By C.J. Matson<\/p>\n
ST. LOUIS — He wished he recorded a triple-double, but Jeff Withey was glad he contributed to the Kansas Jayhawks\u2019 60-57 victory over the North Carolina State Wolfpack, blocking 10 shots in a game that the Jayhawks struggled mightily on offense.<\/p>\n
It was a record-matching and record-breaking night for Withey.<\/p>\n
His 10 blocks against North Carolina State matched Cole Aldrich\u2019s record for most blocks in a single NCAA Tournament game for a Kansas player. Aldrich blocked 10 shots against Dayton in 2009.<\/p>\n
Withey also surpassed Aldrich for the most block shots in a single season for a Kansas player. \u00a0Aldrich blocked 125 shots during the 2009-10. Withey currently stands at 126 blocks for the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can now have some bragging rights on Cole,\u201d Withey said proudly.<\/p>\n
Because of Kansas\u2019 offensive woes, Withey\u2019s defensive performance ultimately served as the biggest reason why the Jayhawks won the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe bails us out of games,\u201d Thomas Robinson said. \u201cWithout Jeff in there blocking these shots, the score could have been a little bit worse without him there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Withey was due for a big game. Going into the game against the Wolfpack, he averaged 5.5 points, 3.5 blocks and 5.5 rebounds in the NCAA Tournament. Withey didn\u2019t produce big scoring and rebounding numbers \u2013 scoring eight points and snatching five rebounds \u2013 but his impact on the defensive end raised his confidence to a new high in the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last couple games I definitely wasn\u2019t myself. \u201d Withey said. \u201cIt feels great to be able to come out. My mindset was to be aggressive. Coach was on me the last couple days of practice to be aggressive, so that\u2019s what I came out trying to do; block shots and alter shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arguably the biggest play of the game was Withey\u2019s last block. Kansas was ahead 58-57 with fewer than 30 seconds remaining in the game when C.J. Leslie grabbed an offensive rebound after Scott Woods\u2019 missed 3-point shot. He went strong to the basket, but Withey denied Leslie and the Wolfpack, swatting the ball in Tyshawn Taylor\u2019s direction. Taylor converted two free throws after Lorenzo Brown foul him to extend the lead to three points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings were scrambled, they got the offensive rebound, and I don\u2019t even know what happened. I got my hand on the ball,\u201d Withey said.<\/p>\n
Withey had a major impact on the game defensively was because North Carolina State played a traditional style of offense that requires its forwards \u2013 C.J. Leslie, Richard Howell and DeShawn Painter \u2013 to play around the rim. Withey is three inches taller than Painter, who is the Wolfpack\u2019s tallest player.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big thing is that even though they\u2019re still undersized in their post guys, we could at least play conventional,\u201d coach Bill Self said. \u201cJeff did a great job of protecting the rim and stage down on fakes and sliding. He was a huge factor.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the amount of blocked shots that Withey recorded, he probably altered as many, if not, more shots, making life difficult for the Wolfpack in the paint.<\/p>\n
Jeff said he found a rhythm after his first block and knew that the Wolfpack would continue to attack him throughout the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was huge for us,\u201d Tyshawn Taylor said after the game. \u201cHe got 10 static blocks, but I\u2019m sure he probably altered four or five more shots. He made it tough for those guys to even get looks. He does so many things for us down there in that paint, and he was huge for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NCAA Tournament is about surviving and advancing, and that is exactly what Kansas has done. The Jayhawks survived off of Jeff\u2019s blocked shots against the Wolfpack. The ceiling is incredibly high for them, and yet they\u2019ve been nowhere near it in the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t been playing our best basketball, but I think now is the time,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
If Kansas wants to make a trip to New Orleans next weekend to compete in the Final Four, they need to play their best against North Carolina, a team that was in Kansas\u2019 position last season. Both tradition-rich basketball programs lost in the Elite Eight last season and are once again vying for a spot in the Final Four.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those matchups that you come to Kansas for,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cTo play against Carolina is one of those games that you dream about. We\u2019re all excited, and we\u2019re going to enjoy it. We\u2019re going to go out there and play. We\u2019re playing with house money now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By C.J. Matson ST. LOUIS — He wished he recorded a triple-double, but Jeff Withey was glad he contributed to the Kansas Jayhawks\u2019 60-57 victory over the North Carolina State Wolfpack, blocking 10 shots in a game that the Jayhawks struggled mightily on offense. It was a record-matching and record-breaking night for Withey. His 10 blocks against North Carolina State matched Cole Aldrich\u2019s record for most blocks in a single NCAA Tournament game for a Kansas player. Aldrich blocked 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,725,425,724,715,726,318,708],"class_list":["post-11378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bill-self","tag-blocks","tag-jeff-withey","tag-north-carolina","tag-north-carolina-state","tag-sweet-16","tag-thomas-robinson","tag-tyshawn-taylor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/438px-University_of_Kansas_Jayhawk_logo2.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}