WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Wildcats to greet Hawks tonight. SEE PAGE 4B. ULTIMATE FRISBEE: HorrorZontals are flying high. SEE PAGE 8B
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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
1B
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2002
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
COMMENTARY
Andy Samuelson sports@kansan.com
'Hawks hope to end their losing streak
Kansas coach Roy Williams loves recruiting in the state of Iowa.
Some of his best players have come from the Hawkeye state. Juniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich did all a high school basketball player could do there, and who could forget that former All-American Raef LaFrentz developed most of his skills in the state known for its "fields of opportunity."
But as much as Williams likes plucking talent out of Iowa, right now he doesn't want to go back.
He'd rather shuck corn with the LaFrentz family in Monona than tip-off in Ames tonight.
The Jayhawks have lost five straight to Iowa State, the most consecutive losses to any team in Williams' 14-year coaching tenure.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
And no other coach has owned Roy the way Iowa State coach Larry Eustacy has — putting up an 83.3 percent winning percentage against Williams.
Not even Hinrich and Collison, who were named co-Iowa Mr. Basketball in 1999, have had an impact. The duo, along with Drew Gooden are winless and none have scored more than 15 points in games against the Cyclones.
But that should all change tonight.
Iowa State (9-10 overall, 1-4 Big 12 Conference) is down. It's a team trying to keep its head above water in the Big 12 while the Jayhawks (15-2, 4-0) are crashing through and makes waves.
But don't look for any life-preservers. The 'Hawks have all the motivation in the world.
But revenge might not be enough tonight.
Even the biggest dunk from Gooden — who tied Iowa State's Marcus Fizer for the most Big 12 player of the week awards in a season this week with four — will have the same level of significance as Fizer's game-winning shot in Allen Fieldhouse during Gooden's freshman season.
Iowa State has taken something that Kansas may never get back.
The Cyclones have won the past two Big 12 championships, while Eustacy has won an Associated Press Coach of the Year award and has been runner-up. Plus, the Cyclones have an Elite Eight appearance in the 2000 NCAA tournament.
Hinrich and Jeff Boschee can bomb away from three-point range all they want tonight in Hilton Coliseum. They could even hit shots from the Cyclone in the middle of the floor, but that's not going to take back the treys that playground legend and current Indiana Pacers guard Jamaal Tinsley and Kantrail Horton put up against the Jayhawks in the last two seasons.
This isn't Kansas' longest losing streak. That would be 11-straight losses to Kentucky.
But who knows? If Cyclones sophomores Jake Sullivan and Shane Power play like they did in the last meeting between the two teams, Kansas could have its work cut out for it. The pair combined for 40 points at Hilton and secured a 79-71 victory.
Kansas knows how to exact revenge. The Jayhawks already went to rowdy Gallagher-Iba Arena this month and spanked No. 6 ranked Oklahoma State 79-61.
Look for more tonight as Williams will have Kansas pumped. If not, the Jayhawks will have fallen to "Hilton's Magic" once again.
Samuelson is a Wichita senior in journalism. Contact him at sports@kansan.com.
Freshman guard Keith Langford pushes past the defense as he heads toward the basket. Kansas plays Iowa State tonight in Ames, Iowa.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
'Winds'of change?
By Doug Pacey Kansan sportswriter
Call it the Hilton House of Horrors.
With the exception of the Hearnes Center at Missouri, Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum is the place where Kansas has had the least amount of success since the Big 12 Conference formed in 1996.
The No. 2 Jayhawks (15-2 overall, 4-0 Big 12) are 2-3 in their five games in Ames, Iowa, and 0-5 in their last five games against the Cyclones (9-10 overall, 1-4 Big 12).
Kansas will get a chance to change that trend when it takes on the Cyclones at 8 tonight in Ames.
Coach Roy Williams said the Jayhawks' wins against Oklahoma State and Oklahoma were not reasons to expect a victory against Iowa State.
"Our players will be focused, and they'll be enthused about playing because they've kicked our tails for a long time," he said.
In Kansas' 64-62 loss to Iowa State on Feb. 16, 2000, in Lawrence, Big 12 Player of the Year and All-American Marcus Fizer made a last-second jumper that put away the Jayhawks.
Last year guards Kantrail Horton and Jamaal Tinsley combined for 37 points and were 7-for-10 from behind the three-point arc in Iowa State's 79-77 win in Lawrence. The Cyclones made 64.7 percent of their three-pointers in the game, 11 of 17.
"They are without Tinsley and Horton, who were such threats to do everything," Williams said. "They could defend you, they could pass, they could dribble, they could shoot, they could get to the foul line. You don't lose two players like that and immediately go back to the same level. When we played Iowa State last year at their place, do you know who the heroes of the game were? It was Jake Sullivan and Shane Power, and they're both still there."
