March 08, 2008
Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur both scored 16 points and Kansas (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) beat Texas A&M 72-55 on Saturday to clinch at least a share of its fourth straight Big 12 regular-season title.
Many of the Jayhawks held up four fingers as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Kansas (28-3, 13-3) will have to wait about 24 hours to see if it will have to share the title it with No. 9 Texas. The Longhorns could tie with a win over Oklahoma State on Sunday.
It marks the sixth time in school history that Kansas has won four straight conference titles and the first since 1995-98. The Jayhawks have been league champions eight times in the short history of the Big 12 and this extends their NCAA record of conference titles to 51.
The Jayhawks led by 10 points at halftime and took advantage of poor second-half shooting by Texas A&M (22-9, 8-8) to stay on top throughout the second half and cruise to their fourth straight win.
Dominique Kirk and Donald Sloan had 15 points each for the Aggies.
Kansas was ahead by 12 points with about 2 1/2 minutes left when Brandon Rush sailed over Bryan Davis for a one-handed dunk that brought the Jayhawks bench to its feet and drew loud cheers from the handful of Kansas fans in the arena. He was fouled on the shot and his free throw made it 68-53 and put an exclamation point on the victory.
Kansas led by 13 points early in the second half before A&M went on a 14-7 run, highlighted by 3-pointers by Josh Carter and Sloan, to make it 48-42 with about 13 minutes left.
A 3-pointer by Chalmers got the Jayhawks going again and Russell Robinson had two layups to put the Jayhawks ahead 55-44 about 4 minutes later and Texas A&M didn't threaten again.
After their early second-half run, the Aggies didn't make a basket for almost 7 1/2 minutes. Kansas extended its lead from six points to 14 in that span.
Texas A&M broke out of the shooting slump with a 3-pointer by Kirk that made it 60-49 with about 6 minutes left.
It was the first time Mark Turgeon, who played and was an assistant coach at Kansas, faced his former school as coach at Texas A&M. The inconsistent Aggies could have used the win to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume, but instead end the regular season with their fate unclear after losing five of their last seven games.
Post Game Quotes & Notes
Kansas Forward Darrell Arthur:
?I thought we played good team ball today. We came out and played well tonight. We played together and I think we are on an upswing right now.?
Kansas Guard Sherron Collins:
?Winning four (Big 12 Conference) Championships in a row is a great accomplishment. We have been here for two of those and we did everything we could to send our seniors out with a bang. Right now we are looking forward to the Big 12 Tournament and hope to keep playing well. (On the possibility of being a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament) If it happens it happens, if it doesn?â„¢t it doesn?â„¢t. We just have to play the hand we are dealt.?
Kansas Coach Bill Self:
?We did a good job trapping the post and came up with a lot of big steals in the last 10-12 minutes. I think you develop your identity away from home and I think that tonight we played as a whole a game away from home as we have all year. This is a solid group of guys that plays to their maximum potential. They get the most of their talent level and four championships in a row is a great accomplishment for them. Hopefully we will continue that success.?
Texas A&M Forward Joseph Jones:
?They did a good job down low. They double teamed us and might it very difficult down there. We are very focused right now. We?â„¢re going to Kansas City on a mission and are just trying to win as many games as we can. We aren?â„¢t a lock for the NCAA Tournament yet so we have to go up there and win as many as we can.?
Texas A&M Guard Dominique Kirk:
?They are a great defensive team and it was hard to get rolling against them sometimes. We played hard but we just have to play better. They beat us on transition all night, we just couldn?â„¢t get back. If you get 11 steals it makes it easy to win. They played great team defense. They got a lot of steals and rebounds and played with a lot of effort.?
Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon:
?Kansas was great. Darrell Arthur and Sherron Collins were fantastic. They controlled the game inside and out. We didn?â„¢t play well enough to beat a top-5 team. They were great defensively and played very inspired today. I feel better about our team than I did three hours ago. We tried hard and played well but unfortunately the scoreboard didn?â„¢t show it. I hate that Joe (Jones) and Dominique (Kirk) and Beau (Muhlbach) had to go out this way but I am proud of those guys and they should be proud of what they have done for this program. I think we have had a heck of a year. Our league is second is the RPI. Texas A&M has had only one win in the Big 12 Tournament so we?â„¢re going to go up there and try to double that and then just keep winning.?
NOTES:
*A&M scored a season-low 12 points in the paint. The Aggies came into the game averaging 32.2
*Kansas?â„¢ 44 points in the paint matched the season high for an A&M opponent (Baylor in the 5 OT game)
*A&M has won at least 8 Big 12 games for four straight years. Prior to that stretch, the Aggies had never won more than six Big 12 contests.
*A&M, Kansas and Texas are the only Big 12 teams that have won 20 or more games in each of the last four seasons.
*Kansas posted a 37-32 rebounding edge. The Aggies are 0-5 when being out-rebounded this season.