'Horns hook 'Hawks
The KU men's basketball team fell to the Texas Longhorns in Austin on Monday night. Enlarge video
James comes up big for Texas
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes Damion James' second half performance in the Longhorns' victory over Kansas. Enlarge video
Audio Clips
2007-08 Feb. 11 KU-Texas Hoops
Go figure
+10
Kansas' rebounding margin in the first half (23 to 13)
-11
KU's rebounding margin in the second half (23 to 12)
4
Three-pointers made by the Jayhawks
4
Three-pointers made by UT's Connor Atchley by himself (UT had 8 total)
9
Points by which Texas outscored KU from the free-throw line
3
Longhorns who played at least 36 minutes (2 played the full 40)
0
Jayhawks who played at least 36 minutes (Russell Robinson played 34)
0
Career victories, in three tries, for KU coach Bill Self in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas — Mario Chalmers walked slowly off the Erwin Center court, shaking his head slowly from side to side as he headed to the visitor's locker room late Monday night.
He appeared more mad than sad after missing an off-balance potential game-tying three at the buzzer of No. 3-ranked Kansas University's 72-69 loss to No. 11 Texas.
"We're still the favorite. That's what's in our minds," a defiant Chalmers said 15 minutes after the final horn.
He was referring to the Big 12 race that now has Kansas State with one loss, KU and Texas with two and Texas A&M and Baylor with three.
"We think we're the best team in the conference still," he said.
Chalmers' last-second shot from the side, which came off a shovel pass from Russell Robinson, was the end result of what coach Bill Self called "a bad possession."
"We had something we wanted to run, (but) we took it to the wrong side of the floor," Self said. "It killed the play. Eight seconds is enough time to do it."
Chalmers was KU's go-to guy down the stretch. He hit a three at :32 to slice a 69-64 deficit to two points and missed a three at :12 with KU down four, though Darrell Arthur scored a second later.
Chalmers didn't have time to set himself for his final trey.
"It was the last shot. I had the ball with a second left. I just tried to throw it up there and send it to overtime," Chalmers said.
His late threes weren't the only important ones on a night UT big man Connor Atchley canned four in four tries and scored 16 points.
Brandon Rush, who had 10 points (he took just three shots the second half), had a three from the corner rejected by 5-foot-11 A.J. Abrams with :54 left, KU down, 67-64.
"He was open. He had a good look," Self said of Rush. "We were not necessarily trying to shoot a three there. He was open. Brandon took time getting it off. A.J. did a good job of closing."
Abrams - he and guard D.J. Augustin were held to 24 points off 6-of-26 shooting - surprised the 6-6 Rush with his hops.
"I was pretty shocked. He had full-bore steam," Rush said. "He jumped high, (but) we still had a chance after that."
In fact, KU nearly forced a 10-second backcourt violation, at :21, when the Longhorns barely got it past halfcourt with a two-point lead. Abrams was fouled at :21 and hit two free throws, upping the margin to 71-67.
"I thought Mario had the loose ball. I don't know if it was 10 seconds. It had to be close," Self said. "It was the right no-call."
KU's Robinson, who said the final play which resulted in the Chalmers three "got twisted up," said he felt the game was actually lost "the first five minutes of the second half. They took back control of the game. It was downhill since."
The Longhorns led 42-38 at the half, but led by a point just three minutes into the final half.
Damion James, who played three minutes the first half because of foul problems, grabbed 13 rebounds the second half while playing all 20 minutes. Justin Mason had six of his eight boards the second 20 minutes as Texas outrebounded KU, 23-12, after halftime. KU won the board war, 23-13, the first half.
"They 'outmanned' us the second half," Self said, stressing the 'man' part of the word. "It does surprise me because all we talked about at halftime is how they would come at us on the glass."
The Jayhawks were disappointed at the rebound discrepancy after intermission.
"The second half, they killed us on the glass," said Darrell Arthur, who had 22 points and six boards. "Their second-chance buckets killed us. We had opportunities. We couldn't complete them. Damion was extra aggressive the second half and made big plays for them.
"We couldn't get our hands on the ball. We couldn't grab the rebounds. Balls were flying out of bounds. One came off Brandon's head. We couldn't get a rebound the second half."
Now it leaves the Jayhawks scrambling in the league chase.
"We can win it. Some things have to happen. We have to win 'em all out from here," guard Sherron Collins said.
