College Basketball @ MindSay

I don't think many people are shocked that North Carolina won the national championship last night, right?  They were the better team, and they had control of the entire game.  Personally, I thought UCONN was gonna win it all, but they fell just short of getting to the finals.  Oh well.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Sherron Collins scored a career-high 32 points to lead the University of Kansas to an 84-74 victory over North Dakota State, Friday, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

 

Cole Aldrich added 23 points and 13 rebounds as Kansas improved to 26-7 overall, while North Dakota State ended its season with a 26-7 record.

 

North Dakota State was advertised as a team that could shoot the long-ball and the Bison did not disappoint as they opened the game with three-straight treys to grab the game’s first lead.

 

Collins was up to the challenge though as he pumped in 17 first half points and the Jayhawks led 43-34 at intermission. Of its 37 points, the Bison got 21 from 3-point land with Summit League Player of the Year Ben Woodside leading the way with 16 points.

 

Kansas shot 55.9 percent (19-of-34) from the field in the opening half while holding NDSU to 43.3 percent (13-of-30).  Kansas turned the ball over just twice in the first half, while NDSU had five miscues including four from Woodside.

 

The game was tied at 25 with 7:21 left on the first half clock, but Kansas went on a 16-7 run to close the period.

 

Kansas opened the second half with a trio of dunks – two from Aldrich and one from Tyshawn Taylor – followed by a Brady Morningstar 3-pointer and was able to extend its lead to as many as 11.

 

The Bison kept themselves in the game with long-range shooting and the playmaking of Woodside, but could get no closer than three as Kansas eventually won by 10.

 

Collins finished with eight assists and four rebounds to go with his career-high 32 points.  Aldrich added two blocked shots to his 20^th career double-double.

 

Woodside finished with 37 points for NDSU – the second highest total against KU this season.  Brett Winkelman posted a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.  Michael Tveidt added 11 points.

 

For the game, Kansas shot 50.0 percent (32-of-64) from the floor and 80.0 percent (16-of-20) from the charity stripe.  North Dakota State shot 41.9 percent (26-of-62) from the field including 10-of-24 from 3-point land.  The Bison also shot 80 percent (12-of-15) from the line.  KU won the battle of the boards 39-34.  The teams protected the ball well as Kansas turned the ball over only five times, and the Bison nine times.

The Kansas win…

- Was KU’s fifth straight victory in a dome and improved KU to 6-1 in the big venues in the Bill Self era.

- Improved KU to 26-7 on the season.

- KU has won 10 of its last 11 NCAA Tournament games in the last three years.

- Gave KU its 24th NCAA Tournament first-round win in the last 26 years dating back to 1978.

- Improved KU to 83-36 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

- Improved KU to 7-3 as the tournament’s number three seed.

- Improved KU to 2-2 in neutral site games this year and 8-6 in all games away from Allen Fieldhouse this year.

- Made the Jayhawks 13-4 in the NCAA Tournament in the Bill Self era.

- Gave KU its seventh win in its last nine games this season.

 

Team

- Kansas had a season-low five turnovers (10 on four previous occasions).

- Kansas shot 80 percent from the free throw line (16 of 20) marking the 11^th time this year the Jayhawks shot at least 80 percent from the charity stripe this year.

- Kansas used a pair of 7-0 runs in the first half.  The first turned a 17-14 NDSU lead into a 21-17 Kansas advantage, while the second turned a 27-27 tie into a 34-27 KU lead.  The last run started a 16-7 run to end the half and gave KU a 43-34 halftime lead.

- After trailing at halftime in each of its previous three games, KU led at the break 43-34.

- KU’s first three baskets of the second half were dunks (two by Cole Aldrich and one by Tyshawn Taylor).

- KU’s bench scored just two points in the game (Markieff Morris) for the fewest by the reserves this season.

 

Individual

- Sherron Collins recorded a career scoring high with 32 points (previous high was 26 three times this year).

- Collins became the first Jayhawk to score at least 30 points since Mario Chalmers had 30 vs. Texas on March 16, 2008.

- Collins scored 13 of KU’s first 18 points.

- Collins scored in double figures for the 31^st time in 33 games this year.

- Collins recorded eight assists to match his third-most in a game this season (had 11 vs. New Mexico State and nine vs. Tennessee).

