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2008-2009 KANSAS BASKETBALL
BIG 12 TOURNAMENT, MARCH 12, 2009
One and done: Bears bounce Jayhawks
Weston White/KANSAN
A dejected Kansas bench looks on as Baylor regains the lead against Kansas late during the second half. The Jayhawks' 71-64 defeat likely lost them a chance to play the opening round of the NCAA tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Sherron Collins would rise, swish the three-point shot and Kansas would somehow win in the final 30 seconds.
That's what anyone who has followed Kansas this season thought when Collins, a junior guard, got an open three-point attempt with 38 seconds remaining against Baylor in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament. Kansas trailed 67-64 at the time. It was the kind of situation Collins had shined in all season.
Only this time, Collins elevated freely from the right wing and completely missed. Air ball.
"It just got away from me. I felt it at the end when I let it go," Collins said. "I just lost it. I don't know what happened to it."
That summarizes Kansas' feelings as a whole after it lost in its first game of the Big 12 tournament to ninth-seeded Baylor 71-64 at the Ford Center. It was only the second time in the history of the tournament that the top-seeded team lost in the quarterfinal round. For the first time in four years, Kansas won't be the Big 12 tournament champion.
"You're the Big 12 champs and you've got a chance to come down here and validate your regular season." Self said, "and so not play with more energy than we did is just totally inexcusable."
And the layhawks had no explanation for it. Kansas coach Bill Self, who said the layhawks had practiced "really well" all week, was particularly astounded.
For the fourth straight game away from Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas fell behind by double digits early.
Baylor guard Curtis Jerrells gave the Bears their largest lead of 30-13 when he hit a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock with seven minutes remaining. Clearly, Baylor was playing better than its 5-11 Big 12 record. It didn't look like the No.9 seed.
"Then again," Brady Morningstar said, "we didn't look like the No.1 seed."
Morningstar blamed the defeat on himself multiple times for his defensive effort against Baylor's LaceDius Dunn, who scored 24 points and made six three-pointers.
Dunn made some key plays late in the game, but his most devastating stretch came when he scored 11 points in the opening nine minutes of the first half.
"I feel like I let them get off to a good start and let him get him off to a good start," Morningstar said. "Which hurt our team and eventually led us to lose the game."
Even when the Jayhawks were down by 17, however, there was no reason for panic. Kansas had recovered from similar double-digit deficits in road games against Kansas State and Oklahoma.
This one appeared to be on the same path. The Jayhawks trailed only 37-33 at halftime. They went ahead 58-53 with less than nine minutes remaining when freshman forward Marcus Morris made a shot under the basket.
Then, the unexplainable part of the game started. Kansas went the next five and a half minutes without scoring any points, and Baylor regained the lead at 65-58.
"We let it slip away" Collins said. "I don't think I led the team as well as I should have."
He still had a number of chances for redemption in the final minutes. Collins made a three-point shot to cut the lead to 65-64 with 2:50 remaining.
But he followed it by missing layups on the next two possessions. Then the air ball.
"The bottom line is our team is built around Sherron and Cole," Self said. "We need those two guys to perform."
Collins finished with a team-high 16 points and six assists, but shot 6-for-20 from the field. Sophomore center Cole Aldrich grabbed 14 rebounds, but had only eight points.
"I don't know what went wrong," junior guard Mario Little said. "We just stopped playing, I guess."
Weston White/KANSAN
Junior guard Mario Little gets trapped along the baseline after picking up his dribble during the first half against Baylor. Baylor forced 11 Kansas turnovers.
APRIL 27,2009
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