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University Daily Kansan / Mondav. March 23, 1992
SPORTS
Underdog UTEP stuns Kansas
Miners slow it down to beat 'Hawks 66-60
By Lyle Niedens
Kansan sportswriter
DAYTON, Ohio — University of Texas-EI Paso guard Prince Stewart said Saturday that there was one thing the Miners could not do against Kansas if they expected to have a chance at upsetting the No. 1-seeded Jawhaves.
"There's no way we can run with a
team like Kansas," he said. "We'll
be doing it."
They did just that. They earned a 66-60 victory and a trip to the Sweet 16 in Kansas City, Mo., this weekend.
Meanwhile, Kansas finished its season with a 27-7 record.
"They were scrapy, "Kansas point guard Adonis Jordan said. "They got all the loose balls and all the second shots."
They also executed to near perfection a game plan designed to control the game.
The Miners, 27-6 overall, spread the court and ran a four-corners offense most of the game. The Miners used most of the 45-second clock on each possession before shooting.
"They spread the floor and worked the clock down well," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "It was something we had talked about, that they might try. They executed well and made the tough shots.
"They're the first team to come out and play straight four-corners on us. It's the best job anyone's ever done of controlling us. They were able to do it because we weren't doing it on offense."
UTEP coach Don Haskins said the four-corners strategy was used because the Miners could not get a shot out of their regular offense.
"We practiced it for the first time yesterday," Haskins said after the game. "Coach Williams couldn't have given me permission to saw a tape of yesterday's practice."
"We've had problems all year running our offense against good pressure."
Despite its sluggish play, Kansas held a 43-40 lead after a Rex Walters steel and layup with 9:45 left in the basket capped a 70-Jayhawks' run.
But UTEP did not buckle under the Kansas surge as Howard University had in its first-round 100-67 loss to the Jayhawks Friday night.
Still, Williams thought Kansas was in decent shape after Jamison scored and sophomore Steve Woodberry
TEXAS-ELPASO 66 KANSAS 60
TEXAS-EL PASO (27-6)
| player | fgm/fa | ftm/fa | tp |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Maxey | 6.9 | 2.3 | 14 |
| Maley | 6.9 | 6.8 | 18 |
| Vallejo | 2.7 | 2.2 | 6 |
| Stewart | 3.8 | 1.2 | 18 |
| Rivera | 1.9 | 0.0 | 2 |
| R.Davis | 5.8 | 2.3 | 12 |
| Blow | 5.8 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Beil | 3.5 | 0.0 | 6 |
| Totals | 26-56 | 13-18 | 66 |
KANSAKI (27-5)
Jefferson 3-10 4.4 4.6 10
Scott 4-7 4.7 4.6 12
Pauley 1-1 1.2 4.4 16
Jordan 1-2 1.2 1.2 2
Jordan 1-4 1.4 1.2 4
B Davis 1-4 2.4 4 4
Woodberry 1-4 2.4 4 6
Cunningham 3-3 3.3 3.3 10
Joelmann 0-0 0.0 0 0
Nash 0-0 0.0 0 0
20-7 19-21 15-9 60
Halftime - Texas El Paso 24, Kansas 23, Point of
goal - Texas El Paso 17, Kansas 14, Wichita 1.7,
Milwaukee 1.4, Woodbury 2, Jordan 6 (2). Fouled-out
Dyk Debroks - Texas El Paso 33 (RD 37), Louis
Krauss 38 (SC 7) Assists - Texas El Paso 11
Fouls - Texas El Paso 10, Kansas 14, fouls -
Texas El Paso 21, Kansas 18 K A=13.001
nailed a three-pointer that cut the lead to 55-52 with 2,35 left
"I thought we were where we wanted to be," he said. "But Johnny Melvin made two tough shots, and we put them on the free-throw line, and they made their free throws."
In the last 2:18, Melvin, UTEP's junior forward, hit a layup, a double-dump shot on the baseline and two free throws with 13 seconds left that gave the Miners an insurmountable 64-60 lead.
Kansas' troubles began midway through the first half. After leading 16-8 with 12.07 left in the half, Kansas scored on just two of its next eight possessions. A Stewart layup as the buzzer sounded tied the score at 24 at halftime.
Despite having their two tallest starters, Marlon Maxey and David Van Dyke, on the bench with three fouls late in the first half, the Miners outbounded Kansas 22-16 in the first half and turned nine offensive rebounds into 12 points. For the game, UTEP outbounded the 'Hawks' 33-31.
"This was one of our best wins," Haskins said, whose 1966 Miners队 defeated Kansas in double overtime en route to the NCAA championship. "We haven't been past the first two games in a long, long time. That in itself makes this a big win."
During the last few minutes of Kansas' game against the University of Texas-EPaso, Roy Williams vails instructions to the trailinj Hawkys.
Kansas forward Ben Davis is blocked while trvving to score against UTEP.
Postgame emotions louder than words
By Lyle Niedens
Kansan sportswriter
DAYTON, Ohio - Kansas' Rex Walters sat motionless in the corner of the Jayhawks' locker room yesterday with a towel draped over his shoulders
— and his head buried in his hands.
The junior guard, who led Kansas with 14 points, was contemplating the University of Texas-Elas Pou's sunning 66-60 upset of the Jayhawks, which knocked Kansas out of the NCAA tournament.
