JAYHAWK
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Basketball
Inside Sports today
Kansas men's tennis builds strength with doubles teams. No. 1 doubles Ed Dus and Louis Uribe rank 15th in the country. SEE PAGE 7A
Yesterday's game - Kansas vs. Kansas State
KANSAS
14-6
UNRANKED
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SECTION A, PAGE 10
KANSAS STATE
14-7
UNRANKED
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1999
Home win hopes denied
By Kevin C. Wilson
Kansan sportswriter
MANHATTAN — The Kansas men's basketball team still has one streak intact. The Jayhawks, who dropped out of The Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time in 144 weeks yesterday, defeated Kansas State 69-46 for the 16th straight time in Manhattan and the 14th straight overall.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said the Jayhawks' dominance in Manhattan — Kansas has won all 11 games played in Bramlage Coliseum — was unbelievable.
"It's hard to comprehend," Williams said. "The streak is going to end someday, and we just try to put it off one more game, Ryan and T.J. wanted to make sure they went 4-0 here, and they passed it on to the other guys in the locker room. It's a great feeling in that locker room, and one of those times you feel really good about."
With the Jayhawks experiencing a subpar season, the Wildcats thought this could be the year to end the losing streak to their in-state rival.
"I stressed to the guys before the game that they thought they can beat us," Williams said. "But they've got to do it on the court. It doesn't make any difference what's in the paper. A lot of people were saying this was the year the streak was going to be broken. We haven't played as well as we'd have liked, but they still needed to do it on the court."
The Wildcats looked like they had a
chance early, when they took an 8-5 lead with 15:23 to play in the first half, but poor shooting and the Jayhawks' tenacious defense sank Kansas State.
Kansas scored seven straight points, taking a 12-8 lead before Wildcat guard Ayone May scored with 10:35 remaining. May connected on a three-pointer at 10:05 to pull K-State to 14-13, but the Jayhawks put together a 9-0 run and stretched the lead to 23-13 with 8:27 remaining in the first half.
Kansas reserve guard Marlon London highlighted the run by scoring five points on a single possession. London hit a three-pointer and had the opportunity for a four-point play when Wildcat guard Cortez Groves fouled him. London missed the free throw, but the Jayhawks got the offensive rebound and London hit a jump shot, completing the possession.
"That five-point stretch gave us a small gap," London said. "The lead just kept going up after that."
The Wildcats responded with a 6-0 run and pulled within four points at 23-19. That was the closest they got the rest of the game.
The Jayhawk defense forced Kansas State into 10 first-half turnovers, including eight steals and held them to 10-of-32 shooting from the field for 31 percent.
"This was our best game defensively since Missouri," Williams said. "We were so much more active on the defensive end, but we also caught K-State on a night that they shot too well."
The halftime intermission didn't cool
down the Jayhawks, as they exploded out of the blocks in the second half by outsourcing the Wildcats 10-2 and extending their lead to 45-24. Kansas guards Ryan Robertson and Jeff Boschee each hit three-pointers during the run in which the Jayhawks connected on 7 of 8 shots from the field.
"We really had a great run early in the second half," Williams said. "We try to get the crowd quiet and see if we can't get them to leave early because the game is already over with, and that's what happened tonight."
Kansas forward Kenny Gregory, who scored a game-high 16 points off the bench, hit two free throws with 8:22 to play, which gave the Jayhawks their biggest lead of the game at 62-38. The Wildcats never got any closer than 20 points the rest of the way as Kansas cruised to its second-straight win. The Wildcats' 46 points were a season low for a Jayhawk opponent, and it was the fewest points scored by Kansas State against Kansas in Manhattan since they were held to 44 points on March 8, 1958.
The Jayhawks received some scoring support from some unexpected places last night, T.J. Pugh, Marlon London and Jeff Carey, who averaged a total of 9.8 points per game, combined for 26 points against Kansas State.
The Jayhawks now have won two in a row after losing three out of their four previous games.
Kansas forward
Kenny Gregory
shoots a layup
over Kansas State
forward Travis
Reynolds. Gregory
scored 16 points
and for the Jay-
hawks in last
night's game.
