8A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
TUESDAY,APRIL8,2003
Aaron Showalter/Kansan
Top: Kansas fans hang their heads after Hinrich's last shot misses the rim.
Right: Kansas forward Nick Collison watches helplessly as Kansas falls to Syracuse. Collison fouled out of the game in the final minutes
Heart BREAKER
Aaron Showalter/Kansan
Free-throw shooting, fouls plague Jayhawks
CONTINUED FROM 1A
"As I said before the tournament," Boeheim said in a postgame press conference, "I want to win this thing. I'm tremendously happy."
Boeheim might have been tremendously disappointed if it weren't for the play of two freshmen, guard Gerry McNamara and forward Carmelo Anthony.
Boeheim must have been asked a thousand times how his freshman-led team would handle the experienced Jayhawks. Nothing he said could have answered the question better than the performances of McNamara and Anthony in the 81-78 Syracuse victory.
The pair scored 31 points before halftime, looking as if they had done it a million times. Not only were the two unintimidated, at times it looked like they were trying to instill fear in the older lajwhawks.
When Kansas junior forward Jeff Graves tried to take the ball from Anthony's hands after a play, Anthony glared at Graves and
"You try to make a free throw. You miss,you make,there's nothing you can do."
Nick Collison Kansas senior forward
moved so the two were chest to chest. Moments later, Anthony was whistled for an intentional foul when he clubbed sophomore forward Keith Langford.
While Anthony was getting up close and personal with the Jayhawks, McNamara was doing his damage from more than 20 feet away. He hit six three-point shots, all in the first half, and finished the game with 18 points. Anthony scored 20 points and 10 rebounds, removing any thought that the Orangemen might suffer from first-time jitters.
The supposedly inexperienced Syracuse team pulled another veteran move on Kansas — it hit free throws. It didn't make all of them, 10-of-17, but it hit enough to keep Kansas from winning with a 12-of-30 performance from the line.
KANSAS - SYRACUSE
KANSAS (30-8)
**Player**          Min. FGM - FTM - ATP - Rep. A
Kelth Langford 23   7-8      0-1    19     2     0
Kirk Murray 26   8-14      6-12   18     2     4
Nick Collison 40   8-14      0-0    19     21    3
Jake Graves 37   8-13      0-0    19     21    3
Aaron Miles 24   8-14      0-2    15     3     1
Matthew Newman 23   2-8      1-5      1     1     1
Bryan Nash 5    0-2      1-5      1     1     0
Team              0    0-2      1-5      1     1     0
**Totals**           200   31-71    12-30    78   52    13
SYRACUSE (D9-5)
**Player**          Min. FGM - FTM - ATP - Rep. A
Carmelo Anthony 37   7-6      3-4    20    10    7
Hakim Wajid 31   7-4      3-4    10    12    7
Billy Munck 21   4-6      4-2    14    12    7
Jenny McNeil 13   4-6      1-2    11    4    10
Gary McMahanna 13   0-1      0-0    0    0    1
Craig Forfitt 14   8-13      0-1    10    8    1
Team              24   3-4      0-1    18    3    0
2
**Totals**           200   36-63    10-17   81    36    13
Senior forward Nick Collison scored 19 points and collected 21 rebounds, but his 3-of-10 free throw shooting jumped off the stat sheet.
"You try to make a free-throw," Collison said. "You miss, you make, there's nothing you can do."
He was right. Just a few minutes removed from his college career, there was nothing more Collison could do.
Edited by Andrew Ward