“Wayne’s the best player in the tournament”.
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“He shot a great percentage, but he didn’t just rely on jump shots”, Self said”. “The ball is the hardest thing to guard in college basketball. Just like everybody, different games people gotta learn some lessons, and I think he’ll learn some lessons after he watches this tape”. And Wayne’s fine with it.
“I think the guards did a phenomenal job of finding me when I was open”, he said.
Tony Parker, who played only a fourth of last night’s game against UNLV because of foul trouble, ended the night with 15 points and 8 rebounds.
Selden’s performance capped a brilliant three days in Maui in which he showcased a lethal 3-point stroke and the ability to attack the rim. He also had seven rebounds. Mussini then took charge by draining 3s on three-consecutive possessions in just a 1:05 span. He later added another triple before Alibegovic got into the act with a 3-pointer of his own as the Red Storm closed the half on a 22-10 run.
The UCLA Basketball team was in this game with Kansas… for about four minutes.
“We won our first game and there’s not a lot of time to celebrate”, Manning said. Steals: 6 (Graham 3, Mason III 2, Selden Jr.). The Hoosiers fell behind early, drew even in the second half, but could never get over the hump. By halftime, the Jayhawks’ lead was almost doubled, sitting at 26 points.
In the second half though, the Jayhawks offense came to life. “Once we play good defense, he just wants us to run”. They pulled to 14-13 with 13:43 to play in the first half on a 3-pointer by Shastri, forcing Self to call a timeout. “But, you know, shots that we are pretty accustomed to making, we didn’t make today”.
The closest Vanderbilt got was 68-63 with 16 seconds to play, and Mason and Jamari Traylor each made one free throw for the final margin.
Damian Jones led Vanderbilt with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Commodores entered Wednesday night having not trailed at all during their first two games of the Maui Invitational.
IN is 11-5 against the spread following a game that they didn’t cover the point spread, 4-0 against the spread against the Mountain West, and 1-5 against the spread following a win.
Kansas later went on an 8-1 spree, which included two baskets and an assist by freshman forward Carlton Bragg, to grab its biggest lead at 64-51 with 5:03 remaining.
When the blowout was done, Ellis had finished with a season-high 24 points while drilling 9 of 12 from the field, and the Jayhawks clipped off another 23 three-point attempts, hitting 10 threes on the night.
While they eventually returned to the form that had seen an average of 103 points through the first two games in Maui, the Jayhawks were sluggish to start the game.
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Vanderbilt hosts Detroit on December 2.
