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5:25 p.m. update:
Here are some final observations from the second camp scrimmage. Keep in mind this is just one pickup game from early summer.
• Travis Releford was the blue team’s offensive MVP. The junior scored in a variety of ways, which included driving layups, pull-up jumpers off the dribble and set three-pointers. He finished with a game-high 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, which included three three-pointers.
I know KU might be thin at big man, but from what Releford has shown so far this summer, it might be the best idea to leave Releford at his natural position at small forward. If you remember, he played the four position some for KU last year, and he has split time at the three and four in workouts this summer.
Releford’s confidence appears to be growing, and not only is he a better fit on the wing offensively, that also gives him the chance to thrive defensively, where he’s long enough and laterally quick enough to handle tough defensive matchups.
KU’s best option with Releford might be to just to make him the starting small forward and see how good he can be.
• Elijah Johnson again was impressive from three-point range. The junior made his first three treys before missing his last two. He ended with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting.
As I mentioned below, his shot just looks more quick and effortless this year. He made a couple threes today in traffic, and he appears to be KU’s top candidate to replace the perimeter scoring from the graduated Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed.
• Tyshawn Taylor didn’t take as many shots this week, but he still contributed plenty. He added eight points on 4-for-8 shooting with six assists and six rebounds. He wasn’t as aggressive this week, but that also might have been smart, as it’s a little tougher to get to the lane when three NBA big men are camping out there.
• Thomas Robinson showed some versatility to his offensive game in scoring 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting. Not only did he get a pair of stickbacks, he also put in an 18-foot jumper and had two drives from the free-throw line that ended in easy buckets. In more organized games, Robinson will need to be careful to avoid picking up charges, but for now, he looked a bit more under control when driving the ball off the dribble.
• Conner Teahan bounced back from a poor camp game last week to show what he can provide to this year’s team: long-range shooting. He posted nine points on 3-for-5 shooting, with all of his scoring coming off three-pointers.
• Jeff Withey seemed to blend in to the action a bit this week, though he was better defensively after Aldrich scored frequently against him last week.
Again, Withey’s numbers aren’t eye-popping, but they are efficient. He scored six points on 3-for-4 shooting with a stickback and six-foot jumper in the lane that I remember.
• Justin Wesley struggled defensively in this game. In two straight possessions, he had troubles with Aldrich, fouling him hard once after getting fooled on an upfake and letting him go around him the second time. You could tell Wesley was upset with himself after the two sequences, as he shook his head while he made his way back down the floor. Wesley finished with four points on 1-for-1 field-goal shooting.
• Ben McLemore hit a mid-range jumper, but like Withey, didn’t do too much to get himself noticed. He had two points on 1-for-2 shooting.
• Tough day for Naadir Tharpe, who had a three-possession stretch that marred his day. During the first possession, he had his pocket picked by Jeff Hawkins. The next time down, Tharpe quickly jacked up a three that missed. The third time down, he threw a pass in transition too far for McLemore, who dropped it out of bounds.
Last week, Tharpe played well by not forcing things and distributing the ball, which made me see why some folks had compared him to Aaron Miles. This week, he seemed to be trying a bit too hard and struggling to find his role in the offense.
Having said that, he still finished with five points (2-for-5 shooting) and had a nice assist on a jump pass to Teahan after curling around a screen.
Be sure to check back to KUSports.com later tonight for video highlights and interviews with players from after the game.
Final scoring
Blue team — Tyshawn Taylor 8 (6 assists, 6 rebounds), Thomas Robinson 10 (7 rebounds), Elijah Johnson 11, Travis Releford 15, Jeff Withey 6, Conner Teahan 9, Justin Wesley 4, Ben McLemore 2, Naadir Tharpe 5, Jordan Juenemann 0.
Red team — Drew Gooden 10 (7 rebounds), Brady Morningstar 12, Cole Aldrich 13 (10 rebounds), Scot Pollard 9 (6 rebounds), Tyrel Reed 8, Jeff Hawkins 4, Niko Roberts 2, Christian Garrett 0.
Blue 70/Red 58
Robinson follows Taylor’s miss with a stickback to end the game.
The current team (blue) defeats the alums, 70-58.
Check back shortly for unofficial stats.
Blue 64/Red 58
Taylor drives, then throws an alley-oop to Johnson, who had slipped behind the defense. That looked like a set play even though it wasn’t.
Blue 62/Red 54
Releford with a layup in transition. Don’t have the numbers, but he has to be KU’s leading scorer today.
