By Wendell Barnhouse
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
A nationally televised (CBS) game in Austin Saturday showcases No. 11 Kansas and No. 17 Texas. The Jayhawks are tied for first place with Iowa State with the Longhorns lurking and hoping to move up by beating KU and then Iowa State in Ames Monday.
Kansas, as most everyone in Big 12 Country knows, is chasing its 11th consecutive regular-season title. The Jayhawks are the team everybody wants to beat. And last season, Texas put itself on the map with a lopsided victory in the Erwin Center.
KU’s chances of keeping their title streak alive probably will depend on the continued development of freshmen Kelly Oubre and Cliff Alexander. Last season, Andrew Wiggins and Joe Embiid were two first-year players who played significant roles in Kansas finishing atop the standings. Oubre and Alexander were expected to do the same.
It hasn’t been easy.
Oubre spent eight games coming off the bench before earning a starting spot. Alexander, who is arguably KU’s best low-post scorer, continues his role as a reserve. In last Saturday’s loss at Iowa State, coach Bill Self benched Alexander for most of the second half.
“I didn’t think his motor was very good tonight,” Self said. “That was the reason.”
However, as the Jayhawks avoided an epic collapse against Oklahoma Monday, Oubre and Alexander combined for 11 of the team’s last 18 points. Oubre finished with a team-high 19 with nine rebounds while Alexander had 13 points and 13 rebounds against the Sooners.
Self has said that he didn’t think he was tough enough on Wiggins and Embiid last season and wanted to correct that with Oubre and Alexander.
“Coach Self is one of the best coaches in America. He knows what he’s doing. He’s going to teach us lessons some way, somehow. He’s motivating us to be the best players we can be,” Oubre said. “It’s not going to be given to us. He’s teaching us that lesson. He’s making us come out and play harder and learn how to play hard and be the best players we can be. However he does that, I respect because I respect the process.
“Cliff feels the same way.”
Zoned Out
In their last three games, West Virginia has faced a 2-3 zone in three halves and shot under 30 percent. Not surprisingly, the Mountaineers lost both games (to Iowa State and Texas).
“I guess now we know what everyone’s going to be doing to us,” forward Devin Williams told the Charleston Daily Mail. “Eventually we have to figure it out or it might be the same result.”
West Virginia returns to action Saturday at home against TCU. A week ago, the Mountaineers couldn’t handle Texas’ size and zone defense in a 77-50 loss. Coach Bob Huggins thought that his team failed to follow the game plan and didn’t recognize open shooters with timely passes. With two games remaining against Baylor (a zone team) and one with UT, solving zone defenses will be a priority.
“I believe we are going to figure the zone out,” Williams said. “At the beginning of the year, we couldn’t get a shot up against one and we got better. We’re going to figure it out. We need to slow down, and the best thing right now is to get back and watch some film.”
Cyclones Seek Killer Instinct
Iowa State plays at Texas Tech Saturday and the Cyclones won both meetings last season despite letting double-digit leads slip away. Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg is concerned about his team’s continuing inability to put teams away.
“They played two great basketball games against us,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Again, that’s that killer mentality. Once you get a team down, you have to step on them. We have yet to do that this year, especially in conference season. We’ve gotten double-digit leads.
“It’s important we have to get off to a great start. We know how hard Tubby Smith’s teams play. If we can get off to a good start, that makes it easier down the stretch.”
Layups
*Oklahoma State’s Anthony Hickey has 23 assists against just four turnovers in his last four games and has dished out five assists or more in three of his last four games. The 5-foot-11 Hickey the Cowboys’ leading rebounder in conference games. He’s averages 6.3 rebounds per game in his last four games.
* Texas Tech’s 0-6 Big 12 start is the first time in coach Tubby Smith’s 24-year coaching career that his team has started conference play with six losses. It’s the third time that the Red Raiders have started 0-6 in the Big 12.
* Oklahoma’s game at Baylor Saturday will feature a large group of Sooners fans. OU senior TaShawn Thomas is from Killeen, Texas. His mother, Levada, told him a group of 95 are expected to make the short trip north up Interstate 35 from Killeen to Waco.
* Texas leads the Big 12 in blocked shots and is second nationally in block percentage, blocking 19.7 percent of opponents’ shots. Myles Turner and Cam Ridley have combined for 80 blocked shots; that’s more than the total blocked shots of four Big 12 teams.
* Looking at the box score of Wednesday’s Texas Tech-Oklahoma State game it’s easy to figure out one reason the Cowboys won. The Red Raiders’ starters combined for just 13 points. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State’s Phil Forte and Le’Bryan Nash combined for 31 points.
* Kansas State will honor former coach Tex Winter by dedicating the lane from Gate 7 off Kimball Avenue leading to the Basketball Training Facility as “Tex Winter Drive.” The school will hold a ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday before the Oklahoma State game. Winter, a hall of famer who is credited with developing the triangle offense, turns 93 on Jan. 28 and lives in Manhattan.
Quote, Unquote
Iowa State’s Jameel McKay on his team’s road game at Texas Tech Saturday:
“Your next game is your most important game, especially in the Big 12. Our goal is to win the Big 12 conference title in the regular season. In order to do that, we have to pull out some road wins. Winning at Texas Tech is important. It’s almost like a must-win for us.”
Kansas State coach Bruce Weber on his team’s reaction to losing at Iowa State Tuesday:
“I thought there was some really long faces, sad faces. I hope we weren’t destroyed mentally. It’s a fine line. You don’t get much out of defeat but we did compete with a really good team. It was positive things, but at the same time we didn’t win the game. It’s like kissing your sister, you’re not going anywhere.”
Texas Tech’s Tubby Smith:
"I told our players that if we had everybody playing as hard as (6-8 senior forward) Clark Lammert does, we'd probably be undefeated right now."
Kansas State is at home facing Oklahoma State Saturday and Wildcats guard Marcus Foster understands how important it is to win in Bramlage Coliseum:
“Home court advantage is big. Looking back to last year, even though we weren’t winning on the road we were winning all of our home games and that’s why we were able to stay in the pack in the Big 12. We need to win all of our home games.”
Iowa State’s Georges Niang was asked what it was like to guard Thomas Gipson, Kansas State’s 6-7, 265-pound senior:
"You ever wrestled a grizzly bear? I mean, that's what it was like. The dude is huge and has pretty quick feet.”
Kansas coach Bill Self on the demands of the Big 12’s round-robin, 18-game schedule:
"In most situations I've been in, there's certain weeks in a league or a two-week stretch that's a key week you can point to and then you catch your breath. There's no catching breath; every week is a key week. I do think it's going to be pretty exhausting when we go into March."