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Kansas State beats up UD on boards

Flyers’ 83-75 loss to Wildcats is their second setback in three days.

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By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 11:46 PM Sunday, November 22, 2009

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Brian Gregory, the University of Dayton basketball coach, can’t decipher why his team is getting battered so badly on the boards, and his star player, Chris Wright, is digging for answers, too.

The Flyers normally pursue rebounds with glee, but in the Puerto Rico Tip-off Classic, they ran into three top-tier teams from power conferences that were more committed to the chore.

UD was obliterated on the glass in an 83-75 loss to Kansas State on Sunday, Nov. 22. The Wildcats had a 44-32 rebounding edge, grabbing 17 on the offensive end while continually thwarting Flyers rallies with second-chance points.

“We’re getting demolished on the boards, and we have to do something about it,” Gregory said.

“We only lost one player (Charles Little) from last year, and he only averaged four rebounds a game. It’s not that. We need to do a much better job. We’re not embracing the physicalness you need in order to rebound and the toughness you need to defend. We’ve got to get that back pretty quick.”

Trailing by 15 with six minutes gone in the second half, the Flyers (2-2) finally showed some fight. They had a four-point play when K-State’s Jamar Samuels was called for a “contact technical foul” against Kurt Huelsman, who made both free throws, and Wright turned the possession into two points on a put-back dunk, making it 68-65 with 3:10 to go.

But the Wildcats (4-1) reeled off five straight points, and the Flyers couldn’t get the deficit under four again.

Wright had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Johnson had 16 points, Marcus Johnson 14 and Paul Williams 10. Jacob Pullen, who had UD in his final two schools as a recruit before choosing K-State, had 26 points, while backcourt mate Denis Clemente added 21.

“You’ve got to rebound, man,” Wright said. “It’s got nothing to do with part of the team (missing). It’s all about heart and effort on the glass. At different points in the game, we showed that. But that’s not going to get you a win if you want to beat a quality team.”