Kansas Defeats McGill 72-67 in Canada Exhibition Contest
Aug. 30, 2008
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada – Sophomore Cole Aldrich pulled down 18 rebounds and scored 10 points, while freshman Tyshawn Taylor chipped in 18 points as Kansas men’s basketball defeated McGill University at 72-67 in an exhibition game at Montpetiti Hall on the campus of Ottawa University Saturday morning.
For KU, who wore red uniforms, the victory marked its 29th straight exhibition win dating back to 1995. Kansas improved to 47-7 all-time in exhibition play. It gave head coach Bill Self a 14-0 exhibition record while at KU. McGill fell to 0-1 as the KU contest was its first of the season for both teams.
Before a KU partisan crowd of an estimated 300, Kansas started out slow and the Redmen built a 17-4 lead just six minutes into the contest. McGill’s Sean Anthony led the charge scoring nine of his 14 points during the Redmen’s run. Anthony tied teammate Moustafa El Zanaty for a team-high 14 points.
The Jayhawks then went on an15-2 run, to make the score 19-18, sparked by seven points from Taylor and four from fellow freshman Travis Releford, who had 10 points for the game. Aldrich, 6-11, had 10 of his 18 rebounds in the first half.
“This was good for us,” Self said. “We got punched in the mouth early. We got some good looks but we couldn’t make a shot. Really, Conner Teahan bailed us out in the first half because he made a couple of threes when we didn’t have any offense at all.”
KU took its first lead of the game, 23-21, on a Teahan three pointer with 9:05 to play in the first half. The sophomore ended up with seven points, all coming in the first period. KU increased its lead to nine points at 33-24 on a jumper by junior Mario Little with 4:35 left in the half. The Jayhawks carried a 34-30 advantage into the half.
Kansas kept McGill at bay and built an 11-point lead, 57-46, on a pair of Tyrel Reed free throws with 11 minutes to play. The KU sophomore scored 10 points for the game and was 6-for-6 from the free throw line with one assist and two steals.
Down 67-56, McGill made a late run and cut the lead to three with nine seconds remaining. Taylor then drained a pair of free throws with five seconds left to seal the win for Kansas.
“To go from 11 (point lead) to three, means we did not perform very well down the stretch,” Self said. “We made some big free throws down the stretch but give them credit, they made some shots that we pretty well guarded.”
For the game, Taylor led KU in assists with four, while sophomore Brady Morningstar had three to go along with his four points and one steal. Kansas’ used 12 players with only junior Sherron Collins not playing in the contest. The KU bench outscored the McGill bench 21-10 for the game.
Kansas will play its second game of its tour tonight against Carleton University at 6 p.m. (Central) at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. The game will air on the Jayhawk Radio Network and be tape delayed following the Kansas-FIU football broadcast at approximately 10:45 p.m.
