Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
More photos from last night's Kansas vs. Pepperdine game.
Sports
SEE PAGE 6B
Kansas Swimming
Friday
December 3, 1999
Section:
B
Page 1
The Kansas swimming and diving team heads to Iowa City, Iowa this weekend to compete against the Hawkeves.
SEE PAGE 3B
Big 12 Football
Texas has defeated Nebraska three straight times. A fourth would clinch the Longhorns' second Big 12 Conference title.
SEE PAGE 4B
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Luke Axtell drives to the basket against Pepperdine defender Tommie Prince. Axtell's shot rimmed out and he finished the game making one of seven shots.
Photo by Jay Sheperd/KANSAN
Jayhawks stay afloat under Waves' defense
Every statistical category suggested the Pepperdeer Waves would ride rough waters last night against No. 6 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse.
By Shawn Hutchinson
Kansan sportswriter
But the Waves weren't concerned with the statistics. They hung tough after the first half, trailing just by three.
Entering the game, the Jayhawks were averaging almost 24 more points per game than Pepperdine, Kansas' shooting percentage was nearly 8 points higher and Kansas held the advantage in rebounds per game by more than 17. The Jayhawks were even 23-point favorites
And run the Jayhawks did. All the way to a 76-61 victory, which improved Kansas' record to 5-0. The loss dropped Pepperdine to 3-2.
Before the Jayhawks pulled away from the Waves in the second half, Pepperdine was throwing defensive schemes at Kansas left and right, leading to 14 first-half Jayhawk turnovers.
ferent kinds of traps and pressure. But we stayed strong, and I was just glad we came out with a big win."
"We did some positive things in the first half," said Pepperdine coach Jan van Breda Kolff. "We tried to do some things to take them out of their rhythm and control the tempo and force some turnovers. But we knew that with their depth that they were going to make a run."
"They had a freaky kind of defense," said Kansas guard Marlon London. "It was just hard to adjust to. So many dif-
Kansas pulls away for 76-61 victory
Defense was one of the strong points in the game for Peppardine, van Breda Kolff said. However, he said, the nail in the coffin was when Kansas guard Jeff Boschee was fouled with fewer than three minutes remaining. Boschee hit both ensuing free-throws, which expanded the Kansas lead to 71-61. Thirty seconds later, Boschee was fouled a second time and converted both free-throws again.
By Matt Tait
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
"We were trying to keep the ball away from Boschee, and we ended up fouling him," vina Breda Kolff said. "Then we turned around and fouled him again. . . That was just a little bit of deflation for us."
The game capped off a week of tragedy for the Waves. Pepperdine senior guard Tommie Prince had a death in the family earlier in the week, and ended up missing practice on Wednesday. Throw in the fact that Pepperdine guard Craig Lewis also was out with the flu, and the Waves didn't have a full team to practice with.
"Our confidence was a little high."
said Pepperdine guard Brandon Armstrong. "We weren't surprised because we knew what we could do. Basically I think we just got tired. They played hard."
Even so, the Waves said they still came to play.
— hung around for most of the half. Once Kansas drew even, the final five minutes of the half seeawed back and forth — not between Kansas and Pepperdine, but between Kenny Gregory and Pepperdine.
While the Waves took control early, they never fully reached shore as Kansas — despite 14 first-half turnovers
"I don't think we underestimated anybody; they just came out hot," said junior center Eric Chenowith.
Sluggish first half kept Waves close
Much of the reason for Kansas' sluggish first-half start was Pepperdine's contrasting start. Pepperdine stepped on to the Allen Fieldhouse floor and hit its first six shots.
Edited by Chris Hopkins
It was a tale of two halves.
Last night, the Kansas men's basketball team saw its first action since an impressive run at the Great Alaska Shootout, against the Pepperdine Waves.
And even though the Jayhawks eventually wore down Pepperdine in the second half with a patient and pounding inside game, the first half started off sluggishly.
against, and I don't think we realized that early. It was an ugly game, but you've got to win some ugly and we did."
"In some ways, you could say we never broke it open," said Kansas coach Roy Williams about his team's 76-61 victory. "They were a very hard team to play
See GREGORY on page 2B
Kirk Hinrich and Jeff Carey put the trap on Pepperdine guard Tezalie Archie. Kansas had 10 steals in the game, two of which were Hinrich's. Photo by Jay Sheer/KANSAN
The Starting Lineup
KANSAS
JAYHAWKS
0-0 Big 12,3-0 overall
Women to make homecourt debut against Loyola in weekend classic
LOYOLA MARRYMOUNT
LONG
G SUZI RAYMANT 5-11 SR.
G JENNIFER JACKSON 5-10 JR.
F BROOKE REVES 6-0 JR.
F LYNN PRIM 6-2 SR.
F JACLYN JOHNSON 6-1 JR.
