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The University Daily Kansan
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Sports
Inside: The 'Hawks took two of three games from Iowa State this weekend at Hoglund Ballpark.
SEE PAGE 3B
Inside: Brackets for the men's and women's Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
SEE PAGES 8B AND 4B
MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2000
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Seniors start; freshmen finish
Nick Bradford buckles down in 83-82 victory
By Shawn Hutchinson
sports@kansan.com
Kansas swriter
Senior day meant show-time day for Nick Bradford.
Bradford, Kansas 6-foot-7 senior forward, came up big during No. 23 Kansas 83-82 victory against Missouri yesterday during his final game at Allen Fieldhouse.
Before the game, Bradford and fellow seniors Lester Earl, Ashante Johnson and Terry Nooner were honored with flowers at center court and received a standing ovation from the capacity crowd of 16,300.
But during the game, Bradford was all business.
"It was a nice beginning to get the standing ovation and everything." Bradford said. "But after they jumped the ball, it was a basketball game."
And what a basketball game it was.
Bradford finished his career at the fieldhouse by grabbing eight rebounds and scoring 15 points, which included four straight buckets for Kansas in a key second-half spurt.
"I just didn't want to go down not fighting." Bradford said. "I think I just wanted to try and play hard and show people that we wanted to win this game."
Kansas, 22-8 and 11-5 in the Big 12, was on its way to winning the game after leading 45-42 at halftime. The Jayhawks then jumped all over Missouri at the beginning of the second half and at one point were up by 14.
But the Tigers kept plugging away with their three-point shooting — they hit 14 threes — and pulled to within 65-61 with 8:08 remaining.
"Nick really turned things around for us," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "He played really well when the team needed it."
That's when Bradford went off. The senior hit a jumper, then came up with a steal and threw down a two-handed dunk. He followed with a layup, then added a free throw. All in all, those seven points kept Kansas in the lead at 72-63.
The Jayhawks ended up needing all of Bradford's points when Missouri made one final push. The Tigers kept up their three-point barrage and took a one-point lead with less than two minutes remaining.
Kansas guard Kirk Hinrich then committed a turnover, but the Jayhawks clamped down defensively and did not allow the Tigers to score on the possession.
That put 43 seconds on the clock and gave Kansas the ball.
The Jayhawks milked 30 seconds off the clock and then fed the ball in to forward Drew Gooden, who was fouled intentionally with 13 seconds left by Missouri guard Jeff Hafer — Hafer's second intentional foul on the day.
Gooden hit two free throws, which gave the Jayhawks an 81-80 lead. After Hinrich added two more free throws, Missouri found itself down by three points with one last opportunity. But Keyon Dooling's three-pointer fell short, and Clarence Gilbert's tip-in wasn't enough to save Missouri.
The Jayhawks avenged a 22-point loss at Missouri on Jan. 22 with the win and also snatched fifth place in the Big 12 standings.
Missouri dropped to 17-11 and finished at sixth place in the Big 12 at 10-6.
The Jayhawks will play Kansas State at 2:20 p.m. Thursday at Kemper Arena in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
STATISTICS
Kansas freshman Drew Gooden dunks the ball over two Missouri players. Gooden had 20 points yesterday in Kansas' 83-82 victory against the Missouri Tigers. The Jayhawks will play Kansas State at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Kemper Arena in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN
No.23 KANSAS 83, MISSOURI 82
RISKSA
18:52:34 18:43:20, Soyo 1:6-3.4 14, Giveren 1:7.1-0.4 18, Boeling
5:13.2-12.3, Hafei 5:10.4 10, Giveren 0:3.0 0, Kroenek 1:0.3
0, Parker 2:4.2 2.3, tage 00:0 00, Schumacher 1:1.0 00,
Töpke 30:69 81.8 82.
KANSAS (22-8)
KANSA (22-6)
Earl 2.21 11.30 6.8 37.15, Johnson 0.1 2.22, Noner 0.0 0.0, Hinch 3.10 4.41, Goodman 8.13 44.1, Collison 6.21 24, Boseham 2.6 0.0, Gregory 2.0 2.4, London 0.1 2.22,
4.01 4, Torsk 1.91 18.4 18.43
Chenowith 2.6 G/O 4. Totals 31-0. Uga:
Hattwein-Karlson 45, Missoula 15, Mission goals 14-13
(Hafer 4), Missoula 9, Mission goals 16, Dooling 1-6, Koehle 1-
1, Griewer 0-3), Kanae 39, Boschese 2, Hirsch 1,
Collin 0-1), Fouled-out, Hafer-Bonds 19, Royce
9), Kanae 47 (Goden 13), Assault 15 (Ruth, Dooh,
Kanea 18, Hirsch 6). Total assists 15-, Missoula 25, Kena
Young talent showcased
By Matt Tait
By Matt Tait sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
They did it again, and this time on the grandest stage of all—Senior Day.
Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse was the final home game for four Kansas seniors, but it was Kansas three freshmen — Nick Collison, Drew Gooden and Kirk Himrich who stole the show.
"I watched Chris Carrawell from Duke on TV yesterday talk about how his guys wouldn't let him lose on their senior day, and I think Nick and Kirk and Drew did that for me today," said Kansas senior guard/forward Nick Bradford.
But while Duke cruised to a 90-76 win against in-state rival North Carolina, Kansas' game against its rival Missouri came down to the final seconds.
Kansas led most of the day and was up by 14, 63-49 at one point in the second half, but by way of the three-point shot, Missouri stormed back and took a one-point lead with 1:39 remaining.
After a Kansas turnover, the Jayhawks clamped down and forced the Tigers into a shot-clock violation. Kansas then had the ball, was down one point and had 39 seconds to work with.
Out of timeouts, Kansas had called a set play for Gooden. As the clock ran down and the Jayhawks worked the ball around, Gooden came open underneath and attacked the basket.
See FRESHMEN on page 4B
Best Sign: A Senior Day tradition, there were many strong nominees in this category. For example, the Kareem Rush head imprinted on a dollar bill was imaginative,
How could you make the distinction yesterday? Just look at the creativity showed in signs and cheers. I'll try to clarify that distinction now, with the winners and losers of yesterday's game in the stands.
Mike Rigg
Sports Columnist
sports@kansan.com
Pretty much it was a typical party — minus the drinking and vomiting. As with most bashes, there were the cool people — creative souls without whom the party wouldn't be the same — and the nerds. The nerds were the people who were just trying to be cool, namely the people who single-handedly dragged down the quality of yesterday's crowd, namely me.
Fieldhouse has plenty of fanfare
In case you weren't among one of the 16,300 people with invitations, the party of the year was thrown yesterday at Allen Fieldhouse.
See SENIORS' on page 4B
'Hello fans; welcome to the future'
Senior Day----2003.
"Well, here we are at Allen Fieldhouse for Kansas vs. Texas. I'm Bob Davis here with Max Falkenstien, ready to watch the Jayhawks go for their 30th win of
the season. Roy Williams' team has been dominant this year, beating its opponents by an average of 23 points per game, in no small part because of the play of the three seniors, forwards Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and point guard Kirk Hinrich. Truthfully, we haven't seen a senior class like this since Jacque Vaughn, Jarod Haase and Scot Pollard in 1997."
Sports Columnist
Mike Miller
sports@kansan.com
"That's for sure, Bob. During the last three years Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich have been the driving force behind Kansas resurgence. They're the No. 1 team in the country and show no signs of slowing down, Gooden and Collison are both John Wooden Award finalists and may share Big 12 player of the year honors, while Hinrick has pro scouts droloping with his play-making ability. We're in for a show today!"
"That's for sure. The thing is, we know that all of this started three years ago when those three were a large part of Kansas' 83-82 victory against Missouri that propelled them into the Big 12 Tournament and made them the first team to win four straight games
"Collison was telling me before the game that he always thought Nick Bradford's Senior Day win back in 2000 against that Missouri team was the best way to go out as a Jayhawk. The Tigers made that game cle
and the tournament. Ever since then, those three players have been the core of Kansas basketball."
down the stretch, and Bradford hit some big shots, scored 15 points and had eight rebounds. After that Game Collison said Bradford wasn't going to let them lose, and he wants today to be the same way for him. He also said that he's got a better speech planned."
"I remember that game vividly, Max. The 'Hawks were up by as many as 14 points, but Missouri took the lead late.
See MISSOURI on page 4B
Nick Bradford, Lester Earl, Ashante Johnson and Terry Nooner pause a moment before the game in front of the crowd at Allen Fieldhouse. This was the final home game for the four seniors. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN