Final Score:  #22 USC 55, #4 Kansas 59
Current Record:  6-2
Current Ranking:  #24 (AP)
Next Up:  Memphis – 12/04 (Tues.)

It was a sloppy and disappointing game, but the team battled and kept
it close to the end.  I said in my game preview that Mario Chalmers
would be a "major determining factor" in the game, and that he was; he
led the Jayhawks with 20 points and hit a ridiculously clutch shot from
several feet beyond the 3-point line with 24 seconds to play to ice the
game.  Here are my positives/negatives:

Positives

• How about the outcome of the game?  Despite playing sloppy (I’m
  amazed that we only had 18 turnovers), we were within a 2-point basket
  from tying up the game with less than 30 seconds to play against the #4
  team in the nation.  Let’s remember that this is a young team comprised
  of freshmen and sophomores and we went to the wire against one of the
  most talented and experienced teams in the nation.  That can definitely
  be seen as a positive.

• Up until this game, Kansas was averaging 89 points and
  hadn’t shot below 50% from the field; on Sunday, Kansas put up 59
  points and shot 37.9% for the game.  Our team defense continues to be
  the strength of this team and I thought we did a great job in the 1st
  half.  Coach Floyd made the right call using our big men to come out
  and bump the Kansas guards to prevent penetration off picks and allow
  our team time to rotate.  We really couldn’t have played better
  defensively when you consider the circumstances. 

Negatives

• Once again our FT shooting was pitiful.  We shot 55.6% from the
  line, going 10 for 18, and nearly half of those misses came with less
  than 10 minutes to play.  I said from the start of the season that our
  FT percentage wouldn’t fly against elite teams and in this game it
  showed. 

• Taj had yet another terrible game scoring 2 points off a
  garbage gimme lay-up and fouling out for the 2nd straight game.  Some
  people think Taj’s poor play comes from his ankle injury, but I still
  believe it is entirely mental.  He is trying too hard to do things that
  aren’t natural to him yet.  The fact that he’s trying to shoot going
  right with his back to the basket alone tells me he’s forcing it.  On
  the defensive end, he still isn’t boxing out on many of his rebounds,
  which is entirely mental and has nothing to do with his ankle injury.
  Even my friend, who I converted into a SC basketball fan this season,
  turned to me during the game and said, "They need to take #22 out cause
  he’s taking dumb fouls and just standing around down low."  Of course
  because of his limited knowledge of the team he didn’t know that Taj is
  still our best rebounder whether he boxes out or not, but the point
  still stands…

• Kansas did a great job pressuring our players as soon as
  they touched the ball.  They were very active with their hands slapping
  away balls when our players carelessly held them within arm’s distance
  or lazily dribbled up court.  You could see this pressure really
  getting to players like Dwight Lewis, who had a really bad game, and
  was pulled at the end by Coach Floyd.   

• Some have criticized O.J. for taking too many shots, but
  I only agree to an extent.  I have no problem with O.J. taking a lot of
  shots as long as they are smart ones, but it’s the Kobe-like
  make-one-shot-then-force-another that is a problem. O.J. has to learn
  that he can’t swing momentum by himself and that even after a big 3 he
  needs to take shots as they come and not try to be the hero by taking
  it upon his own shoulders to create another.

• Should I be surprised that the student section resorted
  to a pathetic "Lodrick’s better!" chant?  It’s further proof that the
  current students have almost no basketball knowledge or creativity.
  Maybe they forgot that Lodrick/Rodrick’s dad, Bull Stewart, wants his
  younger set of twins, Hikeem and Kadeem, to play under Tim Floyd one
  day.  I’m sure Bull looks fondly upon the way Rodrick was undeservingly
  booed and mocked yesterday. 

The team is already in NYC right now preparing for tomorrow’s game
against Memphis at the Madison Square Garden.  I will have a game
preview up later today.