THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MEN'S BASKETBALL: 86-57
Kansas' bench shines in win
PAGE 12A
Vinson earns more minutes than starters
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWITER
At first glance, one might have thought there was an error on the statistics sheet in the minutes column from Kansas' 86-57 victory against Western Illinois on Saturday. There was no way that senior guard Stephen Vinson played 17 minutes while starting guards Jeff Hawkins and Russell Robinson saw only 14 and 10 minutes, respectively, right?
Wrong.
In a game where the Jayhawks' big lead was never threatened, Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self sent a message to some of his starters who he thought did not respond to his challenge at halftime. Desite Kansas' 45-31 lead at half-time, Self challenged the team not to let down in the second half.
"He basically said that we have to take some pride in what we are doing." Vinson said.
Those two plays sparked Self to
To start the half, the Jayhawks gave up five points in nine seconds to the Leatherncks. Western Illinois hit a three-point shot and scored off a steal at its own end of the court when Kansas turned the ball over on a simple inbound pass from Robinson to Hawkins.
call an immediate timeout.
"That is certainly not the way you want to start a half when you have a comfortable lead and let the other team believe they can play with you, and that is what happened."
Out of the timeout, Self subbed freshman guard Mario Chalmers for Hawkins, Vinson for Robinson and freshman guard Micah Downs for freshman guard Brandon Rush. Rush played later in the half, but Hawkins and Robinson sat on the bench for the rest of the game.
Self said he might not have been able to sit his starters if the Jayhawks didn't have such a significant lead.
Vinson was one of those players who earned Self's confidence on Saturday. Self said Vinson was the Jayhawks' best perimeter player in the game.
"We all had a pretty good idea of why were being sent in," Vinson said. "Coach was displeased with the way we were playing as a team. He thought we were not as up for a game as we should have been after a tough loss."
Vinson answered Self's halftime challenge, scoring 5 points and dishing out 4 assists with no turnovers. He swished a three-pointer, which was the only field goal he shot all night.
Vinson's 17 minutes marked a career high. He was wined at the end of the game, but continued to play.
"I was tired at the end there,
which is usually where I have fresh
legs." Vinson joked of his usual role as a mop-up player. "We have a tired signal, but I don't know what it is. I've never been in the game long enough to get tired."
Downs, Chalmers and freshman forward Julian Wright also took advantage of extra time on the court. Wright led the team with 14 points, which was also a career high. Downs added 10 points, and although he went only 3-of-12 from the field, he rebounded and played sound defense. He made a lay-up and got fouled after stealing an inbound pass in the second half.
"I was a little off tonight," Downs said. "But coach got on me about rebounding in the first half, so in the second half I tried to get some rebounds and play better defense."
After Kansas' two-point loss to Nevada on Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse, Self said the Jayhawks needed something positive to happen.
He said Saturday's victory was a good start.
"Certainly guys should walk out of here feeling better than they did (Thursday) night, but when I talk about something good happening, I'm talking about something hard," Self said.
Kansas' first opportunity to make that happen will be Tuesday night at 6 against St. Joseph's at Madison Square Garden in New York.
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 11A
Freshman guard Micah Downs goes up for a shot in the second half against Northern Illinois on Saturday night in Allen Fieldhouse. The Javhawk ended the game with an 86-57 victory.
Rachel Sevmour/KANSAN
VOLLEYBALL
Injured 'Hawks finish with loss
BY MATT WILSON
mwilson@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Despite a valiant effort, the 16th-seeded Bruins were too much for the injury-riddled Jayhawks to handle.
LOS ANGELES — The Kansas volleyball team ended a difficult season with a 3-1 loss to UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday night.
Kansas was without the services of senior setter Andi Rozum for the second-straight match. She was missed; the Jayhawks recorded only 35 assists in the four-game match.
The Bruins are now 20-10 after beating San Diego 3-0 in
the second round on Saturday night. San Diego defeated Long Beach State 3-1 in the first match of Friday evening at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA advances to Omaha, Neb., to face the Big 12 Conference's regular-season champion, top-seeded Nebraska on Friday.
The Jayhawks finished their season at 15-15.
"I was extremely proud of our group," said Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard.
"We competed really hard and were out there two hours against a really good team."
The Bruins dominated game one on the way to a 30-14 victory.
