JAYHAWK
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Basketball
Inside Sports today
Freshman Matt Van Alsburg makes an impact in his first start for the Kansas baseball team.
Yesterday's game - Kansas vs. Iowa State
SEE PAGE 8B
KANSAS 52
19-7, 9-4
NO.21
IOWA STATE 18-5, 10-3 NO.19 55
WWW.JHAWKBBALL.COM
SECTION B, PAGE 1
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1999
No. 500 still dangles in the air
Women's team fails to defeat the Cyclones
By Matt James
Kansan sportswriter
The 21-game home winning streak is finished, but the search for 500 wins continues for the women's basketball team.
Guard Lynn Pride's potential game-tying three-point attempt fell just short at the buzzer as the No. 19 Iowa State Cyclones escaped Allen Fieldhouse with a 55-52 win and denied Marian Washington her 500th career victory.
The Jayhawks struggled early from the floor, shooting only 35 percent in the first half.
The sharp-shooting back-court of Iowa State (18-5 overall and 10-3 in the Big 12 Conference) proved to be too much for the No. 21 Jayhawks to handle.
Cyclones guards Megan Taylor and Stacy Frese combined to score 39 of the team's 55 points.
Taylor pushed the Cyclones to an early lead, scoring 18 first-half points on her way to a game-high 25 points and reboundes. The guard hit 3-of-5 from the three-point line in the first half to give Iowa State a 31-21 halftime lead.
"Megan works real hard, and she did a nice job," Washington said. "We knew she was one of their go-to players. We just didn't get there in time."
Guard Jennifer Jackson put the Jayhawks back into the game during the second half by scoring 11 of her 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Her last bucket — a 15-foot jumper —
pulled the Jayhawks within two with five minutes to play
A turnaround jumper by center Nakia Sanford and two free throws by Pride tied the game at 48-48, but the deadly accurate Taylor knocked down an uncontested three-pointer on the next possession to give the Cyclones the lead for good.
Taylor drained two free throws with 4 seconds remaining, giving Iowa State a threepoint lead. Kansas was forced to go the length of the floor as time expired.
Pride caught the in-bound pass just short of halfcourt, dribbed past two defenders and pulled up from the top of the key. Her shot fell off the front of the rim.
"It's great that my teammates rely on me in those situations," Pride said. "Even though I missed the shot, to have my Coach and my teammates pat me on the back is great."
The disappointed Jayhawks hugged their teammate as she fell down at midcourt with her face buried in her hands.
"If we could do it all over again, we'd have Lynn Pride shoot it again," said point guard Casey Pruitt. "We have no regrets. It wouldn't have come down to the wire if it hadn't been for her."
Pride finished with a teamhigh 14 points and tied a career-high with six steals.
Washington said she hoped the team would bounce back this week in practice and play well against Oklahoma this Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
"They believed they could do it, and they worked really hard to find a way to pull it out," Washington said. "We got close, but we've got more games, and this is going to be the team that's going to help me get 500."
iowa State forward Monica Huelman and Kansas forward Jackyn Johnson wrestle for the ball under the basket. The Cyclones defeated the Jayhawks 55-52 last night. Photo by Augustus Anthony Pizzaza/KANSAN
One missed shot, one lost chance for win
By Mike Harrity
Kansan sportswriter
Lynette Woodard, sitting directly behind the Kansas women's basketball team bench, retrieved her video recorder with five seconds remaining in last night's basketball game against Iowa State at Allen Fieldhouse.
Woodard, the all-time leading score and rebounder in Kansas history, was recording the team's huddles and locker room talks in hopes of capturing the emotion surrounding Coach Marian Washington's 500th win.
Woodard steadied the video recorder, zooming in on the scoreboard overhead. It read — Iowa State 55. Kansas 52.
Five seconds later, when the buzzer sounded and the scoreboard showed
the same score, the camera was secure in its carrying case as Woodard headed out of the gym.
No celebration to record this night*
After struggling during the first half and falling behind.31-21. Kansas rallied during the second half amid hopeful cheers from the crowd of 2,400.
And the 31-24 second half run by Kansas didn't end until the last shot of the game. After Iowa State guard Megan Taylor made two free throws with five seconds left, Iowa State called a time-out.
The message in the Kansas huddle was simple: Get guard Lynn Pride the ball. With the time-out completed, Pride caught the ball near half court, dribbled to the top of the arc and let the shot go.
The buzzer sounded.
The shot missed Game over
"The shot plays over and over in my head — I couldn't tell you exactly what I did wrong," said Pride, who finished with 14 points and six steals. "We really wanted to win for Coach, but there's a reason for everything, and eventually it will happen for her."
"You are the team that is going to get me this 500th win," she said. "There's no pressure here. We'll get it."
During the pregame warmups, many well-wishers, including Chancellor Robert Hemenway, came behind the Kansas bench to give
In the locker room before the game. Washington stood before her team with one last instruction.
Washington their support.
After the game, Washington seemed to be relieved that the gut-wrenching game was finished.
"I'm just disappointed for the players because they really wanted it." Washington said. "I don't want them to be down. We've got more games, and we're going to get it."
A cake — big enough to feed 300 people during a postgame celebration — will have to wait until 7:05 p.m. Saturday, when Kansas plays its last home game of the season against Oklahoma.