"We can't lose another one or we are out of the race," Rush said.
"It's not over," Robinson declared, echoing the sentiments of his backcourt buddy, Chalmers.
KU will meet Colorado at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
Comments
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KS (anonymous) says…
The worst part of this is who is on top now! KU deserves it. Maybe they will start playing better.
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
still got to be proud of them their record is still great. Don't let it get you to much guys focus on the next game what is done is done.
rdave13 (anonymous) says…
Lot of ball left...lose now and learn from it. Maybe it's the best thing for the team to see they are not invincible and the KSU game was not a fluke. The good news is that there are at least 5 if not 6 Big 12 teams that should make the tournament....despite the rambling of Digger Phelps.
Bleedbleured (anonymous) says…
As much as I would like to complain about what seems to me was a lackadaisical effort on the part of the Hawks...this team is still the best in the League and probably the country. Over the past two years the core of this team has shown a streak of stubbornness when it comes to having to take their play up a notch.
I can see in Self's eyes, he feels this team has stopped growing; a February slump as one might say. If this team has really matured as many of the Sports commentators say, they will come out and work and establish a momentum that will take them to the National Championship.
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
Worried about our abilitly to play against a top team.
Worried about our defensive capability's against those top teams.
Worried about our 3 point shooting.
Def. not impressed with the way we finish games out against top teams.
We were on a roll. Dominated teams we should have. Played some tough games against top 50. Think we are something like 6-2 against top 50 with our wins by an average around 5-7. Loss by 10 and 3........
Bradley.........Bucknell........ Hopefully Self will get this turned around or we will be out in the 2nd or 3rd round if we make it that far!!!
Rock Chalk............
jkilgore (anonymous) says…
Too much worrying. We're just fine. Reflect with me. UT shoots 28 freethrows; we shoot 14. UT makes 8 three, we make 3. What should that equal? About a 20-point loss. If anything, it shows how strong our team is. Chalmers, Robinson, and Collins aren't going to go 4 for 19 again. And it is hard to win in an environment like they had at Austin. They are 89-6 in their last 95 games. Playing great competition is more important than racking 30+ wins against the weaklings of the B12 north (not putting KSU in that group.) I love this team. 23-2. Fantastic!
jkilgore (anonymous) says…
Oh, and Bleed, there was nothing lackadaisical about our team's effort. Texas is very athletic and got to more loose balls, especially in the second half. That happens sometimes. The commentators said that they were impressed with "how hard" the players were playing, and yet playing under control. That was their opinion, not mine.
kugrad (anonymous) says…
He looked more mad than sad because Augustine fouled him prior to the shot and he knew that they won't call those that late in the game. That would have only given him 2 since he wasn't shooting and we would have lost anyway, but I think he was pissed about the no call.
bugmenot (anonymous) says…
They haven't been fun to watch the last couple of games. They're kids, I know, and I forgive a lot of mental errors and the like, but this team doesn't look like they're trying very hard. How many missed layups were there last night? I can make a higher percentage layups, and I'm awful. Why don't we go for the rebound? There just doesn't seem to be much heart to these players lately, and it makes it awful to watch.
Texas is NOT very good. If you've watched any of their other games this year, they're pretty middle-of-the-road. As always seems to be the case, they had one of their better games of the year against us, but we didn't play to their level. That's inexcusable.
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
J Kilgore----"Reflect with me. UT shoots 28 freethrows; we shoot 14. UT makes 8 three, we make 3. What should that equal? About a 20-point loss. If anything, it shows how strong our team is." ----
Your point is either this- The refs called to many fouls on KU or our Defense isnt up to par. Come on now you can not tell me that our guard D has been great?!?!?! Our guard three point shooting has been great?!?!?!
The only thing keeping us in these games of late has been the play of our big guys.
We can talk about how we are 89-6 over the years. That does us no good talking about this season. Its time for KU to bring home a championship and if this is the year (like I think IT CAN be) then Self needs to get those guards ballin' like they can.
I want to see them not neccessarily dominate the whole game against a top 25, but at least complete a game without any bumps in the road.
I think we are in trouble come tourney time.
Prove me wrong 'Hawks!!
Rock Chalk....
Mylantahawk (anonymous) says…
That was a great game last night, fought hard by both sides! The second half Texas rebounding edge, their treys & freethrows in the second half are what buried us. Although I hate that we lost, I'm not giving up on this team. Frankly, these 2 conference losses will serve them well come tourney time. They will learn from this. They may well still win the conference! Texas is a very solid team, with 3 of 4 losses coming against top-tier teams.