SEE VOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 10A
Jeff Jacobsen/KANSAS ATHLETICS
Freshman middle blocker Savannah Noyes leaps up to spike a ball in Kansas' tournament loss to UCLA on Friday. Noyes had four kills in the game, which the JAYhawks lost three games to one.
KU fans need to fix deteriorating image
THE COLUMN
Rather, it was at Kansas' game against Western Illinois on Saturday night in Allen Fieldhouse. And what is even more inexcusable is the fact that this empty corner — and it looked quite empty — was in the heart of the student section.
Almost a whole section on empty seats could be seen on TV — that sounds about right if you are attending a Kansas State basketball game in Bramall Coliseum.
Before I came to Lawrence, I had always considered myself a Kansas basketball fan.
I was a big fan of many of the players and the coach.
What had always impressed me was the loyalty and support that Jayhawk fans, especially the students, had always given the team. Allen Fieldhouse was always packed and rocking no matter who Kansas was playing. Even the smaller and weaker opponents, which nearly always yielded a blowout victory, filled all 16,300 seats in the fieldhouse.
At the same time, Kansas
ans, as opposed to those at
JIMMY CHAVEZ
JCHAVEZ@KANSAN.COM
that university in Columbia, Mo., have always been praised for their classiness.
But it's becoming more apparent lately that both those qualities - loyalty and class may be fading.
Last year, students were looked down upon against Missouri, when they reversed the first letters in the famous "Muck Fizzzou" phrase and began yelling it to the point that it was easily heard on national TV.
Last Thursday, after Kansas' 72-70 loss to Nevada, some fans began throwing bottles on to the floor because they thought the referees should have called a foul
on the game's final play.
The referees didn't call a foul in the final play because they had been letting both teams play all night. After all, it's the refs' fault that Kansas lost, right?
And to make matters worse, many of the alumni — the people who supposedly should be setting an example
were also throwing bottles at the refs as they hurried to the exits. That was more dangerous, because they could have actually hit someone, because of their proximity to the floor.
SEE CHAVEZ ON PAGE 11A
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: 72-50, 100-50
Kansas sweeps tournament
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
mphillips@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Shaquina Mosley took what might have been her two biggest shots as a Jayhawk with 4.7 seconds remaining on the clock Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The free throws fell, and a crowd of 1,720 gave its loudest applause of the day as Kansas hit the century mark in a 100-50 victory against New Orleans.
It was the second victory in 24 hours for Kansas, which defeated Birmingham-Southern 72-50 Friday night. The team left the UNO Lady Privateer Classic with a 5-0 record. Kansas and Baylor are the only remaining undefeated teams in the Big 12 Conference.
"It's confidence but it's not cockiness," freshman guard Ivana Catic said.
That's exactly what the Jayhawks did Saturday. All five starters, along with freshman forward Marija Zinic, finished the game in double-digit scoring. Zinic scored a career-high 12 points, mostly with shots taken underneath the basket. She said she got better at establishing position near the basket after working with assistant coach Katie O'Connor.
"That doesn't mean anything if we don't prove it on the court."
"I just have to focus on keeping the ball high," Zinic said.
Zinic wasn't the only one avoiding turnovers. The team had six turnovers, tying a school record for fewest turnovers in a game.
"We valued the ball." Kansas women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "We'd like to be able to do that every night."
Senior guard Erica Hallman led the team in scoring for the third straight game. After missing her first two shooting attempts from behind the arc, Hallman made a three-pointer that triggered a 15-0 run by the Jayhawks to start the game.
Coming out of the locker room, the team did not lose any of its poise, going on an 8-0 run before the game began to slow down and the bench players came in.
The team had 58 points going into the locker room thanks to a half-court buzzer beater by junior guard Sharita Smith.
"Today we all came focused to win," Zinic said. "We created some minutes for the bench."
"It felt like we won the championship running in there at halftime," sophomore forward Taylor McIntosh said.
Kansas had 90 points when bench players entered the game with eight minutes left.
"I was so nervous for the last eight minutes," Zinic said. "I was like, 'come on, guys, you've got to score 100.'"
It was the first time a Jayhawk team scored 100 points since 2000.
For Henrickson, it was a welcome change from Friday night's 72-50 victory over Birmingham-Southern.
SEE SWEEP ON PAGE 10A
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