Photo by Matt J.
Daugherty/
KANSAN
Kansas forward Nick Bradford swoops under Kansas State's defense to lay in another two points. Bradford scored five points against the Wildcats.
Photo by Matt J. Daughtry / KANSAN
'Hawks win; freshman Carey gets his shot
By Marc Sheforgen
Associate Sports Editor
MANHATTAN — Redshirt freshman Jeff Carey has waited a long time for his moment to shine as more than a practice dummy. Last night, the opportunity arose, and Carey was ready.
Junior forward Lester Earl reagravated an ankle injury and did not play in the Jayhawks 69-46 win against Kansas State, leaving the door open for Carey and junior Ashante Johnson to fill the role of a reserve big man.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said that he gave Carey and Johnson each early minutes and then decided that Carey had performed best and would be the man to relieve the starting big men Eric Chenowith and T.J. Pugh for the remainder of the game.
Carey had not played since Kansas' win against
Texas Jan. 18 and had not scored since the win against Texas A&M Jan.2.
naturally, he was a bit nervous when he learned Sunday that he would have a chance at some consistent court time in Manhattan.
"Yeah, I'm always nervous before games," Carey said. "But once I got out there and got up and down the court a few times, I settled down."
Carey hit two of three shots for four first-half points in four minutes. He played four more second-half minutes and connected on his only attempt for a game total of six points.
The minutes may not be impressive and his statistics did not rival the game's leaders, but it is not the statistics that tell Carey's story.
"He was a sparkplug for us," Kansas guard Ryan Robertson said. "He was sensational."
Robertson said that Carey's contributions came
with good decision making and good passes to propel the other offensive stars.
Carey agreed and said that he was most proud of his ability to do the little things — the stuff statistics don't measure.
"I didn't do anything spectacular, I just did the easy stuff," he said.
Chenowith, who lives with Carey, said that he and Carey talked daily about the redshirt freshman's frustrations of not playing. Seeing his friend shine was extra special.
"We know we have a bright future together." Chenowith said. "I just hope he keeps playing well and keeps his head up. He's doing some great things for us."
Carey said he did not know what kind of action he may see in Sunday's game at Colorado. With more than a week of rest, Earl may be ready to reclaim his position.
Kansas falls from Associated Press top 25 for the first time in more than eight years
Struggling Jayhawks take drop in stride focus on rest of year
By Kevin Wilson Kansan sportswriter
In a season full of broken streaks, the Kansas Jayhawks watched another one end yesterday when they dropped out of the Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time since Jan. 21, 1991.
The Jayhawks, who had been in the AP top 25 for 144 consecutive weeks, were ranked No. 22 last week before losing to Nebraska and barely defeating Colorado on Saturday 77-74.
Although the Jayhawks remained in the ESPN/USA Today top 25 poll, they fell three spots to 22. Their omission from the AP Poll ended the third-longest current streak in the top 25.
"It'd be the first time since '91, and that's a long time," said coach Roy Williams. "I'm proud of that."
The Jayhawks have been in free fall after dropping three of their last four games before Saturday's win. Since Jan. 11, the Jayhawks have dropped in consecutive weeks from No. 15, to No. 19, to No. 22 to out of the polls this week.
North Carolina has been in the top 25 for 156 straight weeks, and Kentucky has the second-longest streak with 154.
"We play dumb on the court sometimes,but they are not dumb kids,and they realize this doesn't have anything to do with how we play.It's not going to affect me whatsoever,and I'll be shocked if it's going to affect them."
Despite the Jayhawks fall from the polls,
Roy Williams Men's basketball coach
Williams said it would, he battled this "truly don't think it will affect this team," Williams said. "We play dumb on the court sometimes, but they are not dumb kids, and they realize that this doesn't have anything to do with how we play. It's not going to affect me whatsoever, and I'll be shocked if it's going to affect them."
Williams said it wouldn't bother his team.
Kansas guard Ryan Robertson, who has never played on a Jayhawk team that has not been ranked in the top 25, had mixed feelings about the snub.