"I can't talk right now," he said as he stared at the lockers in front of him.
But words were not needed to convey the stunned reactions and deep emotions that hung over the entire Kansas locker room.
"It really hard to believe," freshman center Greg OstergTAG said of the loss. "It really has not hit me yet. It will probably hit me hard in a couple of hours."
And although the Jayhawks will be returning most of their top players next season, freshman center Ben
Sophomore swinger Patrick Richey said it was especially sad to look at the seniors who would not get another chance at the tournament.
Davis said that was no consolation.
He also made a distinction between this Kansas team and last season's Javhawks.
"That team did a lot of things they weren't expected to do," he said. "We were expected to do those things, and we didn't do them."
Junior point guard Adonis Jordan said that tournament pressure might have had something to do with the loss, because the Jayhawks just let one slip away.
Junior center Eric Pauley agreed.
"he caught us on an off night," he said, as the team seemed to put a complete game together."
Richard Scott, sophomore forward, said, "It seemed like they wanted it a bit more than we did. We weren't doing it well." Kansas basketball team usually does that.
Senior forward Alonzo Jamison, who scored 10 points in his final game as a Jayhawk, was succinct in his analysis.
"We had a work, but our game plan didn't work," Jamison said.
But Ostertag probably summed up the day's events best.
"Nobody expected we would lose," he said.
Kansas' guard has chest pains Woodberry taking medication to control heart palpitations
By Lyle Niedens
Kansan sportswriter
DAYTON, Ohio — Wednesday night, before the Jayhawks left for Dayton, Ohio, and their first-round NCAA tournament game with Howard University, Steve Woodberry was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital after experiencing chest pains, shortness of breath and dizziness during an earlier afternoon practice session.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore team suffered from heart palpitations, according to Kansas team trainer Mark Cairns.
"As far as heart problems, this is not serious." Cairns said.
"But obviously, it's something we needed to take care of."
Cairns said Woodberry's heart began racing periodically during the week prior to the Big Eight tournament. It was then that he began taking medication to control the problem.
But the medication wasn't enough. The palpitations continued, Cairns said. So after blood tests were done on Woodberry Wednesday night, the dosage was increased and a second medication was added.
Woodberry now must take each medication once a day, but his heart still races once or twice a day, at which time he must sit down and rest, Cairns said.
"It's scary," Woodberry said. "My heart just starts beating realfast."
Cairns said the spells usually lasted about one minute.
Cairns said the palpitations were related to mental and physical stress probably brought on by academic and athletic demands, including the pressure of postseason basketball.
"The way he describes them is having shortness of breath and being mildly dizzy," he said. "The severity of them has dramatically decreased since we've increased his dosage and added the second medication."
"Steve puts a lot of pressure on himself, and he's very low-key," he said. "Sometimes these problems occur when people don't allow their emotions to show."
In addition to the medication, Cairns said, the problem could be controlled by reducing caffeine intake.
As a result, Woodberry is no longer allowed to drink soft drinks or eat chocolate.
"That hurts him a lot," Cairns said. "He loves chocolate."
CINCINNATI FRIDAY SUNDAY
Saturday, March 21 March 27 March 29
THE SWEET16 Pokes top Tulane, set tourney record
ATLANTA — Byron Houston and Corey Williams each scored 27 points and Oklahoma State shot an NCAA tournament-record 80 percent from the field as the 11th-ranked Cowboys crushed 71 Sunday in the second round of the Southeast Regional.
The Cowboys made 28 of 35 shots to break the previous mark of 79 percent set by North Carolina in 1988.
The victory sends the Big Eight runner-up to the regional semifinals in Lexington, Ky., where Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton coached Kentucky until leaving after the 1988 season durcd controversy that eventually landed the Wildcats on probation.
Tulane, in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school, to take on 20% in only their third season since disbanding hockey.
Tulane's pressing defense, sparked by reserves known as the Pulse, gave the Cowboys some trouble, but it didn't matter because they hadn't seen them play.
Despite 25 turnovers, the Cowboys never trailed in the game. Sean Sutton added 18 points for his father's team. G.J. Hunter scored 14.
North Carolina set the old field-goal percentage record against Loyola of California in the second round of the West Regional in 1988, hitting 49 of 62 shots.
Kentucky survives late Iowa State rally, 106-98
WORCESTER, Mass. — Jamal Mashburn scored 27 points and sixth-ranked Kentucky fought off a late Iowa State rally to reach the final 16 of the NCAA tournament with a 106-98 victory yesterday.
Kentucky, 28-6 overall, led all the way, but had little chance to relax as Justus Thigpen had 32 points and Ron Bayless 30, both career highs, for the 10th-seeded Cyclones.
After the Wildcats took an 86-74 lead, Mashburn got their next six points, but Thigpen got 14 of Iowa State's next 20 points. Thiggen made the score 98-94 on his two free throws with 54 seconds left.
Kentucky's Richie Farmer and Iowa State's Bayless then traded two foul shots each before Farmer hit two more, making the score 102-96 with 34 seconds to go. Pippett's two free throws cut the lead to four points with 24 seconds left.
But Sean Woods hit a foul shot one second later, John Pelphrey added two with 16 seconds left and Woods finished the scoring with a free throw with 6.9 seconds to play.
From the Associated Press