6 University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, March 3, 1992 SPORTS 'Hawks' defense corrals Cowboys By Lyle Niedens Kansan sportswriter onis Jordan drives past Oklahoma State's Corey Williams. Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams expected an intense battle against No. 12 Oklahoma State last night. An intense battle is what he got — along with a share of the Big Eight Conference championship. "I thought it would be a very intense game," Williams said. "I thought both teams would be very aggressive, and I thought both teams were." "I want this team to feel very good about what they have accomplished. We really haven't given this group enough credit. We lost four of our top six players from last year, and this team has accomplished a great deal." The No. 3 Jayhaws withstood an outstanding performance by Oklahoma State's Byron Houston as they defeated the Cowboys 77-64, Kansas, 22-3 overall and 10-2 in the conference, clinched at least a tie for the conference title for the second consecutive year. The Jayhawks can win sole possession of the title with a victory against Iowa State tomorrow night or with a victory against Missouri on Sunday. The victory also avenged one of Kansas' three losses this season, a 64-56 loss to the Cowboys at Stillwater, Okla., last month. After a 20-0 start, the cowboys have lost six of their last eight games and five consecutive conference road games. Oklahoma State fell to 6-1 in the conference. The Jayhawks outrebounded the Cowbys 41-26, including a 25-8 advantage in the first half. Kansas had a season-high 20 refreshed rebounds. ten to ten in the conference. "It was a physical game, but it was a better ball game this time." Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said. "We just got beat on the boards. We gave them too many opportunities." Williams said he talked to the team before the game about rebounding. "I wanted us to play our best defense of the year and really do a job on the backboards." Williams said. "And I think we did we." Oklahoma State was without starting guard Darwyn Alexander, who was serving a one-game suspension for fighting during the Cowboy's victory against Nebraska last week. The Cowboys got only four points from Georgia and Corey Williams, who average a combined 22.2 points per game. The 'Hawks did not have the same success against Houston, however. The 6-foot-7 senior forward and AllAmerican candidate scored a game-high 26 points, including seven during Adonis Jordan drives past Oklahoma a 10-2 Cowboys run that cut a 12-point Kansas lead to 45-41 with 13:24 left in the game. "He's definitely the most physical and strongest player in the Big Eight," said Kansas sophomore forward Richard Scott, who guarded Houston most of the game. The Cowboys had a chance to tie or take the lead with 9-31 remaining. Down 48-46, Oklahoma State had possession, but Kansas guard Rex Walters stole a Houston pass at halfcourt and took it in for a layup, giving Kansas a 50-46 lead. From there, Walters took over. He scored Kansas' next six points and passed to guard Steve Woodberry for a layup as the Jayhawks stretched their lead to 58-51 with 6:31 left in the game. "Walters was the one at crunch time we made the plays," Eddie Sutton said. The Kansas defense also stiffened in the last 10 minutes. Mixing al-3-1 zone trap, a 2-1-2 zone and man-to-man defenses, the Jayhawks were able to hold Houston without a field goal in the last 13:24. Courtside The Kansas junior varsity squad ended its best season ever last night with a 76-46 victory against Wentworth Military Academy. The JV team finished its season 22-1 and was honored KANSAS 77,OKLAHOMA ST.64 KANASZ (22-53) player fennati (22-53) jamie tung 6-6 3-5 tp Scott 5-9 0-2 tp 10 Pauley 6-9 1-2 tp 13 Walters 7-11 0-2 tp 18 Fairy 5-9 2-2 tp 14 B.Davis 0-1 1-2 tp Gurley 0-0 1-2 tp 1 Woodberry 3-0 1-2 tp 8 Riley 0-1 2-2 tp 0 Ostertag 0-3 2-2 tp 2 Nash 0-1 1-2 tp 0 Running 0-1 0-2 tp Cripplebak 0-1 0-2 tp 0 Totals 29-60 15-23 77 GOALS BY TEAM 12/31/15 Houston 7.18 5-6 9 Houston 8.15 10-12 26 Reeves 3.5 2.4 8 Reeves 1.5 0.4 3 Sutton 0.6 1.2 1 R Dovis 6.9 3.6 15 Dovis 6.9 3.6 0 Collins 0.0 0.0 0 Triplets 1.1 0.0 2 Collins 1.1 0.0 0 Totals 21-49 21-30 69 Haffner - Kansas 35. Oklahoma 29. 3-10 point goals - Oklahoma 17. 3-Williams 1. 2-Household 0. Brown - Arkansas 18. Jordana 2. Waters 1. 2-Jamison 1. 0. Woodbury 1. 0. Scott Rebounds - Kansas 26. Houston 5. Kansas 41. (Paleyy) 8. Assists - Oklahoma 13. 