"I want to say it's not that big of a deal, but then again you hate to think that this was the team that got us out of the streak," Robertson said. "It's a pretty prestigious streak. There have been a lot of great teams during that streak, and you would hate to think that this was the team that ruined it."
"The rankings and all that stuff mean absolutely nothing." Robertson said. "I think the rankings are mostly for the fans and for you guys to put next to the teams when you write about them."
Going into the season, the Jayhawks had been one of the most dominating teams in the 1990s, not counting the Jayhawks current 15-6 record, Kansas had the most victories in the 1990s, 263-50, and the best winning percentage at 84 percent.
The Jayhawks have been to the Sweet Sixteen six times in the '90s, second only to North Carolina's seven appearances.
Although Robertson was disappointed, he said that he didn't put much weight in the rankings anyway.
"This is the one season that I was afraid it might happen," said Mark Marlin, Hampton, Va., junior. "This is the weakest I've ever seen them, both mentally and physically."
With the loss of two All-Americans, Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce, and the teams best three-point threat, Billy Thomas, this year was seen by some as a rebuilding one.
Despite the the Jayhawks lackluster record, Robertson doesn't think that this Kansas team should be counted out just yet.
"The past three years in the NCAA tournament, some of the No.1, No.2 and No.3 seeds haven't even made it to the final four," Robertson said. "The rankings mean very little. We just want to go out and play."
Kansas ranked 22nd following poll absence
The Kansas women's basketball team has begun the slow assent back up the polls, and sophomore Brooke Reves has been the moving force.
The Jayhawks (16-6, 6-3) are now the 22ndranked team in the nation after this week's Associated Press poll was released yesterday morning. The team inched up two spots from 24th last week, after falling out of the top 25 two weeks earlier for the first time this season.
Wednesday's win at Texas and Sunday's home blowout against archrival Kansas State helped boost the Jayhawks' ranking.
Spearheading the improved play has been forward Reves. The sophomore was named Big 12 Conference women's basketball Rookie of the Week yesterday afternoon after scoring a career-high 23 points against K-State Sunday.
By Matt James
Reves averaged 15 points and five rebounds in two games last week. The Big 12 Newcomer-of-the-Year candidate sat out last season after transferring to Kansas from Wichita State but has come on strong this season and leads the team in field goal percentage, shooting 53.3 percent from the field.
"Brooke is a great player," said coach Marian Washington. "She was able to step up this year and contribute. We are delighted for her."
Kansan sportswriter
Tennessee, Purdue and Louisiana Tech remained the top three teams in the AP poll this week. The top-ranked Volunteers received 40 of 41 first-place votes after defeating two ranked opponents last week.
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press news's basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 31, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
WOMEN'S AP TOP 25
rank team rec pts pvs
1. Tennessee (40) 19-1 1,024 1
2. Purdue (1) 19-1 981 2
3. Louisiana Tech 17-2 947 3
4. Connecticut 18-3 870 5
5. Colorado St. 22-1 807 6
6. Notre Dame 17-2 788 7
7. UCLA 17-4 749 8
8. Georgia 18-3 746 4
9. Duke 17-4 738 9
**10.Texas Tech** 19-2 661 10
11. Old Dominion 16-3 613 12
12. Rutgers 18-4 549 13
13. North Carolina 21-4 541 14
14. Virginia Tech 19-1 517 11
**15.Iowa St.** 15-3 421 16
16. Virginia 15-5 388 19
17.Clemson 17-4 316 15
18. Penn St. 16-5 287 21
19.Auburn 16-4 223 17
20.Boston College 17-3 209 22
21.Alabama 13-7 161 23
**22.Kansas** 16-6 146 24
23.UC Santa Barbara15-3 144 25
24.LSU 15-5 102 —
25.Fla. International 16-3 85 —
1
Others receiving orders: Ohio St. 83, Tulane S. 188,
Oklahoma 50, Illinois 26, Toledo 22, Louisville 16, Marquette
Colorado 20, Kansas 20, Xavier St. 94, Mississippi St. 5,
Mississippi St. 1, Kenyon St. 2, St. Joseph St.
1, Mississippi St. 1, Saint Claire St. 1, Mary S. Call. 1
1
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