2B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28. 2005
CORRECTION
Friday's University Daily Kansan contained an error. In the story, "Self's mentor seeks first Fieldhouse victory." Oklahoma State men's basketball coach Eddie Sutton's losing streak in Allen Fieldhouse was misstated. He won once in the fieldhouse, with the Arkansas Razorbacks, on Dec. 18, 1976.
ATHLETICS CALENDAR
TODAY
- Men's Golf at UTSA Invitational, all day, San Antonio, Texas
* Women's Golf at Texas A&M, all day, College Station, Texas
- TOMORROW
- Baseball vs. Southwest Missouri State, 3 p.m., Hoglund
    Railroad
Men's golf at UTSA Invitational
+ Women's basketball at Iowa State, 7 p.m. Ames, Iowa
+ Women's off at Texas A&M, all day, college Station, Texas
WEDNESDAY
Men's basketball vs. Kansas State, 8 p.m., Allen Fieldhouse
FRIDAY
FRIDAY
*Baseball at Austin Peay, 11 a.m., Starkville, Miss.*
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Wildcats have NIT hopes
BOULDER, Colo. — An NCAA berth for the first time since 1996 is still out of the question unless Kansas State can pull off some upsets in the Big 12 Tournament.
But after Saturday's
But after Saturdays' 82-80 victory against Colorado, the Wildcats can still hope for an NIT bid
— which would be their first postseason appearance since 1999 and their first in- lime.
Wooldridge's five years as coach.
And that, forward Jeremiah Massey said, is Kansas State's prime concern.
Kansas State's prime series:
"We're a struggling team right now, just trying to get back on track," said Massey, who led the Wildcats (15-10, 5-9 Big 12) with 28 points and 19 rebounds.
For a moment, it appeared as though Colorado (13-13, 4-10) might derail the Wildcats' chances of gaining some needed momentum.
But the Buffalos, who lost their fourth straight conference game, fell one basket short of overtime when Marcus Hall's driving layup rolled off the rim.
Massey was happy that Hall took the shot instead of freshman Richard Roby, who hit seven three-pointers and scored 30 points for the first time in his career.
"Roby was wide open on the wing for a three," said Massey, who outcrawled the freshman to the ball and covered it with his hands as time expired. "And I'm pretty sure he would have hit it."
Woolridge
Massev
The Buffaloes, though, wanted Hall to take the shot all the way
"We got what we wanted," coach Ricardo Patton said. "If we were down by three, we wanted him to drive and dish. Or if we were down by two, we wanted him to take it to the hole."
Sophomore Lance Harris added a career-high 20 points for the Wildcats, whose 15 wins are one more than last season's total, and Fred Peete had 10 points.
The Wildcats next visit the Jayhawks — a team that owns a 29-game winning streak against them — before closing out their regular season at home against Nebraska.
"If we win some more, every step you take in that direction is a step in the right direction," Wooldridge said.
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Humble Moody returns, shines
V MEN'S BASKETBALL
BY KELLIE ROBINETT
hrobinet@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Rvlan Howe/KANSAN
Christian Moody, junior forward, tries to block Joey Graham, Oklahoma State senior forward. Moody contributed 11 points during 34 minutes of playing time yesterday in Allen Fieldhouse.
Christian Moody proved just how valuable he is to the Kansas men's basketball team yesterday.
After missing the last two games because of an infected knee, the junior forward returned to the starting line-up and played a pivotal role in the Jayhawks' two-point victory against Oklahoma State.
The crowd showered him with a loud "MOOOOOY" chant after he threw down a one-handed dunk 5 minutes into the game.
"It was pretty loud." Moody said. "I saw plenty of Moody shirts up there. I had some friends and family fly in town, and I'm just so happy it was a fun game for everybody."
Moody's fan club included his aunt, uncle, two best friends, girlfriend and CBS commentator Billy Packer, who called Moody the greatest walk-on of all time earlier this season.
None of them left disappointed
Moody saw 34 minutes of action, made five shots in six attempts, and tied his career high of 11 points.
"I think I would have played with any pain," Moody said. "I just really wanted to get back out there."
During the past week, media and fans have speculated that Moody's absence was the reason Kansas lost games to Iowa State and Oklahoma.
Though Moody said he received words of encouragement from across Lawrence, he thought his presence on the court was not the deciding factor in snapping Kansas' three-game losing streak.