10 (Sutton) 8. Damon 16. Tomson 6. at halftime of the varsity game. ■ Before last night's game, it was announced that a new permanent-wood basketball court would replace the current floor, which is disassembled each year. Kansas' Richard Scott and Eric Pauley attempt to block a shot by Oklahoma State's Byron Houston. Top 25 AP Polls Here are the top.25 teams in The Associated Press 1991-92 college basketball season, records through March 1 in parentheses, and last week's rankings. Previous Women Men Men | Previous | Women | Previous ---|---|---|--- 1. Duke (23-2) | 1 | Virginia (26-1) | 1 2. Indiana (21-4) | 2 | Tennessee (24-2) | 2 3. Kansas (21-3) | 3 | Mississippi (26-1) | 4 4. Arizona (22-4) | 5 | Maryland (23-4) | 3 5. Ohio St. (19-5) | 8 | Stephen F. Austin (24-2) | 7 6. UNLV (25-2) | 6 | Stanford (22-3) | 5 7. Arkansas (22-6) | 7 | Miami (26-1) | 8 8. Southern Cal. (20-4) | 13 | Iowa (22-3) | 7 9. UCLA (21-4) | 4 | Penn St. (22-6) | 9 10. Kentucky (22-5) | 11 | SW Missouri St. (23-2) | 10 11. Missouri (20-5) | 6 | West Virginia (23-2) | 13 12. Oklahoma St. (22-5) | 14 | Vanderbilt (19-7) | 11 13. Michigan St. (18-6) | 12 | Purdue (18-6) | 14 14. Cincinnati (22-4) | 14 | **Kansas** (24-4) | 17 15. DePaul (19-6) | 21 | Texas Tech (21-4) | 18 16. North Carolina (18-7) | 10 | George Washington (20-5) | 15 17. Georgetown (18-7) | 18 | Alabama (22-5) | 20 18. Michigan (17-7) | 17 | Clemson (19-8) | 19 19. Florida St. (19-8) | 22 | W. Kentucky (19-7) | 16 20. Alabama St. (21-7) | 16 | Hawaii (20-4) | 12 21. Tulane (19-5) | 21 | Houston (19-6) | 21 22. Seton Hall (18-7) | — | Texas (17-8) | 24 23. LSU (18-7) | — | Wisconsin (18-6) | 22 24. Syracuse (18-7) | 22 | North Carolina (20-7) | 25 25. Massachusetts (24-4) | — | Arizona St. (18-6) — (tue) Creighton (22-3) (Wed) Previous OSU player tops coaches' lists Houston considered best in Big 8 By Chris Jenson Kansan sportswriter "Lord" Byron Houston may be a nickname, but it may not be far from the truth, at least as far as the Big Ten's basketball coaches are concerned. In their weekly teleconference, five of the seven coaches picked the Oklahoma State senior forward as the player they would most like to build a team around. "I love his consistency," Kansas State coach Dana Altman said. "He's good on the boards and an inside pocket, but count on him game in and game out." "I'd take Byron because of his work ethic," Nebraska coach Danny Nee "He plays both ends of the floor. Night in and night out he performs for you." Even Houston's own coach, who was not allowed to vote for his own players, picked him before abiding by the rules. "I really believe that if I couldn't pick Byron, I would pick Peeler." Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said. "I think it's the best ever to play in this league." Sutton was not the only coach who could not make up his mind Kansas coach Roy Williams also opted to sit on the fence. "It is really a tosup between Byron and Peeler." Williams said. "I would take either one and be the happiest coach around." Houston and Missouri guard Anthony Peeler were not the only ones receiving votes. Missouri assistant coach Kim Anderson, who was filling in for coach Norm Stewart, said that he would also pick Houston, but gave an honorable mention to Kansas guard Rex Walters. a game," he said. "He doesn't care if he misses five shots in a row because he knows he can make five in a row." "Rex brings a lot of intangibles into Colorado coach Joe Harrington also picked Houston as the player to start a team around, but his reasons were different. "I'll say Byron because we play Oklahoma State next," he said. "We've got a lot of good players in our league. "But if I told you I'd pick Adonis Joran, it would fire Houston up and we have to play him next. So I pick Bvron." One coach did not pick a player. Oklahoma coach Bill Tubbs had one coach did not pick a player. "Why would I even care?" he said about the hypothetical situation. "Why would you bog my mind down with a question like that?" Nonhypothetically, coaches agreed that fatigue was playing a factor during the stretch run of the conference race. Both Sutton and Harrington said that the college season, longer than the typical high school basketball season, could be taking its toll on their freshmen. Sutton said that freshman center Bryant Reeves, for example, had not been playing well. Because Kansas has not played a game since last week's victory against Oklahoma, Williams said that fatigue was not much of a factor for the Jayhawks. "How can you be tired when you are that young?" he said. "You have to be an outstanding athlete to play at this level. But what about the old coaches? We're all tired." In other Big Eight news: Kansas State sophomore swingman