Blue 60/Red 51
Releford with another three, this one from the left side. He holds up three fingers afterwards. He and Johnson have both been hot from three.
Blue 55/Red 51
Tharpe uses a screen well, curling around it on the dribble to draw a double-team before hitting Teahan for an open three. The senior drains it.
Blue 50/Red 49
Scoring is slowing with tired legs.
Tharpe adds a layup around Morningstar after a steal, and Wesley puts in a stickback dunk.
Blue 48/Red 43
Releford with another three, and Withey has put in a jumper and layup to contribute his first points.
Blue 37/Red 35
Releford puts in his first three from the right wing.
After that, the Blue team gets a steal, and Releford throws it off the glass to Robinson on the other side of the rim, who slams it home with one hand. Tough play to execute with a defender right in the area.
Red 35/Blue 32
That takes us to halftime, though we’ll be resuming here in a few seconds. First team to 70 wins. Elijah Johnson with the best first half for the blue team.
Red 35/Blue 32
Wesley gets fooled on an Aldrich pump-fake and is forced to foul him. Next possession, Aldrich again scores easily over Wesley, who is having troubles defending the taller man.
Red 32/Blue 32
Tharpe puts in a transition three to tie the score.
Red 32/Blue 29
Conner Teahan with a strong drive, driving to the lane before going underneath Gooden for a layup.
The next time down, Teahen buried a three from the corner.
Red 31/Blue 23
A few bad possessions in a row from Naadir Tharpe. He had the ball stolen by Hawkins, then forced up a three that missed the next time down. On the next possession, he led McLemore too far on a fast-break pass for another turnover.
Red 31/Blue 23
Ben McLemore drains an open 18-footer. The blue team can’t stop the red team defensively, though, with Gooden playing well inside.
Red 26/Blue 21
Justin Wesley with an aggressive move in the lane, and he creates contact to draw a foul on Aldrich.
Blue 19/Red 17
Another under-control drive from Robinson from the top of the key, as he gets to the lane and finishes with a left-handed layup.
Blue 17/Red 17
Johnson with another three. That makes him 3-for-3 from deep.
Blue 14/Red 14
Robinson charges down the lane on the dribble, splitting two defenders before throwing a slam in with one hand. Highlight of the day so far.
Blue 12/Red 12
Releford with an aggressive move, taking a couple dribbles inside the three-point line before knocking in a contested 15-footer.
Blue 10/Red 10
Two threes in a row for Reed. All net both times.
Blue 8/Red 2
Johnson with another three. This time he was closely guarded. His stroke looks more compact and effortless this year.
Blue 5/Red 2
Travis Releford gets the toughest matchup of his life, trying to defend Drew Gooden in the post. He coaxes a miss on a Gooden jump hook.
Blue 3/Red 0
Elijah Johnson starts with a long three — from about 24 feet. I saw him make 24 threes in a row at a shootaround a couple days ago.
3:48 p.m.
Getting ready to start here. By the way, Gooden has the clean-cut, shaved-head look with sideburns and a short beard.
Pollard going with the long hair and mutton chops.
3:45 p.m.
Niko Roberts and Christian Garrett will round out the red squad.
Everyone else on the current team will be on the blue team.
3:42 p.m.
Tyrel Reed, Jeff Hawkins and Brady Morningstar will also play on the red squad.
3:40 p.m.
KU coach Bill Self, when introducing Jeff Withey: “He will lead the Big 12 in blocked shots this year.”
3:38 p.m.
This will be the front line for the red team: Cole Aldrich, Scot Pollard and Drew Gooden. Not too shabby.
3:36 p.m.
Welcome back to the Newell Post Live, coming to you from the Horejsi Center on the Kansas University campus where the KU men’s basketball team is getting set for its second summer camp game.
We’re expecting a few more alums to show up to this week’s game, though I don’t see too many of the guys around just yet. Heard from a few places, though, that Drew Gooden is supposed to be here.
We’re still about 20 minutes from starting here, so check back for quick updates and highlights from today’s game. Afterwards, we’ll have stats and observations from the game, and later tonight be sure to come back for video highlights from today’s scrimmage.
Nick Krug5:50 p.m. update:
Here are some final observations from the first camp scrimmage. Take these for what they’re worth, as it was just one scrimmage in the early summer.
• Tyshawn Taylor appeared to enjoy being a go-to guy. The senior point guard looked loose and confident in his shot in racking up 20 points and five assists. Early on, this appears to be Taylor’s team.