I agree with the comment about guards spotting up in the paint. That needs to be an option in these tough games.
We need to contest the trey attempts better in the future...we're giving teams too much space for those shots.
We also need to work on our outside shooting (15% in last two games...geez!).
cellogrl (anonymous) says…
jkilgore, I totally agree with you. I haven't been impressed on a couple of games that we played this year, but last night, I thought that both clubs gave it their all. The one player that I really thought played good D and hasn't been mentioned at all was Sasha Kaun. He played amazing d last night! He was in there with his hands blocking everything coming at that basket last night! He did QUITE well. I think that most of you posters are over-reacting to one loss that really wasn't all that bad. We'll be fine. We'll learn from it. The players won't let themselves NOT learn from it.
Catbacker (anonymous) says…
What's to learn? It's not like KU is a young team that hasn't played in tough arenas before...they start 4 upperclassmen. What once looked like good wins (az, usc, bc & gt) are now just decent wins, and they have 0 wins against ranked teams. What was being touted as the best KU team since 1997...is currently sitting in third place in the Big XII.
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
Jellogrl---- "One loss that wasnt really that bad"-----??
2 losses in last 5 games
Our play since K-State has been very sloppy defensively.
We havent given up 90 points in the Fieldhouse since the '02-'03 season and it happened just twice. Once to EA Sports All Stars & then to Arizona.
You guys can all sit there and say, "one loss might help us play better", "it was only one game", "we still have a fantastic team", "23-2, is fantastic"....... You are all right in a way.
We started this season out with one of the top 3 back courts in the nation!!! No Way are we even close to that right now. Baylor, Texas, UNC, Duke, Memphis, KSU, maybe Tennessee could be classified as having a better backcourt than KU as of now. I am sure that there are a couple other teams ahead now as well......
Im not trying to be hatin on KU, but I hope that Self can get through to them boys that their perimeter D is going to kill us in the tourney.
If WE are going to consider ourselves "the best in the nation" we need to play like that game after game. And we arent doing that now.
Rock Chalk
nobody1793 (anonymous) says…
Yeah it's all gloom and doom, but if Mario hangs on to that steal in the backcourt then everyone would be partying today. That said, I wouldn't mind us getting a few more rebounds.
fabian_zimbabwe (anonymous) says…
Ack! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
craigers (anonymous) says…
I thought last night was a great game that Texas just played better in the clutch at home than we did against them.
Oh and Catbacker have fun being number one in the conference but the challenge is still the same for your Cats as it is for KU, win out from here on. If KSU doesn't win out and KU does (especially against KSU at Allen Fieldhouse), then we are all in the top together as co-champs.
I think the one thing that scares me about this team is that they are probably the best in the country and they know it. Yeah they play unselfishly and do well, but they think that since they are the best that nobody will beat them. They think the game is already won and don't try as hard and then say they should've turned up the intensity. Keep the pedal down all 40-minutes is going to be this team's problem. If they can do that, then we will be winning the NC this year.
coolmarv (anonymous) says…
It was a classic Kansas/Texas game. I look forward to a great game when they meet and enjoy watching them each time. Texas is a good team. I thought both teams played hard and well. We played them there. Can't win 'em all.
cellogrl (anonymous) says…
pimp11, check the spelling on my name. cellogrl is an instrument and a girl, not a food and a girl as you spelled "jellogrl".
Bearded Clam - chill out on the whining talk. We aren't whining because last night was a hard fought game and was well officiated, unlike the KSU game. Get over your KU hating and suck it.
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
jellogrl- i know what your name is and i choose to call you different, so eat it......
Texas does win with class; just was waiting for them to storm the court........Wait, they arent idiots!!!!!!!!!
Saw a spread in SI mag, with ksu fans on the court. The whole thing was covered with purple tools celebrating their championship......I think I even saw their assistant coach and AD doing keg stands at center court!!!!!!!!!
BABBOY (anonymous) says…
Hey, losing in February, not as bad as losing in March. The KSU game is huge now. Got to win that game and not stub toe anywhere else. Not as confident as some fans that playing at home is enough to beat KSU. Beasley is a problem in that we seem to have a lot trouble against big men that can shoot.