Askia Jones was named Big Eight Player of the Week. Jones had 41 points, 12 rebounds and two assists in the Wildcats' victories against Colorado and Missouri. This Jones second player of the week honor this year. Golfers falter at tournament By Cody Holt After finishing 15th out of 18 teams in the first tournament of the spring season, a golf coach may tend to be nervous. Kansan sportswriter Not Kansas coach Ross Randall. "I'm not disappointed with how we played," he said, "if we finished like this late in the year. I'd be concerned. The Jayhawks shot 903 at the University of Miami National Collegiate Tournament last weekend in Miami. Texas won the tournament, which included 13 teams ranked in the Top 25, with a three-round total of 864. Bruno said that 15th place in the tournament was disappointing but that the Jayhawks gained valuable experience. Kansas was led by junior Brad Bruno and freshman Tom Sims, who finished in a tie for 38th place. Sims and Bruno scored 224, 14 strokes behind the tournament winner, Texas sophomore Jean Paul Hebert. "We didn't play well, but we know if we would have we would have been right with the leaders," he said. "It's easier for us to mobilize us can play with these teams." After winning two of the five tournaments the team competed in during the fall semester, Randall expects the Jayhawks to come together and compete with the better teams in the nation. Led by newcomer Sims, who posted a team-best 71.7 stroke average through the fall season, the Jayhawks travel with one freshman, three sophomores and one junior. With such a young team the Jayhawks only look to get better in the coming years. "I'm not going to say we're a Top 25 team yet," he said. "We do have the potential to have the best team ever at KU, without doubt." But sophomore Casey Brozek said that the Jayhawks did not want to wait until next year or the year after to win tournaments. “If they can just play to their reasonable ability, they’ll be a heck of a team." "We're good enough players that we want it all to come together now," he Ross Randall Kansas men's golfcoach said. "We want to get in the national ranks and enjoy it." Randall said that despite his team's youth they has enough experience to compete. "if they can just play to their reason- ship, they'll be a heck of a team," he said. Baseball coach says execution still a problem Kansan sportswriter By Jerry Schmidt Kansas sportswriter Although his team pounded out 73 runs and 64 hits in its last four games, Kansas baseball coach Dave Bingham said that his team could have played better. "We weren't good with our execution this weekend," Bingham said. The Jayhawks will concentrate on playing a more complete game when they play host to the Washburn Ichabods at 3 p.m. today at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium, Bingham said, Washburn is 3-1 on the season. "I'm probably more concerned with winning a close game," he said. "This weekend's games were player's games. I want to prepare our kids for a one-run ball game." Bingham said that he expected a close game from the Ichabds. "They're going to be like Southeast Missouri," he said. "We'll see about the same type of talent, but they'll be a little more disciplined." Kansas enters today's game with a 7-2 record after winning six consecutive games. This year Southeast Missouri State is competing at the Division I level for the first time, and Bingham said that the added pressure probably affected the Indians' play. Washburn, a Division II team, will not have anything to prove. Bingham said. During a three-game series, the Jayhawks outscored them 45-5. "Washburn won't be worried with that," he said. The Washburn pitching staff kept Bethany hitless in both Saturday games. The Ichaibods are coming off a weekend in which they won three of four games. Washburn swept a double-header from Bethany College Saturday and split a doubleheader with Benedictine College Sunday. In the first Bethany game, Brad Foster, a senior from Topeka, completed a complete no-hitter in the 12-0 victory. In the second game, three i-chub pitches combined on a wild pitch. The win won the game 6-5 after allowing five unearned runs. Washburn coach Steve Anson said that he hoped his pitching staff would continue its success against the "I think we've got good depth, but the caliber of hitters we faced this weekend won't be like Kansas," he said. "Our pitching is capable of keeping us in the ball game." Foster will be the starting pitcher for Washburn today. The Jayhawks will counter with freshman Dan Rude. He has pitched 4 1/2 innings this season with a 2.08 ERA.