Lawrence blanketed in snow this morning

Only maybe an inch so far, but still coming down, big and wet, and won't stay long as it is already above freezing outside.

Ironically fitting, seems descriptive of last night and the defensive job done on Perry.

Wright did what Turgeon would not -- dedicated his team to stopping Perry, forcing the rest of our team to beat his, and the other guys fell short. Frank (1-6) and Wayne (0-6, some really bad misses) combined for 1-12 from 3, and many of those misses were open shots. This year Wayne hit 40% and Frank 39% from 3. Just hitting 25% (3-12) would have been the difference in the game.

With our outside shooting being so poor but for Graham, did we miss Brannen? Hard to say what impact he would have had if he could have played. Another injury question mark in the NCAA tournament for KU.

I had a horrible gut feeling when Wayne missed his first shots so badly. He may still leave early for the NBA, but I also think he may have played himself out of the first round if he does. Winners step up and make plays in the big moments, and on a day when the defense was focused elsewhere, leaving him open time and time again. he didn't make enough. We were in it because of him, but make no mistake, with Perry being double and triple teamed, we needed Wayne to come up big, and he just came up good.

As for Frank, again, we were in it because of him, but we also lost it because of him. He was 6-8 when he drove the ball, but missing those 3s (and not getting FT opportunities because he took 3s instead of driving)... smh. On top of the poor shooting from 3, add in the 4 turnovers. The only ones that really rubbed me the wrong way were the handoffs between Perry to him. I could not believe that it happened once, let alone twice. I might even be blocking out another, I really can't recall.

And Perry -- what an ignominious way to end his KU career. It's one thing that he was smothered, it's another that he had such egregious turnovers.

I was pleased to hear the sideline reporter noting late in the game that there was no panic in either huddle. That informs me that our guys had faith in themselves and Self, and he in them, that they would get the job done.

Sometimes coaching makes the difference, sometimes the players don't perform as well as they can. I submit both coaches did well in this game. The defensive strategies employed by both worked well. . As someone noted elsewhere, KU had better stats in every category except TOs, FTs and points scored (the most important one, obviously). Even with Perry being smothered, KU outscored Nova in the paint, 32-26. Nova shot just 40% (KU 46%) from the field, 22% from 3 (KU 27%), but was 18-19 from the line (KU was 7-11, everyone who shot FTs missing no more than 1). Nova went 8-8 from the line in the last :33 of the game when KU had to foul to have a chance to win. KU had 16 TOs to Nova's 9, and Nova scored 13 off TOs to KUs 6.

Their players stepped up when they had to step up. Ours did not. Turnovers and atypically poor (but for Graham) perimeter shooting was the difference.