LIONS
2-1 overall
G  ROSA BERNASCONI 5-6 Sr.
G  GRYN BURTON 5-11 So.
G  TARTYN REYNOLDS 5-7 Jr.
F  DANA HUNTER 6-3 Sr.
C  AMBER GRAVELY 6-0 Jr.
Allen Field House • Lawrence
By Melinda Weaver
sports@kansan.com
After spending Thanksgiving competing in a four-tower tournament in Anchorage, Alaska, the Kansas women's basketball team returns home to play host to its own four-tower tournament.
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas will compete in the KU Credit Union Jayhawk Classic this weekend, playing its home opener against Loyola Marymount at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow at Allen Fieldhouse.
The No. 19 Jayhawks have compiled an impressive 24-2 record in their home openers since the 1973-74 season and have not lost a home opener since the
1983-84 season. However, Coach Marian Washington said the team would not overlook Loyola Marymount.
"They have a couple of very good players who can score and go to the boards for them," Washington said. "We have to play very solid defense. We are not going to overlook anyone. Every game is so important to us. We are trying to run a new offense, and we want to take advantage of every new face to try it on."
Loyola Marymount, 2-1, starts three guards, two of whom have been producing double-figure scoring. Sophomore guard Bryn Britton leads the team in scoring averaging 19.7 points per game, and sophomore guard Rosa Bernasconi
adds 13.0 points per game.
Behind the Jayhawks' new style of offense, the triple-post, they have four of five starters averaging in double figures.
Junior forward Brooke Reves leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.0 points per game, followed by senior guard Suzi Raymant, who averages 14.0 points. Other double figure scorers are senior forward Lynn Pride, who averages 12.7 points, and junior point guard Jennifer Jackson, who adds 11.3 points.
Because of her team's individual talents, Washington said that she wanted her players to focus on their team instead of their opponents.
See JAYHAWKS on page 2B
Could postseason dreams become this year's reality?
Basketball tradition at Kansas runs as deep as a Jeff Boschee three-pointer.
It can be seen at 6 a.m. Friday mornings in the hallwalls of Allen Fieldhouse, as exhausted students sleep on concrete beds with textbook pillows for a chance to sit courtside the following night.
It hangs from the rafters and beams from the retired numbers on the south end of the fieldhouse.
It can be heard in the echoes of "Rock Chalk" chants. And it can be seen in the waving wheat and the shining eyes of Jayhawk-clad youngsters who strain on tiptoes to see every pass. Every shot. Every dribble. Every one of their heroes.
It is love. It is loyalty. And most of all, it is winning. More than any other university in the '90s
But since Roy Williams took the reigns of Jayhawk basketball, another team description has become tradition — "the team that should have."
A second-round NCAA Tournament loss to UTEP in 1992 may have been the lowest point. But there was also UCLA in '90. Arizona in '97 and then Rhode Island in
Matt
James
sports columnist
sports @ kansas.com
'98. All games Kansas was supposed to win.
Had to win. Was scultured to win.
The memory of the Sweet 16 loss to Virginia at Kemper Arena in '95 still brings chest pains to Kansas fans. In our own backyard. How could that have happened?
The postseason sputteringss have drawn criticism from national media as well as those loyal Jayhawk fans. Roy uses too many subs. He relies on one three-point shooter. He's too conservative. The big men aren't dominant enough.
It may have been a combination of these. Maybe fate played his evil part. But as Coach Williams gives his final press conference each year, we see his tears. And we know he has given his all. We know how badly he wanted his players to win a championship.
After all, he didn't make the turnovers. He never told Billy Thomas to miss three-pointer after three-pointer against Rhode Island. He wasn't the rebounder the Jayhawks needed to beat Kentucky last year in the second round of March Madness.
But it is a new year with a clean slate. Last night's 76-61 victory against Pepperdine moves the Javahawks to 5-0, and it begins again. But like the national media, who voted an obvious top 5 team at No. 11, we are afraid to get burned — to have our hearts broken again.
Freshman Drew Gooden was watching last year's NCAA loss to Kentucky. It is clear to him what happened.
"The last NCAA Tournament, the whole game changed after that last rebound that (Jamal) Magloire got. If we could rewind that and I was on the team, I could've helped in that game with some rebounds — offensive rebounds," he said. "But you can't live in the past; you've got to live in the present."
So what does the present hold? Can two upstart freshmen be the force in the middle if Eric Chenowith continues to be pushed around and blocked by smaller opponents?
"It's not unrealistic. Anything is possible," Gooden said. "If we could win four national championships in a row, that would be great. That would be a lot to say about this basketball team and this school."
Four championships? It sounds impossible. But who are we to say what is possible? Theodore Roosevelt once said, "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood ... who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
But four championships? Is that really possible, Drew?
He smiled and said, "Well, if we could get one or two, that would be pretty good too."
James is a Hugoton senior in journalism.
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