Kansas guard Tyrel Reed looks to pass out to the wing as he moves past Radford center Artsiom Parakhouski during the second half, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 at Allen Fieldhouse.

FINAL: KU defeats RU, 99-64

Taylor penetrates with the shot clock winding down, drawing two defenders before pitching out to C.J. Henry for a three. C.J. rattles it home, but give the credit to Taylor for opening up the shot.

C.J. uses a nifty drive to get to the rim for a layup, and he follows the next possession with a three over a defender. He gives a quick fist pump, as the oft-injured guard has KU’s last eight points.

Another nice post move by Robinson, who makes a move toward the basket before spinning to his back shoulder for an eight-foot fadeaway.

C.J. Henry continues his hot stretch, putting in another three from the right wing. He adds a block on defense for good measure, and Jordan Juenemann puts in a layup in transition.

KU uses a 63-point second half to pull away in a 35-point victory.

KU 84/RU 55 — 3:44 left in game

Marcus Morris rattles in a three from the right wing, and that’s only his second field goal.

Xavier Henry checks in and immediately shows his post-up game, sealing off Trifunovic before putting in a layup over him.

Xavier has a sloppy turnover, trying to dribble his way out of trouble instead of passing it to a teammate. He makes up for it two possessions later, driving down the middle of the lane before putting in a layup with a foul.

Johnson lands funny on his foot while defending, and he hobbles around a bit. It looks like he might have twisted his ankle, but it doesn’t appear serious, as he stays in the game for a possession before getting subbed out.

KU 71/RU 41 — 7:38 left in game

Aldrich steps in front of Parakhouski for a steal, and Taylor turns it into two in transition with a one-handed slam. He hasn’t been posing for the cameras after his dunks tonight, and I’m not sure if that’s a conscious decision or not.

C.J. Henry has checked in, and he misses his first three-point attempt, but Aldrich follows with a putback slam.

Reed swishes a three from the corner, and that breaks an 0-for-3 skid for him.

KU 62/RU 36 — 11:01 left in game

Before the media timeout, we establish one thing: neither Parakhouski nor Robinson can defend each other.

Parakhouski throws in a dunk, but Robinson follows with a quick move across the lane and left-handed layup. Parakhouski answers with a short turn-around in the lane, but Robinson follows with a 16-footer that swishes through.

KU 58/RU 32 — 12:16 left in game

Xavier Henry with a tough shot in the lane, forcing it up and in over a defender with his right hand (and, of course, Xavier is left-handed).

Tyshawn Taylor takes a few dribbles inside the arc before putting up a wild 18-footer that misses. It never looked like he got his feet set on that one. He just looks lost out there right now offensively.

Another quick move from Robinson, who fakes a shot at the top of the key before driving around a defender and putting in a left-handed layup with a foul.

Taylor with another wild shot early in the shot clock that misses, but this time, he corrals his miss and puts it back in off the glass for two. Timeout RU.

KU 49/RU 27 — 15:10 left in game

KU opens the second half with a set play, and Collins lob finds Johnson for an alley-oop slam.

Lynch-Flohr with another hook shot that goes in. He’s single-handedly making that shot relevant again in college basketball.

RU coach Brad Greenberg doesn’t like two early whistles against his team. “Come on, give us a chance!” he pleads to the nearest official.

Parakhouski puts in his first basket, putting in a layup over Aldrich with a foul. That seems to have gotten him going, as he goes to the other side of the basket for another jumper with a foul, again putting it ove Aldrich.

Nice hustle play for Johnson, who sprints around a defender to track down an offensive board. The freshman kicks out to Collins, who swishes the open three.

KU scoring — Johnson 9, Collins 8, X. Henry 7, Aldrich 7, Markieff Morris 2, Taylor 2, Robinson 1.

KU was 12-for-32 from the floor (37.5 percent), 3-for-6 from three (50 percent) and 9-for-13 from the free-throw line (69.2 percent).

