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KU-Texas basketball
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Austin, Texas — Damion James wasn’t happy with Cole Aldrich’s actions late in Kansas University’s 80-68 victory over Texas on Monday.
“He threw ’bows,” the UT forward said. “I know he probably didn’t mean it on purpose, but just the type of player I am, I don’t appreciate that type of stuff.
“But he’s a good guy. He played hard, so big ups to Cole. It’s all love.”
The KU center picked up a technical foul when he swung his arms after a whistle, knocking James to the ground.
It appeared that Aldrich tried to pat the 6-foot-7 James on the head, but the Texas forward swung his arms away before marching angrily to the bench.
“I’m always frustrated when we don’t do good,” James said. “It happens, though.”
Texas, which started the season 17-0, lost for the fifth time in seven games.
“This is the worst we’re going to play, I know that. This is the worst we’re going to play,” James said. “Once we get going on that high hill and get back up the hill, it’s going to be great.”
James, who set a career-high in three-pointers (four) and also tied a career-high for blocks (five), said that giving up a 22-0 run in the first half was “unacceptable.”
“It happened so fast,” James said. “They showed why they’re the No. 1 team in the country. If we want to be that, we’ve got to watch this game and see what we’ve got to do to make things happen.”
UT coach Rick Barnes said there was one reason for the Longhorns’ ineffectiveness offensively: a poor assist-to-turnover ratio. Texas finished with six assists and 17 giveaways.
“Not taking anything away from them, because they do some great things, but we helped them,” Barnes said. “And they don’t help you very much. Kansas doesn’t help you very much. You’re going to have to defend them and do some things.”
Texas, which scores more than 60 percent of its points from two-point field goals, struggled to get any offense inside against KU.
The Longhorns were just 20-for-52 from two-point range (38.4 percent) despite making 51.9 percent of their two-pointers heading into Monday’s contest.
“We’re going through a tough stretch right now,” James said. “Everybody knows that. I’d rather go through it now than at the end of this month and the beginning of March.”
James wasn’t convinced it was his last game against the Jayhawks.
“I think somewhere down the road, we’ll probably bump into them again,” James said, “and see what happens.”
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kujayhawk (anonymous) says…
Barnes is such a b@$&!. Helped us? You actually made your free-throws tonight. Plus, we didn't exactly light it up offensively.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
Thrown elbows? He committed a foul against aldrich, who then moved his elbows to clear the area. I think he just needs an excuse why he was angry after getting the foul.
I liked the commentary from Coach Knight last night, but Musberger is getting on my nerves.
Phogfan86 (anonymous) says…
Glad to hear James acknowledge his frustration. When he got hit with the elbow and Aldrich tried to apologize, James slapped his hand away. You could tell that he was really, really frustrated. There were long stretches last night where he seemed like the only Texas player who had ever played before, and he wasn't getting a lot of help.
bradh (anonymous) says…
I have to agree with Mom, Musberger is a bit lame. I thought it was especially funny that he kept talking about two games with four teams in the top 20 and then they'd flash a graphic showing the teams' rankings. One of them was #24. I would have thought someone would tell him to say four teams in the top 25 and not top 20.
hesshawk (anonymous) says…
I guess the saddle you put on Aldrich on that play didn't mean anything, huh? Dude, you can be frustrated, but you could have also acknowledged that Aldrich was not doing it to purposely " 'bow you". And the look on your face when you stomped away was not frustration, it was the look of p$^%*ed off.
Rock Chalk
jaywalker (anonymous) says…
That rule needs to be abolished after this season. Flagrant elbows are a matter of judgement. Cole had his arms wrapped in as tight to his body as he could, there was no intent, just James' proximity since he was in Cole's jersey. The officials made the correct call as it reads after this year's rule change; still doesn't make it the 'right' call. That was a five point swing; in a closer game that could have been pivotal and would have been criminal if it had affected the outcome.
Cole showed sportsmanship. James pouted. Tough beans.
rtwngr (anonymous) says…
Damien James: "waa waa waa."
When you're hanging on somebody, the way you were with Aldrich, you deserve an elbow in the chops. It just shows how little class you have by crying about it afterwards. Too bad, so sad. See ya wouldn't wanna be ya.
puddleglum (anonymous) says…
I still can't see why there was a technical foul called.
james fell on top of cole-cole immediately cleared with his elbows tucked in-not out....afterwards it was James that tried to slap away cole's hand gesture. if anything, it should be a technical on james, right?
not that we need it.
seems like there was 4 house call in a row-but jayhawks prevailed.
nice try.
riverat (Joe Hyde) says…
That was a good game...made even more enjoyable by muting the TV audio and listening to radio play-by-play by KU sports announcers Bob and Chris, on klzr fm 105.9
i can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems like Musberger's commentaries, regardless of topic, are 90% scripted with very little spontaneity. And he didn't used to be like that. This is coach Knight's first year of doing broadcasting duties and he's very good at it, so maybe before the season even started the show's producers ordered Musberger to "go vanilla" with his former style and essentially be Knight's set-up man.
Whatever it is, if there's a KU game on TV I'll take Bob Davis-Chris Piper any day over Bob Knight-Brent Musberger or any other network announcing team. I appreciate and respect that Musberger must bring the game to a national audience, whereas Bob and Chris broadcast locally. But Bob and Chris do the single most important thing: they stick to what's happening in the game real-time; they never indulge in Musberger's lengthy and distracting sidebar commentaries while play is underway.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
I agree, riverrat, I would prefer to hear Bob and Chris over anyone else, and even though they announce KU games, they are often more neutral than the guys on the sideline. There have been times I turn off the tv to listen to the radio, but its usually about 3 seconds ahead. But I do like Bob Knight. His style and comments remind of Piper's, with a coach's perspective instead of a players.
1029 (anonymous) says…
I never realized James was such a crybaby until last night's game. It was surprising to see him throw that tantrum after he fouled Aldrich. Maybe frustration got the best of him. After all, besides him and Brown, Texas had one player who scored 10 and two others who scored 3 apiece. That's it. Pathetic.
Yeah, Texas is a really deep team. Ha.
jaywalker (anonymous) says…
puddle:
It's a new rule this year, and it's automatic.
JohnCarpinelli (anonymous) says…
James had a wonderful reaction in the first half when he whined all the way up the court after he basically jumped on Reed's back on an earlier offensive foul. He made the letter "o" with his mouth the whole way up the court. THAT was a technical for showing up the refs. In reviewing the replay after the later incident, I doubted that Cole hit James, except Cole said he did. I'd rather believe Cole than my own eyes - if Cole had hit him square, what row would James have been watching the game from as a concussed spectator?