• Thomas Robinson still isn’t going to back down. Though he didn’t guard Cole Aldrich much on Wednesday, Aldrich knew about it when he did. Robinson was shoving, elbowing, grabbing a jersey — anything he could do to get Aldrich out of rhythm. It seemed to work, as Aldrich appeared to be flustered when the physical Robinson was guarding him.
Having said that, Robinson will need to significantly cut down on his fouls to stay in games this season, so playing that physical might not be something he wants to continue once the season starts.
• Elijah Johnson can shoot. I don’t remember the junior point guard missing a three-pointer on Wednesday (he shot at least four). Coincidentally (or maybe not coincidentally), many of his threes came immediately after Taylor made a three for the Blue team.
Johnson piled up 19 points and was the Red team’s best non-alum player. He didn’t look to be overanalyzing things Wednesday, and that seemed to help him.
• Justin Wesley once again performed well in a scrimmage setting. Nine of his 11 points came in the first half, and though he’s a bit undersized when trying to guard someone like Robinson, he makes up for it with pretty good athleticism. After grabbing a steal in the first half, he dribbled it the length of the court and put in an athletic layup for one of the day’s best highlights. We’ll see if he puts up another impressive effort next week.
• Jeff Withey was Jeff Withey. At times, he was dominated by Aldrich, who scored on his first three possessions against Withey. At times, he was timid, and didn’t appear to want to get in the middle of a scuffle inside.
Then, when it’s all over, he has nine points and 11 rebounds, a few blocks, and has helped the team much more than he has hurt it.
With Withey, people always seem to focus on what he’s not good at or what he can’t do rather than what he can do.
And as of now, Withey can provide an Aldrich lite-like presence in the lane defensively while grabbing some rebounds and getting some stickbacks.
KU certainly could do worse with its starting center.
• I can understand the comparisons between Naadir Tharpe and Aaron Miles. Tharpe wasn’t a huge scorer, but he seemed to be a facilitator on Wednesday much like Miles. He didn’t force offense, but instead was steady and picked his spots well. He didn’t hesitate to put in a baseline jumper over Taylor when the senior was late to get out to him defensively.
• I was impressed by Travis Releford as well. He was aggressive driving through the lane and seemed to make good decisions when doing so. He makes getting to the rim look so effortless. His three wasn’t going down, but it probably won’t have to for him to average 8-10 points next season if he attacks the rim like he did Wednesday.
• Ben McLemore’s shot wasn’t falling, but you can see there’s athleticism there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays on the wing with his body type, which KU coach Bill Self said was a little bit similar to Brandon Rush’s.
• Quiet day for Conner Teahan. Still wondering if he’ll earn rotation minutes.
Be sure to check back to KUSports.com later for video highlights from today’s scrimmage.
Unofficial final scoring (points may not all add up)
Red team — Jeff Hawkins 3, Christian Garrett 0, Cole Aldrich 17 (12 rebounds), Naadir Tharpe 2, Tyrel Reed 16, Justin Wesley 11, Ben McLemore 4, Elijah Johnson 19.
Blue team — Tyshawn Taylor 20 (5 assists), Thomas Robinson 14 (10 rebounds), Jeff Withey 9 (11 rebounds), Travis Releford 14, Jordan Juenemann 5, Conner Teahan 0, Niko Roberts 0.
Check back to KUSports.com later tonight for video highlights and also player interviews from today’s camp scrimmage.
Red 71/Blue 62
Johnson with a deep three-pointer to end it.
The red team, made up of about half alums, takes the first camp game.
We’ll update with leading scorers in a few minutes.
Red 66/Blue 56
Reed with a three. I believe this game is first one to 70 points.
Red 63/Blue 56
Taylor with a strong drive, putting it high off the glass for two with a foul.
Red 61/Blue 54
Taylor misses a jumper, but Robinson uses two hands to volleyball swat it into the hoop.
Red 59/Blue 52
Releford with a smooth move, faking a pass to the perimeter before gliding two steps to the lane for a layup.
Red 56/Blue 50
Robinson with a thunder dunk over Aldrich. That gets the loudest “Ohhhhhs” from the crowd today.
Red 56/Blue 48
Tharpe swipes the ball away for a steal, then on a 2-on-0, lays the ball off the glass so Reed can dunk it.
Red 52/Blue 48
Wesley with two free throws. He’s up to 11 points.