RU was 8-for-26 from the floor (30.8 percent), 1-for-4 from three (25 percent) and 1-for-3 from the free-throw line (33.3 percent).

Parakhouski had no points on 0-for-2 shooting with six rebounds.

RU had 10 turnovers to KU’s five. KU out-rebounded RU, 25-17.

KU 36/RU 18 — Halftime

On the fast break, Collins throws ahead to Johnson, who puts in an uncontested layup.

Trifunovic throws a hook shot off the side of the backboard. Told you RU wasn’t a good shooting team. The Highlanders are just 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) so far.

Xavier Henry gets his arm slapped on a three-point attempt, and he makes two of his three free throws. Nobody can seem to hit all their attempts, though.

Johnson drains another three from the corner. He’s two-for-two from deep. KU, though, has only shot six three-pointers so far. Remember, all of the Highlanders’ opponents have shot at least 20 threes against them.

Collins tries to hold for the last shot, but his pass to Reed on the outside is fumbled out of bounds.

KU gets away with one before the buzzer, as Trifunovic’s shot is blocked by Xavier Henry. The ball was clearly on its way down toward the rim, but the officials get together before deciding that no goaltending will be called.

KU takes an 18-point lead into the break.

KU 27/RU 15 — 3:14 left in 1st half

Parakhouski checks out. I’m still guessing it’s not the last we’ll see of him this half.

Aldrich makes one of two free throws. Seems to be the pattern lately for KU players.

Collins misses a short shot in the lane, and he claps his hands together in frustration.

Radford seems to be having the same problem that KU had against UCLA with a different basketball. The Highlanders’ guards are having all sorts of trouble simply keeping their dribble. RU also has nine turnovers already.

Collins finds Johnson in the corner for a three, but Lynch-Flohr answers with a three of his own from straight on.

Funny thing happened right in front of me. On RU’s seventh foul, Johnson went under the basket to take the inbounds pass. But there was no inbounds pass, as KU was shooting free throws.

On a fast break the next possession, Johnson drives to the basket and draws a blocking foul. So where does he go? Back under the basket to try to throw the ball inbounds. The official kindly tells him that he will be shooting free throws instead.

Collins misses a guarded shot, but Xavier throws back in the miss with two hands.

Lynch-Flohr puts in another jump hook, and KU coach Bill Self calls timeout. He’s hot at Johnson, standing up to yell at him on the court.

KU 18/RU 10 — 7:56 left in 1st half

Thomas Robinson uses a quick move to the rim, and he’s fouled on the way up. He makes one of two free throws, as the second one rattles out.

Nice defensive possession by Tyrel Reed, as he was up in the face of Blake Smith for nearly half the shot clock. Trifunovic still ends the possession with points, as he puts in a short jump hook.

Xavier Henry answers with a three from the corner, and Taylor follows with a steal. He doesn’t blow the dunk attempt, as he times his steps right and throws in a one-handed slam. RU calls timeout with KU taking its largest lead at 18-10.

Aldrich uses an up-fake to get Parakhouski in the air before drawing a foul. That’s Parakhouski’s second whistle, so we’ll see if Radford decides to leave him in there. Parakhouski has no points so far, but he does have six rebounds.

KU 12/RU 8 — 11:32 left in 1st half

Joey Lynch-Flohr throws in a tough hook shot from 12 feet on the baseline, and he has RU’s first six points. He averaged 13.2 points coming into the contest.

Markieff Morris drains a baseline jumper, and that looks to be a soft spot in the zone if KU can exploit it.

Collins bursts to the basket to put in a layup, and on the next possession, he fakes a three before swishing a long two.

The two teams are struggling to find their ways offensively. Tyrel Reed checks in but misses a three. Aldrich clanks a jump-hook off the glass. KU even misses an easy one, as Markieff Morris gets a breakaway steal before taking his two steps too early. He doesn’t have enough juice to get to the basket, and his dunk attempt rattles off the rim before Radford clears the rebound.

