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The University Daily Kansan
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Sports
Inside: Box scores and more. For details on the Rams' last-second victory against the Titans and other goodies, check out the Kansan scoreboard.
MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2000
SEE PAGE 4B
Inside: The Kansas women's swim team paddled Nebraska and got a huge win last Friday.
SEE PAGE 3B
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Kansas shooting drought riddles team in defeat
By Shawn Hutchinson
sports@kansan.com
kansan sportswriter
AMES, Iowa-The Hilton magic did a number on No.12 Kansas.
That might be the best way to explain the Jayhawks' second straight road defeat on a Saturday afternoon, this time at the hands of the Iowa State Cyclones in Hilton Coliseum.
The Jayhawks out-shot the Cyclones 46 percent to 32 percent, swatted a near-record 13 shots, and once held a 9-point first-half lead.
But Iowa State was still able to capture a 74-66 victory, while the Jayhawks were left wondering how their position atop the Big 12 Conference standings
was able to vanish into thin air.
"For about 33 or 34 minutes really thought that it was a heck of a college basketball game," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "I was pleased with the way that our guys were competing. We were having a difficult time getting stops on the defensive end, yet we were scoring. Then all of a sudden we just couldn't put the ball in the basket."
The Jayhawks weren't having any problems putting the ball in the basket early on. While Iowa State was struggling to find its shot, the shots were plentiful for Kansas.
The Jayhawks hit seven of their first eight shots, and when Kirk Hinrich canned a jumper with 12:37 remaining in the first half, Kansas had
already doubled-up Iowa State, 18-9.
first half. But Fizer powered up
"We were down big early," said Iowa State forward Paul Shirley, a junior from Topeka who scored 10 points and had
Collison: Scored 15 points in return to home state
rebounds. "We had to stay with it and pick it up."
That pick-up came via Marcus Fizer, Iowa State's forward who had nearly as many fouls — three — as he did points — four — in the first half. But
in the second half, scoring 15 points, grabbing six boards, hitting all four of his shots from the charity stripe, and throwing in a three-pointer from the top of the key.
"I knew that he was an aggressive rebounder," Collison said. "He was striving today and was doing a little bit more than I thought he would do."
While Fizer was the second half magician, the Jayhawks took themselves out of the game altogether with the six- or seven-minute drought that Williams kept referring to following the game.
The Cyclones' lead was cut to 61-57 with 6:54 remaining after Collison hit a jumper for two of his 15 points. After that, the Jayhawks missed eight straight
shots, and Iowa State closed out the game making 13 of 16 free throws.
Part of the problem for the Jayhawks was that they were being outgunned by Iowa State's perimeter players; part of the problem was that the Cyclones were getting to the offensive boards; and part of the problem was that the Jayhawks set a season-high with 26 personal fouls.
"They out-rebounded us on the offensive boards 14-4 in the first half," Williams said. "And anytime there was a loose ball down under the basket, they were able to pick it up and ended up scoring. They were quicker to the ball, but, again, it was just a bad five or six minutes."
And so ended Kansas' stay atop the Big 12 standings. The 'Hawks dropped to 16-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big 12, which pinned them into fifth place in the conference. Iowa State, 18-3 and 6-1, is tied for first place with No. 14 Texas.
BOX SCORE
Iowa State 74, No. 12 Kansas 66 Kansas (16-4, 5-2)
Gooden 612 1-0 12; Collison 69 2-1 5 15;
Nooner 00 1 0; Hincinch 2-3 3 4 18; Boschese
3-9 1 0; Gregory 3-9 0 6; Bradford 0 0 0
; Carey 0 0 0 0; London 1 0 0 0; Johnson
0-2 0 0 0; Axtell 0-4 0 0; Chenowith 6-8 4-1
16.
Iowa State (18-3, 6-1)
Sports Columnist
Johnson 2.5 2.4 6; Fizer 6.1 6.7 19; Horton 2.7 5.1 6; Tinsley 5.1 8-1 2; Irace 3.9 7-8; Evan's 0 0 0 0; Hawkins 0 1 0 0; Shirley 3.10 4-1 40
Seth Jones
sports@kansan.com
Car wreck on icy road hits home for writer
Forgive me for remaining silent for so long. But to be honest, I haven't had anything nice to say lately. And as Mom Jonesey always says, if you haven't got anything nice to say...
Let's recap what has happened since classes resumed. Missouri beat us like a scolded dog, then we get thumped by Iowa State, the one troubled basketball player I try to stand up for got in trouble with the law again, Coach Williams called the fans fat and Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas almost died in a car accident.
Whoa, that last one sorts put the others in perspective, doesn't it? As Coach Williams said about Thomas, "These type of things make basketball seem not that important."
I won't budge from my stance that sports and the sports sections are supposed to be fun. We write about games that people play here in the "B" section. You can't take games too seriously. We leave the death, the racism, the wars and everything else grim to the "A" section.
But last week, some grim news crossed into our section. Thomas, an 11-year NFL veteran, was involved in a one-car accident. He and two of his buddies were heading to the airport so they could attend the St. Louis-Tampa Bay football game when he lost control of his car. By the time Thomas' vehicle stopped rolling over, Thomas laid in the ditch possibly unable to ever use his legs again, Mike Tellis was dead, and the third, John Hagebusch, remained in his seat, shaken but not seriously injured.
