Reed’s 3 ‘great play’

By Jesse Newell     Mar 6, 2011

? With 1:05 remaining, Kansas University guard Tyrel Reed made what KU coach Bill Self called the biggest shot of the Jayhawks’ 70-66 victory over Missouri: a three-pointer from the left corner to give KU a seven-point lead.

According to Missouri forward Laurence Bowers, there was more going on than simply a player making a shot.

“Coach Self,” Bowers said, “drew up a great play.”

Here’s what happened:

With KU leading 63-59 and 1:16 remaining, Self called timeout with 19 seconds left on the shot clock.

Following the break, KU ran the weave at the top of the perimeter — one of the standard plays that Kansas runs nearly every game. With 12 seconds left on the shot clock, Reed handed the ball off to teammate Brady Morningstar, who took a dribble before tossing to Tyshawn Taylor.

Bowers said MU’s players had seen the play before and knew what came next. Following the second pass in the weave, Reed was to execute a backdoor cut toward the rim. Once Taylor received the pass from Morningstar and Reed began to cut from the left wing, MU guard Kim English anticipated this, taking a half-step toward the basket to protect the rim.

Reed didn’t sprint toward the middle, though, as Self threw in a wrinkle during the timeout.

Instead of a backdoor cut, Self had Reed run off a fade screen by Marcus Morris.

With the fade screen, Marcus screened English just outside the lane, while Reed circled around the three-point line before fading to the corner to receive a lob pass from Taylor.

“It kind of took us by surprise,” Bowers said.

English, who was overplaying the inside expecting a backdoor cut, ran into Morris’ left shoulder on the screen and was unable to get to the corner. He also ran into Bowers — Morris’ defender — who wasn’t able to get out to Reed.

The result was a wide-open shot for the KU senior, as neither English nor Bowers was even close enough to get a hand up to contest the three-pointer.

“You’ve got to give him credit,” Bowers said of Reed, “because he hit a big shot.”

MU coach Mike Anderson sensed that KU’s players became more physical in the second half.

“The war was won in the paint,” he said. “I thought in the second half, they really took it to us there.”

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