KU 6/RU 4 — 15:57 left in 1st half

Good sign for KU, as Cole Aldrich tears the ball away from Lazar Trifunovich on an offensive rebound and slams it home with one hand. The next possession, Aldrich gets it inside and puts in for a reverse layup, and he has KU’s first four points.

RU comes out in an uncommon 1-3-1 trapping zone. The set looks like its main purpose is to put pressure on the guards up top.

Aldrich gets a block inside, and Collins uses a nasty crossover to get to the lane before taking two steps and putting in a short floater.

Parakhouski returns the favor to Aldrich, as he stuffs the KU big man on a baby-hook attempt. KU fans gasp a bit, as they’re not used to seeing the junior getting blocked.

Elijah Johnson steers too close to an RU player on his way up the court, and Johnson is whistled for his second foul. Taylor checks in off the bench.

7 p.m.

Elijah Johnson starting over Tyshawn Taylor. And Marcus Morris starting over his brother, Markieff.

6:53 p.m.

Here are some notes about Radford, which enters with a 4-2 record.

• Three players in the Highlanders’ starting lineup (Lazar Trifunovic, Joey Lynch-Flohr, Art Parakhouski) are 6-foot-8 or taller. That’s actually better size than KU in the starting lineup, as Xavier Henry, KU’s small forward, is only 6-6.

• Radford might be, statistically, the worst-shooting team KU faces all year. The Highlanders are just 25.8 percent from three-point range, 43-percent from two-point range and 62 percent from the free-throw line. Fifty-nine percent of their points come from two-pointers.

• Radford has shot 158 free throws in six games this season. Its opponents have only shot 96 free throws. That means, on average, the Highlanders shoot 10 more free throws than their opponents each game.

• Radford hasn’t done a good job so far this season of avoiding turnovers, as one out of about every seven possessions for Radford ends in a steal for the opposition. The Highlanders have had at least 15 turnovers in every game.

• Every opponent has shot at least 20 three-pointers against Radford this year.

• Six-foot-11 center Art Parakhouski is the Big South’s preseason player of the year. So far, he’s averaged 22.3 points and a nation-leading 14.8 rebounds this season. He also had 24 points and 14 rebounds in an earlier game against Duke.

6:15 p.m.

Welcome back to the Newell Post Live, coming to you from Allen Fieldhouse where the Kansas Jayhawks are getting set to take on the Radford Highlanders.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about the recent offensive struggles of both Cole Aldrich and Tyshawn Taylor.

I think a lot of times, we tend to forget that even though shots aren’t going in, basketball players can still be effective if they’re productive on the defensive end.

Make no mistake: Both Aldrich and Taylor have been two of the biggest highlights for KU defensively so far this season.

So far this season, KU is the top team in the nation in two-point field-goal percentage defense. Opponents are shooting just 35.1 percent from inside the arc against the Jayhawks, and the No. 2 team nationally (Texas) isn’t all that close (37.3 percent).

There’s one main reason for teams’ struggles inside against KU: That would be Cole Aldrich.

Not only does the 6-foot-11 big man block shots, he also gives opponents a presence to think about when they are entering the lane. Though the statistic can’t be measured, I would guess Aldrich alters about as many shots as he blocks.

And though his offensive numbers aren’t better this season, his defensive numbers are so far — especially in blocks. He has more blocks per game this year than last year (3.6 this year, 2.7 last year) despite playing four fewer minutes per game this year. He also has blocks on 12.9 percent of the opposing team’s two-point shots as compared to 9.5 percent last year (both marks lead/led the Big 12).

As far as Taylor goes, his steal numbers are up from a year ago. He averaged 1.1 steals in 26.5 minutes per game last season, stealing the ball on 2.3 percent of his defensive possessions.

This year, Taylor is averaging 1.9 steals per game while averaging just 23.9 minutes. He also has stolen the ball on 4.3 percent of his defensive possessions, which is good for sixth in the Big 12.

So even if you believe that Aldrich and Taylor are struggling offensively, make sure to remember that offense is only half the reason those guys are on the court.

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