherron Collins on adjusting the style of play: “Early in the game, we let their bigs change our shots instead of just taking it right through them. Once we started taking it right through them, getting fouls, we’re a good free-throw shooting team once we concentrate and knock them down, and I thought we did that.”

Bill Self on the second half showing: “Second half, offensively, is probably as well as we’ve played all year. You go 26-of-32 from the line, shoot 63 percent from the field and you don’t turn it over. That’s about as good as we can do offensively. Unfortunately, they did just as good, offensively, or close to as good.”

Bill Self on his guards’ job defensively: “Before we evaluate our guards’ defense, we should see how many hard baskets they made. Be real candid with you, if they’re taking hard shots, the guards are doing their job.”

Bill Self on Russell Robinson and hitting free throws late: “I thought Russell played real well. Of course, it was great to see him make his free throws, and it was good to see how we did step up and make our free throws late, because if we would have missed our free throws, anything could have happened because of the way they were throwing everything in the basket.”

Bill Self on Baylor’s guards as a preparation for Texas’ Monday: “It’s the best collective set of guards back-to-back in the league, and we’re going against the best guard – D.J. – and Abrams has always been a thorn in our side. I’m not sure offensively we’ll play any guards that will actually play any better than what Baylor played tonight. I could be wrong, but hopefully nobody’s gonna hang 77 on us again just from the guard spot.”

Bill Self on the style of play in Saturday’s shootout: “I’d rather win 80-70 any day of the week. It’s fool’s gold. You give up 90 points in the tournament, you go home.”

Bill Self on Sherron Collins: “Shady was terrific, Russell was solid and played great, but Sherron was the spark tonight. I thought in the second half he changed the pace of the game and got us easy baskets in transition…From a health standpoint, he looked faster tonight than he’s looked all year, and that’s what he can bring to the table.”