I did not think UT was that good given some of their performances. Thus, KU needs to give better effort and stop buying into their own hype. They can not just assume that all team will wear down meaning they need to try to get the lead and bury verse wear out bury at the end of the game thing they appear to be relying upon.
I trust Self and I am confident he will fix it. Two loses are not the end of the world. But, losing again in conference play will force us to win the Big 12 tourney to get a number one seed which I think is a meaningful thing to gather for trophy case. I have difficulty seeing us falling below a two seed regardless of what happens
We are playing for a number one seed at this point for pride and for the Big 12 conference and tourney titles, then whether we get those awards or not, we are looking for six wins in row to close out the season ...
notajayhawk (anonymous) says…
"We think we're the best team in the conference still," he said.
At the risk of offending a whole bunch of people with my first post (don't worry, I'm not a tiger or wildcat either), I have to point out that this was a pretty stupid statement to make, and really does not bode well for tournament hopes.
Getting back to basics, the "best team" is the one who puts more points on the scoreboard before the horn blows. Not in practice, not last week, not over the past 40 or 50 years, but tonight. One of the best examples of this was the Georgetown-Villanova championship game of '85 - even Rollie Massimino said G'town was the better team - "but not tonight."
Or maybe people remember more recent history - remember Connecticut just two years ago? They tied the first-round draft record with four picks that year, and set the record for most picks in two rounds. Even Dick Vitale pulled his nose out of Duke's collective posterior long enough to say that they would be unstoppable. They weren't. They don't give out trophies for the most draft picks - you still have to play - and win - the games.
For a player to say "We think we're the best team in the conference still" (echoed by many fans in this thread) while walking off the floor after a loss, in a game they easily could have, and probably should have, have won, instead of trying to figure out what went wrong (let alone how to fix it), like I said, it doesn't speak well of a long tourney run.
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
Nor have I had a DUI. Even if I had, it doesnt matter. Im not the one coaching D I ball and being irresponsible getting DUI's...... That shows some intelligence right there.
KSU = Classless = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oJNMM...
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
notajayhawk- I agree with what you are saying. I believe that those comments were uncalled for. Texas was better last night than KU. I do not believe that KU is in the top 5 right now in the nation. Is this the best team they have had in awhile........yes and no.......
We will see come tourney time.
MyName (anonymous) says…
>For a player to say "We think we're the best team in the conference still" (echoed by many fans in this thread) while walking off the floor after a loss, in a game they easily could have, and probably should have, have won, instead of trying to figure out what went wrong (let alone how to fix it), like I said, it doesn't speak well of a long tourney run.
Stop hyperventilating! We win the rest of our games (including the rematch against KSU at home) and we're co-champs. If KSU trips up even once, we're sole champions. If this isn't the definition of "best team in the conference" I don't know what is. When people say they still think we're the best team in the conference, they mean they think we'll win the rest of our games.
And we've lost 2 games this whole year (including winning 20 in a row), you only have to win 3 in a row to win the conference tournament and 6 in a row to win the national tournament. As long as we don't have to play any of those games in someone else's packed gym, I'm not too worried about how far we can go.
nobody1793 (anonymous) says…
Ditto about Mario. The mentality of a champion is to keep getting better even after you're on top. That's why Michael Jordan was just as hungry for his 6th title as the first. That's why Tiger Woods works harder than anyone else on the practice tee. Get hungry dudes.
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
Im hungry, Im going to go make dinner.....
notajayhawk (anonymous) says…
MyName;
I wasn't referring to where they'll end up in the final conference standings, and unfortunately, I don't think Chalmers was, either. I was referring to the attitude reflected in saying something to the effect of "We're better than they are, what difference does it make if we don't show it on the court?" The difference is between a "W" and an "L." And if you lose in the second (or first) round come March, it really doesn't matter if it was only your 3rd loss or your 13th - you still watch the rest of the tournament on TV. And KU has an unfortunate history of losing early when they were supposedly the "better" or "best" team.
Maybe they will end up being Big 12 champions, maybe even national champions. But on the night Chalmers made the statement, they were *not* the best team in the conference.
Reattaman (anonymous) says…
This team has been heading on a downward spiral since KSU kicked our butts. Let me sum it up:
Two games against ranked opponents and
Two RANK losses.
This doesn't bode well for what some have been calling the Best KU Team of All Time and the Best Team in the Country today.
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
Reattaman- Well put, that is what I have been trying to say in a round-a-bout way!!!