BIG 12 EDITION
L A W R E N C E
JOURNAL-WORLD
®
75 CENTS
SATURDAY • MARCH 12 • 2011
Vol.153/No.71 26 pages
LJWorld.com
KANSAS 90, COLORADO 83
A driving force
Taylor helps KU subdue CU, reach title game
Tom Keegan tkeegan@ljworld.com
Kansas can count on Reed
By Gary Bedore gbedore@ljworld.com
K A N S A S C I T Y , M O . — Kansas University junior point guard Tyshawn Taylor had only been in the game 15 seconds Friday night when he heard a familiar voice booming instructions in his direction. “Drive it ... drive it!” coach Bill Self bellowed at the 6-foot-3, 185pounder, who was more than willing to obey coach’s commands against Colorado in a Big 12 tournament semif inal in Sprint Center. Taylor, who subbed for Elijah Johnson just 1:08 into the game, took the ball to the hole aggressively in KANSAS his 29-minute VS. TEXAS stint, scoring 15 points while Who: Texas (27-6) dishing four vs. Kansas (31-2) assists against four turnovers When: 5 p.m. in KU’s 90-83 today Where: Sprint victory. “I heard his Center, Kansas words. It’s City, Mo. exactly what I TV: ESPN (cable did,” said Tay- channels 33, 233) lor, who hit four of seven shots and seven of eight free throws on a night KU made 29 of 33 charities. “He told us at the timeout (at 18:52 with KU already down, 6-0), ‘We’ve got to play faster.’ He told us that last night. He told us today before we went out there we’ve got to play faster I tried to come off the bench and play with energy.” He had his best scoring night since a 15-point outing against UMKC on Jan. 15. “I mean, that could be me,” Taylor said, asked if the slashing player is “the real Tyshawn.” “I’ve got to be more aggressive, but I feel I picked my spots today. I still turned it over too much, but I thought I played pretty well.” Self has come to expect a lot from former starter Taylor, who has come off the bench in four straight games since serving a two-game suspension. “That’s what he should do all the time,” Self said of Taylor taking the ball to the basket. “With Elijah, we play side to side a lot, which is fine. That means you have to get the ball in the paint off the pass. With Tyshawn in the game, you can get the ball in the paint off the bounce. It adds
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
KANSAS GUARD TYSHAWN TAYLOR (10) HANGS FOR A SHOT over Colorado defenders Nate Tomlinson (1) and Marcus
Please see KANSAS, page 4A Relphorde. The Jayhawks beat the Buffs, 90-83, in a Big 12 tournament semifinal game Friday in Kansas City, Mo.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — On a night Kansas University, the nation’s second-ranked basketball team, defeated Colorado, 90-83, Friday in the Sprint Center and ran its record to 31-2 and its twoyear mark to 64-5, it rode its preferred inside-out approach to scoring. Balance and depth of talent make coach Bill Self’s teams hard to guard year in and year out. Still, even though balance is the goal, it’s always nice to have one player the team knows it can count on to deliver the big shot when things get a little dicey. Long before he hit the threepointer that sent the nationaltitle game into overtime three years ago, Mario Chalmers had established that sort of trust from teammates. Tyrel Reed’s that guy on this year’s team. “I think Tyrel’s more of a spot-up-and-we’ll-get-you-theball-type shooter,” teammate Brady Morningstar said. “Mario had the ball in his hand and would come off a screen-androll and pull up and hit a shot, but both those guys have hit a ton of big shots. And I think on this team, if we need a three, it’s probably going to Tyrel.” Tyshawn Taylor, who in having a big night off the bench had no trouble getting to the paint and making things happen by scoring, dishing to teammates and getting to the free-throw stripe, knew where to send the ball late when hard-to-kill Colorado kept hanging around. Taylor found Reed twice late for three-point shots, and Reed made both of them, pushing a nine-point lead to 12 points both times. The first came from the right corner with 4:22 remaining, the second from the left corner with 2:14 left. For a guy who doesn’t have the basketball in his hands very often, Reed certainly knows how to impact a game. He either takes an open shot, keeps the ball moving with a quick pass or makes a quick decision Please see KEEGAN, page 5A
Texas sweeps into championship game By Doug Tucker Associated Press Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, MO. — With threegame sweeps this season of both Oklahoma and Texas A&M, No. 10 Texas has already accomplished something it had never done before. Now, with No. 2 Kansas looming today in the Big 12 title game, the Longhorns have a chance to do something else for the first time. If they beat the No. 2 Jayhawks, they’ll be the first team from the Lone Star State to capture the
championship in the 15-year history of the Big 12 tournament. “It would mean a lot,” said Texas guard J’Covan Brown, who had 14 points Friday night in a 7058 semifinal victory over Texas A&M. “We have to go out there and have fun, like coach said. If we execute, everything else will take care of itself.” Jordan Hamilton scored 17 points, and second-seeded Texas (27-6) had four players in double figures while beating the thirdseeded Aggies (24-8). “Each time we played (A&M) the scoring margin got closer
and closer,” Texas freshman Tristan Thompson said. “We knew this game was not going to be a blowout. They were playing to play in the game tomorrow, so we knew we had to come out and play our best game ever.” Thompson, the Big 12 freshman of the year, had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Texas, which finished second to Kansas in the regular-season Big 12 race but beat the Jayhawks 74-63 in January, snapping their 69-game home court winning streak. Cory Joseph scored 10. In the second half, Brown,
Thompson and Hamilton scored 31 of Texas’ 40 points. Then, when the game was all but decided, Gary Johnson scored the Longhorns’ last six points. Khris Middleton had 18 points and eight rebounds for A&M. “For us to get where we want to be as a program, where we think we belong, we’ve got to beat a team like Kansas or Texas,” Texas A&M coach Mark Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo Turgeon said. “We’ve got to play 40 minutes, not 37 or 32 or what- TEXAS A&M FORWARD KHRIS MIDDLETON (22) ever we’ve done.” drives against Texas forward Jordan Hamilton. UT beat A&M, 70-58, in Friday’s other Big 12 Please see TEXAS, page 3A tournament semifinal.