- Cole Aldrich moved into a tie for seventh place on the KU season rebounding list with Bill Bridges (353 in 1961).  He entered the game with 340 and grabbed 13 on Friday for 353 on the season.

- Aldrich recorded his 19^th double-double of the season and 20^th of his career.

- Aldrich recorded eight dunks in the game (out of nine field goals made).

- Marcus Morris handed out four assists to match his second most this season (had six vs. Syracuse and four at Kansas State).  Morris also had eight points and seven rebounds.

- Morris’ seven rebounds matched his most in the last six games (seven vs. Missouri).

- Brady Morningstar scored eight points, his second most in the last six games (nine vs. Texas).

#3 KU will face #11 Dayton, who upset #6 West Virginia, on Sunday afternoon.

Not only is it frowned upon to dunk in NCAA pregame warmups, it's actually against the rules of the game. St. Mary's was assessed a technical in last night's game before the opening tip-off for dunking in pregame warmups, and trailed 1-0 before the game even got started.

 

The Kansas Jayhawks opened Big 12 play with a bang last night.

KU started the game with a blistering 18-0 run on their way to an 87-71 win over hated rival Kansas State. The Wildcats were able to close the gap to 3 at one point in the second half before the Jayhawks were able to put the game away. The Jayhawks have now won 34 straight games at home.

Sherron Collins led all scorers with 24 points. 19 of those came in the second half. Tyshawn Taylor added 20. Cole Aldrich added 15 points and grabbed 8 boards. Mario Little scored 8 points in his first career start.

Kansas has won 18 straight conference openers. KU has a 176-90 lead against the Wildcats in the all-time series. They have won 36 of the last 38 match ups.

The Jayhawks will travel to take on Colorado on Saturday.



 

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Cole Aldrich scored a career-high 24 points and added 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the year to lead Kansas basketball to a 91-84 victory against Siena on Tuesday night.

 

The victory improved Kansas to 11-3 on the season.  The Jayhawks extended the nation's third-longest active homecourt winning streak to 33 games, a figure which also ties for the third-longest in school history.  Siena fell to 10-5 overall this year. 

 

The game was the 500^th as a head coach for Kansas' Bill Self.  Self is in his 16^th season as a head coach with a 360-140 record, including a 153-35 mark in his sixth year at Kansas.

 

The Jayhawks led throughout the game, but Siena never backed down, pulling within five at 87-82 near the end of the contest.  However, Kansas made 12 of 14 free throws in the game's final three minutes to clinch the victory.

 

Sherron Collins scored 18 points, while Tyrel Reed added 14 for the Jayhawks.  Siena was led by Ronald Moore, who had 18 in leading four different Saints in double figures.

 

Aldrich surpassed his previous scoring best of 23 against Coppin State as he hit nine of 13 shots from the field and six of nine from the free throw line.  It marked the third straight game the sophomore center reached the 20-point plateau as he had 20 vs. Albany and 22 vs. Tennessee prior to Tuesday.

 

Kansas led by as many as 20 points in the first half and as many as 16 early in the second half at 63-47.  However, Siena went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 63-54 and then pulled within 69-65 after a stretch with three straight three-pointers.

 

Collins stopped the bleeding and energized the crowd with a three-pointer that sparked a 6-0 run as Kansas went up 75-65.

 

For the game Kansas shot 47.5 percent from the field, but made 26 of 32 free throws.  The Jayhawks also out-rebounded Siena 42-29, including a 25-16 advantage in the second half.

 

Down 9-5 at the first media timeout, Kansas went on a 25-1 run, including a stretch with 18 straight points to build a 30-10 advantage with 9:46 remaining in the first half.  Siena stopped a five-minute span without a field goal when Clarence Jackson drilled the first of his back-to-back three-pointers.

 

The teams ended the first half with Kansas leading 51-38.  The point totals were season highs for both the Jayhawks and their opponents.  Reed and Aldrich each had 10 points at intermission, while Jackson had 11 and Kenny Hasbrouck 10 for the visitors.

 

KU scored 14 points off seven Siena first-half turnovers and added 13 second-chance points on eight offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.  Both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field and while Siena made four of seven three-pointers, Kansas made six of 13 from behind the arc.

 

Kansas will close out its non-conference portion of the regular season with a visit to eighth-ranked Michigan State on Saturday.  Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. Central and the game will be televised on CBS.

 

The Jayhawks will then open Big 12 Conference play when they host Kansas State on Tuesday Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.