As for Washington, who has a 499-274 record during her 26 years at Kansas, there's no rush for the milestone victory.
"I can wait," she said. "I've been waiting for 26 years."
Jayhawks look to declaw 'Cats
By Kevin C. Wilson Kansan sportswriter
With four games left, Kansas' future unclear
When the Kansas men's basketball team takes the court at 8:05 tonight against longtime in-state rival Kansas State, the implications could be endless.
not only will the Jayhawks, 16-8 overall and 8-4 in the Big 12 Conference, attempt to extend their 14-game winning streak against the Wildcats, but they also will be playing for their postseason future.
After losing its last two games and dropping out of the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 poll for the first time in eight years, Kansas is in danger of missing out on the NCAA tournament for the first*
With four games remaining in the regular season, the Jayhawks find themselves mired in fifth place in the Big 12 and all but eliminated from claiming their fifth straight conference title.
time since Coach Roy Williams' inaugural season in 1988-89.
"We put ourselves in a hole in the Big 12 conference," Kansas forward Nick Bradford said. "Right now, we're bastically positioning ourselves for the NCAA tournament. Fate is still in our hands."
"We are going to win these last four games. We have no other choice," Bradford said. "We have to go in being confident and not looking back. In our minds we think we are going to win out and get
Bradford said although an invitation to the NCAA tournament was not assured, he still had confidence the Jayhawks could do what it took to make it a certainty.
to the NCAA tournament."
But first the Jayhawks will have to beat a Wildcat team that is seeking revenge after suffering a 69-46 loss to Kansas on Feb.1.
"We are going to get the most enthused K-State team of the entire year because of what happened in the other game," Williams said. "They're fighting for a spot in postseason play. They're also fighting for their seniors because they haven't ever beaten us, and that's a pretty good incentive for them."
Williams said he expected fired up Wildcats when the team takes the floor tonight at Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas State, 16-9 overall and 5-7 in the Big 12, will try to improve on what Coach Tom Asbury said was an awful game in Manhattan.
Sophomore guard Kenny Gregory tries to pass past the Kansas State defense. Kansas will try to regroup at 8:05 tonight at home against Kansas State after losing two consecutive games. Photo by Matt Daugherty/KANSAN
See POSTSEASON on page 8B
Commentary
Fickle fans should back men's team through loss
Sunday morning at 7, Bob from Florida called
Bob's an 80-year-old Florida resident who lives for Kansas basketball, and on Sunday he was worried.
"I'm a little worried," Bob said. "What in the criminy is going on with the Jayhawks?"
And while I have never met Bob, he often calls me, usually after a loss. This season, I have heard from Bob a lot.
I have never met Bob. But I tape each Kansas basketball game and mail it to him, in part out of the goodness of my heart and in part because he sends me a check to do so.
Bob is a Kansas native who never went to the University of Kansas. He went to college somewhere in Utah but never lost his love for Kansas basketball.
And so, after Kansas loses, Bob picks up the phone at 8 a.m. Florida time, half the day already gone as far as he is concerned, and calls me.
Sunday, Bob was worried. He hadn't seen the Jayhawks 63-58 loss to Texas Tech, since I hadn't sent him the tape, but he read about in the paper.
"I'm really worried." Bob said.
I'm ready woried. - Deborah
Bob's worries ran as long as an hour. He doesn't understand why Kenny Gregory, the most talented player on the team, is playing like a high school kid. Bob wonders why Ryan Robertson's play is so sporadic, why Eric Chenowith continues to look tentative under the basket and why Nick Bradford and T.J. Pugh are the only players who seem to intimidate the opposing team.
But most of all, Bob is concerned about the fans.
"Wasn't that a revenge game? Didn't that game have critical meaning in the conference race? Wasn't that T.J. Pugh's final game against his home team?" Robiny
Spencer
Duncan
sports@kansan.com
He noticed that the attendance at the Nebraska game was nearly 300 below capacity.
state team?" Bob inquired.
I explained to Bob that the mass exodus from the Allen Fieldhouse was what The Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock appropriately describes as the "Rock Chalk Jaywalk." I told Bob that the people leaving were not the diehards who care deeply about the team but mostly alumni and fair-weather fans who go to games so they can brag to others that they go to games.
What Bob didn't hear on the tape, I said, was that the students began booing those who where leaving. But I had to add that as die-hard as even the students seem, the number of students camping out at the Fieldhouse has dropped with each loss.
I didn't have an answer.
"Then why wasn't the place full?" he demanded.
"This is basketball, for gosh sake," Bob screamed. "Don't people understand that a game can turn within seconds? Those people in Kansas need to realize that when you go to a game, you can't just leave, especially when the team needs you most. What is wrong with those fans?"
That made Betty, Bob's wife who was listening in on the speaker phone, say something that should not be repeated here.
Bob also noticed, while watching the tape of the home loss to Nebraska, that thousands of people walked out with about one minute to go and Kansas down by just a mere possession.
Bob is worried. He thinks fans will abandon the team when it needs them the most; while it is fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid.
I told him that not everyone would abandon the team but that based on the new apathy I had seen from Kansas fans in recent weeks, I couldn't tell him not to worry.
Duncan is an Topeka, senior in journalism and English.