"No way," Moody said. "I'm really grateful for the support and prayers, but I don't want to give myself credit for being the difference. Look at how everyone else played. Wayne had a career high, and the other guys just stepped up. I'm so glad to be a part of it."
On top of his 11 points, Moody brought several intangibles to the floor that didn't show up on the stat sheet.
The driving layup that senior guard Aaron Miles hit to give the Jayhawks a two-point lead late in the
game began when Moody set a screen, which gave Miles an open lane to attack the basket.
Just minutes earlier, Miles threw a poor pass over Moody's head, but he managed to save the ball and set up the half-court offense.
"Moody is always in the right spot," senior guard Mike Lee said. "He knows how to make plays, but he's just solid. He makes rebounds and keeps plays alive. We needed him tremendously tonight."
Moody was also instrumental in getting the ball to senior forward Wayne Slimen, who scored a career-high 32 points. The Big 12 Player of the Year candidate had 17 shots from the field and went to the free-throw line 11 times.
In the Jayhawks' last two games, Simien saw only a few good looks at the basket and disappeared, at times, from the Kansas offense.
"You saw that Christian Moody is pretty valuable," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Look how many touches Wayne got today compared to past games. We just look like a totally different team with him out there."
Moody again deferred credit to his teammates, saying that he didn't remember throwing the ball to Simien as much as Lee and Miles did.
Despite Moody's humble attitude, Simien was more than willing to compliment his performance.
"When the double teams came he did a lot of good things to help the offense." Simien said. "Moody did a great job scrapping and defending."
On defense, Moody drew the most difficult task of any Jayhawk. Self chose him to guard Oklahoma State senior forward Joey Graham.
Graham scored 19 points, but Moody held him to just four rebounds and forced him to commit two turnovers. For Self to pick Moody as the most capable big man to defend Oklahoma State's standout forward shows just how much Moody means to the lashawks. Self said.
Especially since Moody had to do it for 34 minutes, while he wasn't at full strength.
— Edited by Azita Tafreshi
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
By PATRICK SHEHAN
pshehan@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
K-State's Senior Night drowns Kansas
MANHATTAN — Fighting early deficits is like struggling to get free from quicksand. If you get down far and fast enough, it's nearly impossible to get out.
The Kansas women's basketball team learned that the hard way Saturday night, as they fell to Kansas State, 73-46. The Wildcats buried the Jayhawks in the sand early, with the help of seniors Kendra Wecker and Laurie Koehn. Wecker hit her first two three-point shots in the first 5 minutes, contributing to Kansas State's 14-3 run to open the game. Koehn drained three long-range shots to send the Jayhawks into the locker room with a 38-18 deficit.
"They came out firing and they stayed hot the whole night," Kansas junior guard Erica Hallman said.
State's 38 points. On a Senior Night for the Wildcats, Koehn and Wecker's performances painted a familiar picture for the Jayhawks. Kansas' seniors, guard Aquanita Burras and guard/forward Blair Waltz, have never defeated the Wildcats.
The Jayhawk seniors couldn't keep up. At halftime, Wecker and Koehn accounted for 27 of Kansas
"I think that those kids (Wecker and Koehn) had great careers here and they're not going to finish any differently as seniors in their last game here," Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
Saturday's game in Manhattan wasn't named Kendra Wecker night for no reason.
The Wildcats were able to feed the ball to Wecker and when the Jayhawks closed out on the All-American, Koehn connected from long range.
The layhawks had difficulty finding a defender for Wecker. Freshman forward Taylor McIntosh began guarding Wecker, but couldn't contend her long ball. When Burras guarded Wecker, she was forced to
"I wouldn't be so frustrated if I didn't think we were better," said Henrickson. "If I just thought they were that much better than we were, I would swallow my pride. I'm not taking anything away from K-State; I just think they're better than that."
foul in order to keep up physically.
Hallman was up in arms as well.
"We didn't coming out fight for pride. We're embarrassing; an embarrassment to this university," said Hallman. "We didn't play with heart at all."
In such a high stakes, bragging rights game for both teams, the seniors made the difference. And for the Jayhawks, the Wildcats provided the quicksand.
Wecker finished with 21 points,
fulfilling her average on the year,
and Koehn finished with 19 points,
and 50 percent from beyond the arc.
Burras was held to 11 points, the
only Jaayhawk to hit double figures.
Waltz pitched in for two points.
Edited by Lori Bettes
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Kendra Wecker, Kansas State senior forward, waves to the crowd after the Wildcats 73-46 victory against the jayhawks. Wecker scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.