Twelve days after the loss in Lawrence, Kansas kept Horton
SEE BASKETBALL PAGE 3B
Team struggles for wins
Iowa State's program coaches young team through difficult year
By Brent Wasko
By Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
The Iowa State men's basketball program has fallen on rough times this season.
4 in the league. The schedule isn't getting any easier for Iowa State, which faces No.2 Kansas in Ames, Iowa, at 8 p.m. tonight.
After winning a pair of Big 12 Conference regular season titles, the Cyclones are just 9-10 overall and 1-
The Cyclones have defeated the Jayhawks five consecutive times,but a victory against Kansas this season would be a major upset.
"Our competitiveness and intensity level has to be very high for us to win," said Randy Brown, four-year Iowa State assistant coach. "We are a
SEE CYCLONES PAGE 3B
Women hoping to challenge K-State
By Jessica Scott
Kansan sportswriter
bramlage, which seats 13,500, is expected to be at near-sellout capacity for the game at 7 tonight. That much purple and white may spell bad news for the Jayhawks, who are looking to snap their longest losing streak in school history — six games — against the No. 11 Wildcats.
Tonight's crowd at Bramlage Coliseum for the Kansas-Kansas State game could outnumber the total attendance of all the Jayhawk women's home games combined this season.
"I don't think it will affect us," said senior guard K.C. Hilgenkamp of the likely sold-out crowd. "We're big rivals with K-State and it would be really good for us confidence-wise to get a win there."
The Jayhawks (5-14, 0-6 in the Big 12 Conference) have held 16 of their 19 opponents to less than 50 percent shooting this season. Kansas State, however, is shooting a league-best 50.9 percent from the field, the fourth-highest mark in the nation. Sophomore Nicole Ohlde and freshmen Kendra Wecker and Laurie Koehn each average double figures for the Wildcats.
SEE WOMEN PAGE 4B
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Senior guard KC Hilgenkamp eyes her teammates as she takes the ball down the court. Hilgenkamp has led the women's team for most of the season.
Men's team still anxious about flying
By Brent Wasko
By Brent Wasko Kansan sportswriter
"I hate flying," Boschee said. "I never could stand it."
If Kansas guard Jeff Boschel had his way, the Jahayh men's basketball team would never have to fly to road games.
“It’s a scary thing,” freshman guard Aaron Miles said. “I just have to assume we'll get to where we need to go fine. Fortunately, nothing has gone wrong yet.”
Boschee is not the only member of the team that is apprehensive about traveling on planes. It has been nearly one year since a small charter plane carrying Oklahoma State players, coaches and friends crashed in Colorado on a snowy day, and Kansas players have not forgotten the tragedy.
The team is so concerned about travel safety, the players voted to take a bus to Iowa State for today's game for the first time in several decades, according to administrative assistant C.B. McGrath.
"After hearing about the Oklahoma State crash, it's difficult not to say 'shoot, that could have been us,'" said McGrath, who played for Kansas from 1995-1998 and has been an administrative assistant for three years. "Obviously, when you see something like that happen, it puts a certain amount of fear in the back of your mind."
Since the plane crash, which took place Jan. 27, 2001, McGrath said the Jayhawks had stopped flying in charter planes. The team used to travel in a 30-seat propeller plane. The Oklahoma State crash occurred in a small 11-seat charter aircraft.
This season, coach Roy Williams put McGrath in charge of the Jayhawks' travel schedule. He works with John Novotny, a travel agent at Travellers Inc., 831 Massachusetts St. to come up with the most convenient and inexpensive flights available.
"Hardly anyone on the team likes flying, especially when we take those little propeller planes," Boschee said. "We decided not to take those anymore. I think I'm probably the most afraid of flying on the team."
"We had to be very careful on charter flights not to exceed the weight limit," McGrath said. "We sometimes had to leave some equipment behind, and we were rarely served drinks on the plane because there just wasn't enough room."
McGrath said taking commercial flights this year had been advantageous for the team. It's cheaper than flying on a charter plane and there is more room for equipment.
"There is a rule that players can only miss so many days of class due to travel," Novotny said. "As with any athletic team, we try to make the players feel as comfortable as possible."
Traveling on commercial planes has caused a few problems for the team. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, security has been tighter at airports, forcing the team to schedule in more time for its travel.
Novotny said finding a flight schedule that was convenient for every player had been a challenge.
McGrath said the decision to fly on commercial planes was not made because they might be safer than charter planes.
"I don't think safety was much of an issue," he said. "The staff was more worried about the guys feeling more secure about flying."
Kansas is traveling on a bus today to Ames, Iowa, to face Iowa State. But the squad is taking a flight to Saturday's game in College Station, Texas, against Texas A&M.
Oklahoma State will host a game this Saturday against Colorado. The school will honor the victims of last year's plane crash at halftime with a moment of silence.
Contact Wasko at bwasko@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Henning.