Red 52/Blue 48
Juenemann with a fadeaway 18-footer. Smooth stroke there over a defender.
Red 49/Blue 44
Robinson has been extremely physical when he’s guarded Aldrich inside. He’s bumped him and shoved him quite a bit.
Red 49/Blue 42
Another alley oop, only this time McLemore goes way up to slam it down.
Red 47/Blue 40
Tharpe with a 16-foot baseline jumper over Taylor, who wasn’t respecting his ability to shoot.
Taylor follows with an alley-oop to Robinson, who slams it in behind his head.
Red 45/Blue 38
Withey fouled, and he makes one of two free throws. He follows it up by playing good defense on Aldrich, who misses a wild hook shot.
Red 45/Blue 37
Robinson with a baseline jumper over a tired Aldrich.
Red 45/Blue 35
Taylor with an emphatic dunk on a drive. He yells at Aldrich afterwards to let him know about it.
Red 43/Blue 31
Hawkins with a 23-foot three-pointer. He’s been mostly quiet so far.
Red 40/Blue 31
Aldrich once again takes Withey one-on-one, this time putting in a spinning, left-handed shot.
Red 38/Blue 29
Taylor drains an open three. Credit Robinson for drawing a crowd in the lane, then passing back outside.
Johnson, like most of this game, answers Taylor’s three with one of his own.
Red 35/Blue 26
That’s halftime. Aldrich is the leading scorer with 10 points. Wesley has nine, while Johnson has eight.
Robinson, Withey and Releford have six apiece.
Red 35/Blue 26
Wesley with a steal, and he takes it the length of the court for an athletic layup. That gives him nine points.
Red 33/Blue 26
Robinson gets great position on Wesley, then drops in a layup off the glass.
Red 31/Blue 24
Juenemann with a three. He clangs his next one.
Red 28/Blue 21
Withey with a layup through contact. He still could stand to be more physical.
Taylor follows by hanging in the air to make a layup.
Red 26/Blue 17
Johnson tries a drive, and he’s rejected by Withey.
Red 26/Blue 15
Taylor curls around a screen for a deep three. Johnson answers with his own.
Red 21/Blue 12
Withey with a stickback dunk. He’s going better against a winded Aldrich.
Red 21/Blue 10
Aldrich with the miss, but Wesley is there for the putback.
Red 19/Blue 10
Robinson puts down and alley oop. His vertical jump hasn’t gone anywhere.
Red 19/Blue 6
Aldrich has scored his first three times in the post again Withey, this time on a left-handed baseline turnaround.
Next time down, Aldrich finally misses a left-handed shot.
Red 17/Blue 6
Taylor goes for an emphatic slam, but is rejected by the rim. Releford is there to grab the miss and put in a short jumper.
Red 13/Blue 4
Reed nonchalantly pulls up from 24 feet. Swish. Next possession he hustles for a rebound and puts in a fadeaway. He looks much springier after his foot surgery.
Red 7/Blue 0
Elijah Johnson with a three (wasn’t there a story about that today somewhere?) and Aldrich takes a couple dribbles to the lane before putting in a hook shot.
Red 2/Blue 0
Round one goes to Aldrich, who gets it in the post, then twirls around Withey for a left-handed two.
Withey’s first-turnaround jumper is an airball.
3:39 p.m.
One minute before start time.
I’ll be most interested to see how Jeff Withey competes against Cole Aldrich inside.
3:37 p.m.
Wayne Simien is also here, but he won’t play.
Getting ready to start.
3:31 p.m.
Oops. I was fooled. It appears that it will be Reed, Elijah Johnson, Aldrich, Hawkins, Christian Garrett, Justin Wesley, Ben McLemore and Naadir Tharpe on the red team.
On the blue team, it looks like Jeff Withey, Travis Releford, Niko Roberts, Conner Teahan, Jordan Juenemann, Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor.
3:26 p.m.
Looks like Tyshawn Taylor, Travis Releford and Jordan Juenemann will join Hawkins, Aldrich and Reed on the alumni team.
3:17 p.m.
Welcome back to the Newell Post Live, coming to you from the Horejsi Center on the Kansas University campus where the KU men’s basketball team is getting set for its first summer camp game. Looks like we’re still about 20 minutes away from starting here.
I’m hearing that Cole Aldrich, Tyrel Reed and Jeff Hawkins are all here. We’ll put up the exact teams once the guys officially come out.
Otherwise, check back here for quick updates and highlights from today’s game.
