8B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 26, 2005
POUNCE: Kansas banks on Colorado's mistakes
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Justin Tafova/The Campus Press
Key play from the bench was provided by sophomore guard Sharita Smith, who scored eight points in the opening 20 minutes of play. A three-point shot from Smith as the halftime buzzer sounded gave the Jayhawks a 34-33 advantage at the break.
"Sharla gave us huge minutes." Henrickson said.
And the success of Smith's shot going into halftime was the result of a last-minute practice before the game.
"There's a reason we went over that in the shoot around," Henrickson said of the play that yielded Smith's first-half buzzer beater.
The momentum of the first-half ending play seemed to carry over as Kansas scored on its first possession out of the gate, but the offense slowed down abruptly.
In the opening four minutes after the break, Kansas committed four turnovers. Colorado took advantage and produced an 8-0 run to take the lead by five, 41-36.
Jayhawks junior guard Erica Hallman takes a shot over Colorado Buffaloes sophomore forward Anna Nedovic during last night's game in Boulder. The 'Hawks defeated the Buffaloes 65-60.
"We were so ugly offensively coming out in the second half," Henrickson said.
A quick five-point burst tied the game, and neither team made a push to pull away for the remainder of the contest.
Kemp, who was whistled for two first-half fouls, picked up her third foul at the 15:31 mark. The Jayhawk offense sputtered a little but survived the absence of its leading scorer using a defense that held the Buffalooes
within easy striking distance.
Kansas steadily tested the Colorado defense and two crucial Kemp baseline jump shots helped seal the victory for the Jayhawks.
The next road trip for Kansas
is on Saturday when the Jayhawks travel to Nebraska. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
- Edited by Kim Sweet
Rubenstein
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANANSON SPORTSWINTER
Hawkins back in game with three-point sharpshooting
WACO. Texas — People outside the Kansas basketball program may wonder where junior guard Jeff Hawkins' perfect three-point shooting performance came from last night.
Not his teammates though.
"In practice he does that all the time," senior guard Aaron Miles said. "His shot is so effortless and smooth, he can shoot," Miles said.
Miles recalled Hawkin's performance against Texas Christian on Dec. 31, 2003, when he scored a career high 19 points, including nailing five three-pointers.
Hawkins was in fact suspended from the team for about six weeks at the start of the season for behavioral reasons. He wasn't exactly on Kansas coach Bill Self's good side.
Last night, he matched that shooting performance shooting 5-for-5 from behind the arc and scoring 15 points in 13 minutes of play. But that was the first time since his game against TCU that he showed signs of being a consistent player for the layhawks.
Seeing how his teammates aren't surprised by the recent break out of the junior guard, it is obvious that they know something that most Kansas fans don't.
But despite the negative energy, Hawkins has remained positive and his teammates have stuck by him.
"From day one, I wanted to work hard
HAWKINS
and prepare myself, even when I wasn't playing," Hawkins said. "I kept going in practice, challenging the starting five. I just knew that coach would put me in at some point and when he gave me that chance, I would be ready."
Well, whatever he did, it got Self's attention. Hawkins has moved ahead of freshman Russell Robinson in the Jayhawk guard rotation. He played 17 minutes against Villanova and 13 minutes last night.
Self said he expects Hawkins' role to increase
"I see him playing himself into our rotation," Self said "Next game, he will be in our rotation. He would have been even if he didn't hit shots. He deserves to play."
Self doesn't have to convince the players that Hawkins deserved to be out there. Senior guard Keith Langford said he has known that all along.
"We never gave up on him," Langford said. "He went from
not even being on the team to getting serious minutes and making shots and that is helping everybody else out."
Hawkins attributes his red-hot shooting performance last night to a boost in confidence and a new mentality.
Last year, after the TCU game, Hawkins said he settled with his good performance.
"I was happy with what I accomplished," Hawkins said. "I thought that I was on top of the world and realistically I wasn't."
"Now I am just trying to have the mindset I am going to get my teammates better and work hard every day."
Basketball Notes:
Freshman CJ. Giles didn't make the trip to Baylor because of a bruised right foot. He is expected to be in a cast for the next couple of weeks.
No, freshman Russell Robinson is not injured. He just didn't play last night. Self said that he tried to insert Robinson in at the end of the game. But Robinson declined, offering his minutes to some of the guys who don't get to play as much.
The Jayhawks shot 53 percent from the field, 59 percent from three-point range and 77 percent from the free-throw line.
— Edited by Nikola Rowe
THREES: Accuracy earns Hawks a solid victory that Kansas is ready for a diffi
"I thought we visibly we had a change in attitude," he said. "We seemed to be a refocused group."
that Kansas is ready for a difficult run of Big 12 games.
If there was ever an opportune time for the Jayhawks to regain their focus, this was it. With Big 12 Conference games against Texas and Missouri coming up, Kansas will need focus and confidence.
Last night was an indication
"We need to be confident offensively and we need to see the ball go in, but it would be nice to see if we do it against Texas on Saturday," Self said. "But we needed this game."
Their hot shooting started early. They went 8-for-16 from
The Jayhawks exploded with a 15-2 run, but this time they didn't let up.
long range in the first half, including three each from Hawkins and sophomore guard J.R. Giddens. The Jayhawks had 24 points off threes, two less than the Bears' total halftime score.
Hawkins, who had nine points in six minutes of play, hit back-to-back threes with 10 minutes left in the half, giving the lavwhaves a 24-10 lead.
Kansas extended its lead to a 41-26 halftime advantage by
Despite Kansas' 15-point halftime lead, Miles still wasn't satisfied.
adding four more three-pointers late in the first period. Giddens, who up an errant shot early in the half, silenced the loud "AIR BALL" cheers from the fans by knocking down a pair of threes. Miles added one of his own.
"We could have put the foot down a little harder," Miles laughed. "We led by 15 at half and what did we win by? 20? Yeah, we could have squeezed
a little harder."
It almost looked like the Jayhawks might fall into their trend of surrendering large second half leads and creating close games, but the 'Hawks held tough.
The Jayhawks only stumble in the second half came when Bears junior guard Kevis Shipman hit consecutive three-pointers. Senior guard Keith Langford's high school teammate, junior guard Tommy Swanson, added another one with just more than 14 minutes to play, pulling the Bears to within eight, 51-43.
The Jayhawks let everyone know that it's going to take more than an embarrassing loss to hold that team down.
In the end, Kansas was just too much for a Baylor team with only six scholarship players.
The lajahawks went on a 10-1 run highlighted by back-to-back threes by Miles and Hawkins.
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Edited by Ross Fitch
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