I'll tell you guess which one was wearing his seat belt.
I don't want to sit here and condemn a man who is probably
Kansas forward Jaclyn Johnson crashes into the lane and scores a layup in the Jayhawks 58-49 upset victory against No. 6 Iowa State. Johnson also shot 10-for-10 at the free-throw line in Saturday's victory at Allen Fieldhouse. A season-high crowd of 4,200 helped cheer the Jayhawks to victory. Photo by Matt J. Dauaherty/KANSAN
Cyclones just a gust
See INJURY on page 2B
Jayhawks' team defense keys home-court victory
By Melinda Weaver sports@kansan.com
Kansas writerspritter
Allen Fieldhouse.
Sixth-ranked Iowa State could almost hear the theme from the "Twilight Zone" playing in the background Saturday afternoon at
The Cyclones have the highest scoring offense and highest scoring percentage in the Big 12. But in a 58-49 loss to Kansas last Saturday, nightmarmish shooting, coupled with a stringent Jayhawk zone defense, spelled doom for the Cyclones.
"Kansas had a great game plan," said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. "They made it hard for us to make shots. In the second half, we
This was not the game Iowa State was expecting.
had some key turnovers, and they played very well defensively. When you play on the road against a good team, your margin of error is low. They played very well."
Kansas coach Marian Washington said that she expected to give up points to Iowa State but that she wanted to challenge the Cyclones in the perimeter. The Jayhawks just did that. "They are one of the highest scoring clubs in the nation," Washington said.
See KEY on page 8B
'Hawks upset sixth-ranked Iowa State team
By Chris Fickett
By Chris Fickett
sports@kansan.com
Kansas townsurvivor
Allen Fieldhouse is the Kansas women's basketball team's home too. And the Jayhawks wanted to prove it Saturday.
After Iowa State stormed into Lawrence last year and spoiled Kansas coach Marian Washington's 500th victory party, the Cyclones thought they could win in the field-house anytime.
That sentiment was echoed in an Iowa State student newspaper article that was tacked up before the game in Kansas' locker room.
"They said some things that we really didn't appreciate, that were a little unnecessary," said Kansas junior forward Jackyn Johnson. "So we had to send a message: This is our home court, this is our fieldhouse.
And after some poor shooting by both teams, the Jayhawks got it, upsetting the sixth-ranked, conference-leading Cyclones 58-49 in front of the largest fieldhouse crowd for a women's game this season: 4,200 fans.
"The crowd was awesome," said Johnson, who scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. "I loved it. I wish we could have that every game because it gave us so much energy to hear them yelling and screaming for us."
The Jayhawks, who improved to 14-5 and 5-2 in the league, survived even without big games from two key players. Senior forward Lynn Pride scored nine points with two-for-seven shooting, while junior guard Brooke Reves, who scored a career-high 28 points Wednesday against Missouri, shot zero-for-seven.
"Anytime you've got two of your big scorers limited, it's really tough." Washington said. "But last year we didn't have the scoring we are capable of this year, and the only way we could stay with clubs was with our defense. "We needed to try and find a way to
"We needed to try and find a way to slow them down."
Iowa State, which scores a Big 12 Conference-high 80.2 points per game, was slowed to 30 percent shooting.
See JAYHAWKS on page 8B
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson reaches out in vain to the goal line with the ball after being tackled on the 1-yard line by the St. Louis Rams' Mike Jones in the Super Bowl's last play. Photo by Gary Hershom / REUTERS
St. Louis Rams victorious in Super Bowl XXXIV
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — The St. Louis Rams rediscovered their offensive firepower just in time, and the Tennessee Titans came up just 1 yard short.
Kurt Warner's 73-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce with 1 minute, 54 seconds left helped give the Rams their first Super Bowl win yesterday. 23-16.
The touchdown capped an improbable turnaround for St. Louis, which was 3-13 a year ago and 13-3 this season.
as they scored 526 points, third best in NFL history.
But Steve McNair and Eddie George almost led Tennessee to a miracle finish, rallying the Titans from a 16-0 deficit.
On the game's final play, with 6 seconds left, McNair's pass was caught by Kevin Dyson on the Rams 5. He scrambled for the end zone but was stopped just short by Mike Jones as Dyson's outstretched arm held the ball toward the goal line in vain.
But suddenly the Titans' offense came to life, and the St. Louis defense began to wear down behind the battering of George and short passes from
St. Louis seemed to have put the game away after Warner threw a 9-yard pass to Torry Holt with 3:59 left in the third quarter. That gave the Rams a 16-0 lead.
The Rams dominated for much of the game but had to settle for three field goals and a 9-0 lead before finally scoring a touchdown.
McNair.
Tennessee scored on its next two possessions, both on 1-yard runs by George, which closed the gap to 16-13 with 7:21 left. It would have been 16-14, but the Titans chose to go for two points after their first touchdown and failed.
Al Del Greco's 43-yard field goal tied it with 2:12 left. Then the Rams' quick strike for a touchdown set up one of the most exciting finishes in Super Bowl history. The Titans, however, just didn't have enough at the very end.