Wake Forest: Trent VanHorn was called for a Flagrant One foul when he went after Williams on a breakaway.
Advertisement
The Jayhawks are 3-1 this season, while Vandy is off to a 5-0 start.
Vanderbilt’s trio of Wade Baldwin (8-15), Riley LaChance (8-19), and Matthew Fisher-Davis (9-19) are shooting 47 percent from three combined, so the Jayhawks are going to have to get out and defend those guys better than they defended shooters in the first two games of the tournament. The Jayhawks shot 54 percent in that game.
“So that is a lot of threes”, Self said. “Make things tough for them, don’t let them be comfortable”. What did they have at halftime? 59? The technical knockout was in progress. Kansas closed out the 70-63 win to earn the tournament title and send the Commodores home with their first loss of the season.
“That’s about as well as we can play offensively”, Self said. “He had like six wide open looks”.
No. 6 Duke pulled away from preseason Ivy League favorite Yale in the second half winning by 19 in Durham. Until we get more bodies, we’ve got to be somewhat diligent on how we do things. “They can play at a really high-level pace”. Selden missed two free throws with 28 seconds left and Commodores forward Damian Jones (17 points, 10 rebounds) scored on the other end to make it 68-63 with 16 seconds left.
More detailed thoughts tomorrow on the season and the tournament as a whole. This is, in part, because they have seen plenty of zone here in Maui.
“Honestly he (Selden) has the easy job”, Stallings said “He has Mason and Graham (Devonté, 12 points, six rebounds, one assist) in there penetrating and breaking down the defense”.
Kansas head coach Bill Self talks with ESPN after the game. He was an impressive 8-of-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from three point range. The Silverswords responded with a pair of 3-pointers, but a Mussini three-point play and an Alibegovic jumper pushed the advantage back to 11 with just 5:54 remaining.
“I saw the Wayne that was in South Korea”, Mason said. “It’s just going to be a great year”.
He so far is enjoying the three-guard offense. This team, he says, is perfectly suited to play off the dribble. UCLA got a break when Wake Forest’s star of the tournament and freshman point guard could not play because of the flu, yet UCLA still struggled and got killed in transition. “Now we’re a team that scores off the bounce a lot more”.
Advertisement
St. John’s center Yankuba Sima (35) pulls down a rebound as Chaminade guard Kevin Hu (23) looks on in the first half during an NCAA college basketball game in the Maui Invitational Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The Commodores, though, offer their own intrigue. With a blue-tinted crowd behind them, their backcourt gave Vanderbilt the challenge they’d lacked all season. And the coaches, players and staff members who return to Lawrence, Kan., after their successful business trip to Maui will be in a much better mood than the group that departed the mainland last Friday. Kansas still trails UCLA 10-8 in the all-time series…. “Coach (Self) just preaches defense, defense, defense”.
