LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas junior Thomas Robinson had a monster game on New Year's Eve, leading the 17th-ranked Jayhawks to an 84-58 victory over the University of North Dakota men's basketball team at a sold out Allen Fieldhouse.
The All-America candidate scored a career-high 30 points and pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds for the home team, who improved to 10-3 on the season. Robinson's effort was the first 30-point, 20-rebound game by a Jayhawk in nearly 50 years.
Sophomore
Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) led UND (5-8) with 16 points, scoring 12 of those in the second half. Classmate
Aaron Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) added 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor as UND was playing in front of a national television audience (ESPNU) for the first time in program history.
Junior
Jordan Allard (Fargo, N.D.) banked in a 3-pointer for the first points of the game for either team just over four minutes into the contest. Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm early on, but that would be the only lead of the game for the Fighting Sioux, who were playing their final game with that nickname, which was set to be officially retired at the end of the day.
Robinson put KU on the board with a pair of back-to-back dunks, sparking a 12-2 run that put the Jayhawks ahead for good.
“(Robinson) is a pro. He is such a talented player on both ends of the floor. He is so poised out there and lets the game come to him,” UND head coach
Brian Jones said. “Then, on defense, he is workman like. It obviously shows there with 21 rebounds.”
UND managed to shoot just 29.6 percent (8-for-27) in the opening 20 minutes, while Kansas shot 48.3 percent and pushed its advantage out to a 37-21 lead at the break. Nine different UND players scored in the first half, but Huff was the only player with multiple field goals, hitting two of his six attempts.
Robinson had his ninth double-double of the season by halftime with 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Jayhawks only held a 19-18 advantage on the glass at the break. That changed in the second half as Robinson took over, adding 18 points and 11 rebounds to his totals as KU built its lead to as many as 29.
The Jayhawks would end up with a 42-29 edge in the rebounding department, while also doling out 21 assists to just 10 turnovers.
Huff went 4-for-7 from the floor in the second half, including a pair of high-flying dunks, helping UND to a much-better showing in the second 20 minutes. The team scored 37 points on the break on 15-of-30 shooting from the floor.
Sophomore
Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.) had six assists in the contest and senior
Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) equaled his career-high in that category with four helpers.
Allard and sophomore
Josh Schuler (Urbana, Ohio) added seven points apiece to lead a UND bench effort that outscored the Jayhawks' reserves 20-9.
“I thought our effort was unbelievable and it stayed for 40 minutes,” Jones added. “That is what we wanted to do, to not be outhustled. The other team can have more talent, but we can always have more heart and we showed that again today. We took a step forward in that department I thought.”
Robinson was joined in double figures by a trio of teammates. Senior point guard Tyshawn Taylor scored 18 points and dished out five assists, while Elijah Johnson added 11 points and a game-high seven assists. Forward Travis Releford added 14 points and seven rebounds for Kansas, who will open Big 12 play on Wednesday at Kansas State.
UND will return to action at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Wednesday for the team's first home game in three weeks. The squad will play Mayville State at 7 p.m.
QUOTES
Opening statement:
“This opportunity for us was a big one. This is the first time we have been on an ESPN game, so this is a big deal for us. I was really proud of our effort and resiliency against a team that is talented in many ways. Offensively, they do a great job of covering up some mistakes because of their over-pressure offense and through guard play. They got off to a slow start, but they stayed within themselves, which they do. They never stray. Good programs do that, and (Kansas head) coach (Bill) Self programs have always done that. They continuously impose their will on you with their types of bodies and size. I thought we did a good job in the half-court defending them, but we struggled in transition, which is their strength. We tried to take that away, but we struggled doing that. We really struggled finishing a stop with a defensive rebound. That's where they showed their separation. They were able to get a lot of easy ones and they were able to get second opportunities. We weren't able to rebound and stay the course that way.”
On Kansas junior Thomas Robinson:
“I've guarded this as an assistant prepping for Coach Self when he was at Illinois. They want you to front and get caught on an angle, so that they can just catch and dunk or lay it in. Teams who have had success are able to shrink different areas and force him (Robinson) to get off the block to where he has to face up a little bit. I think, because of his sheer size, tape and DVDs do that young man no justice with the size of his body and strength. He is so patient down there. He lets the game come to him. You just have to keep mixing up your coverages on him. He's a tough matchup because he can handle it out on the floor, he scores in the open floor, he goes on the backboard and he's just so patient down there. Then, when they're struggling, they're just going to throw it up to the rim to him and he's going to go get an easy one.”
On the second half:
“We have a young team that was pressing. They love this environment, but when you're down a certain amount of point, my team is confident, but still learning how to be smart and get quality possessions. You can't do that against a team like this because with their 'spurt-ability.' Next thing you know, they're up 25 because they're out getting easy ones.”
On how the team will build on this game moving forward:
“We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game. We just had to stay the course and try not to let the game get out of hand right from the jump. We did that. Now we just have to take this and continue down the stretch with the other schools we have to play.”
