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FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2009
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CANADIAN SHORTSTOP MAKES BIG DIFFERENCE
Narodowski bounced around schools before landing at KU. BASEBALL18B
BAYLOR 71, KANSAS 64
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ONE AND DONE
Junior guard Sherron Collins looks to the video board above to see who touched the ball last after annealing Baurl had deflected it. Kansas lost 71-64 Thursday, ending their home of neither Pin 12 tournament championship.
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
OKLAHOMA CITY — Sherron Collins will 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 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 champions.
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.
"I don't know what went wrong. We just stopped playing, I guess."
"You're the Big 12 champs and you've got a chance to come down here and validate your regular season." Self said. "and to not play with more energy than we did is just totally inexcusable."
But not totally unpredictable. For the fourth straight game away from Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas tell behind by double digits early.
Baylor guard Curtis ferrells 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.
MARIO LITTLE Junior guard
"Then again," sophomore guard 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 LaceDarius
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 by cutting down the lead by halftime and taking control midway through the second half.
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, who had 12 points and five rebounds, 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
MEN'S REWIND
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SEE MEN'S ON PAGE 7A
For Full coverage of the men's basketball game against baylor, check out the rewind on Page 6A.
@KANSAN.COM
There won't be a paper during spring break, but all the coverage you have come to expect from The Kansan will still be available at Kansan.com. Follow reporters Case Keefer and Taylor Bern as they keep you up date on the Jayhawks' fortunes in the NCAA tournament.
Kansas frontcourt outperformed as Aldrich struggles
Baylor's Henry Dugat intercepted Sherron Collins pass and all Cole Aldrich
could do was look on. It was unexpected, but Baylor upset top-seeded Kansas and left KU fans in attendance at the Ford Center in awe.
Despite managing to come back after trailing by 17 at one point, the lajahaws came up short. In the end, post play was the biggest factor in the game. Baylor's big men put on a better performance than Cole Aldrich and the Morris twins.
Aldrich ended the game with eight points and took only five shots from the field. Kansas coach Bill Self could tell Aldrich was struggling through the game.
"He labored probably as much as he has at any point in time this year," Self said.
It wasn't a good day for Aldrich to be off, because Baylor's Kevin Rogers and Mamadou Diene played extremely well.
Rogers was coming off a 20-rebound effort against Nebraska in the opening round. He continued his hot streak with 14 points and five rebounds, but Diene had the more impressive performance. After playing only three minutes against Nebraska, Diene played 25 minutes against Kansas, scored nine points and blocked five shots.
Self said that Diene played fabulously and that that was one reason KU struggled. Baylor coach Scott Drew felt the same and understood Diene's motivation.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
"I think that's a senior not wanting to play his last game," Drew said.
Baylor's post players played with an intensity that KU couldn't keep up with. Even when Rogers missed an alley-oop dunk, he almost brought the rim down. That
SEE BRECKUNITCH ON PAGE 7A
BY JAYSON JENKS jenks@kansan.com
McCray, Morris lead Kansas to crucial victory
The moment fortunes seemed to change — the moment Kansas began clawing their way back in its game against Nebraska — occurred with a loose ball bouncing at players' ankles.
Kansas' offense was floundering in the first three minutes of the second half, and with the layhawks already slim tournament hopes beginning to fade altogether, junior forward Danielle McCray ripped the ball from defenders, muscled a layup and finished the play with a free throw.
WOMEN'S REWIND
It is insignificant that Nebraska still had its 39-31 lead after McCray's play. Using timely scoring and key defensive stands, the Jayhawks topped the Cornhuskers' lead. In doing so, Kansas also toppled Nebraska, 61-56. $ ^{*} $
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For full coverage of the women's basketball game against Nebraska, check out the rewind on Page 9A
"At the beginning, I couldn't make nothing." McCray said. "But I just felt I needed to get something different. My teammates felt how emotional I was, and they just ted off of it. We didn't want to go home tonight."
She scored 17 of her 22 points in the second half, and all of them came against a defense determined to stop her from even catching the ball.
McCray's season, especially down the stretch, has been defined by big game after big game. But McCray was never so tough, so relentlessly determined to score, as she was Thursday afternoon.
"What made Danielle's performance so tough is that she struggled in the first half," coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
"But I thought that kid had perseverance."
Weston White/KANSAN
True, but McCray also had help.
Kansas' best scoring threat in the first half — and at times in the second half — wasn't McCray. Instead, junior guard Sade Morris filled that role, scoring a career-high 24 points and igniting Kansas late in the
Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson pumps her fist as her team huddled around her after a 61-56 win over Nebraska. Kansas scored 25 points off turnovers after forcing 18 during the game Thursday afternoon at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.
(
"We call them Batman and Robin. [Texas A&M coach] Gary Blair calls them Pippen and Jordan," Henrickson said. "I mean, they're great together. When De stays aggressive, it makes them better."
game with two hard-fought steals she converted into laups.
Morris carried Kansas before halftime. She scored 12 points, including big shots to keep Nebraska from building a big lead.
Still, the first half played out much the way an eight seed vs. nine seed matchup should: a tightly contested game with plenty of give and take from both teams.
But late in the first half, Nebraska controlled the game. The Cornhuskers continuously pounded the ball inside to Cory Montgomery, and the layhawks struggled to stop her. Montgomery finished with 20 points, but didn't
score in the final eight minutes.
"I didn't want to go home. I
With Kansas' postseason fate up for grabs, the Jayhawks clamped down defensively and held the Cornshucks to just eight points in the final 10:20.
wasn't ready to leave," Morris said.
"We came here to go to the NCAA tournament. We came here to win. We needed it to win and we needed it to get on a roll."
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Edited by Justin Leverett
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