JAYHAWK
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Basketball
Inside Sports today
Despite dreary weather, the Kansas baseball team opened the season with a sweep of the San Diego State Aztecs. SEE PAGE 4B
Saturday's game - Kansas vs. Kansas State
KANSAS
27-3,11-1
RANKED NO.4 73
WWW.JHAWKBBALL.COM
SECTION B, PAGE 1
KANSAS STATE 58
15-7,6-6
UNRANKED
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1998
Jayhawks to finish Buffalo hunt
The Starting Lineup
KANSAS
JAYHAWKS
11-1 Big 12, 27-3 overall
G RYAN ROBERTSON 6-5 JR.
G BILLY THOMAS 6-4 SR.
F PAUL PIERCE 6-7 JR.
F T.J. PUGH 6-8 JR.
RAEF LAFRENTZ 6-11 SR.
COLORADO BUFFALOES 6-6 Big 12, 12-10 overall
G MARLON HUGHES 6-0 Sr.
G HOWARD FRIER 6-2 Sr.
G KANNY PRICE 6-4 Jr.
F RONNE DEGRAY 6-6 Sr.
C CHARLIE MELVIN 6-10 Sr.
TV: 8:30 p.m., ESPN CH.18 Radio: KLWN 1320 AM
By Tommy Gallagher
Kansan sportswriter
The Jayhawks have a three-game lead in
and could further distance themselves from other conference teams with a win.
The Jayhawks defeated Colorado 111-62 without forwards Raef LaFrentz and T.J. Pugh on Jan. 7 at Allen Field House. Kansas now has a healthy roster.
LaFrentz said winning on the road seemed to be more difficult for opponents than for the Jayhawks.
"I think we're the exception to the rule."
LaFrentz said. "I think we can win on the road. We go into each game very confident
Pierce: can't wait to face the crowd in Colorado tonight.
of what we can do. I don't know why people have such trouble winning on the road. The floor may be a different color, but the rim's still orange and the ball's still orange."
Kansas is 6-3 on the road this season. It has lost at Missouri, Hawaii and Maryland.
Kansas forward Paul Pierce said he revealed in the role of neighborhood bully as the Javahawks prepared for the Buffaloes.
"The crowd really gets into it whenever we go anywhere," Pierce said. "We have been in some tough environments before, and we've played well. I like being on the road, playing against crowds like this because it really gets us going."
Kansas appears to have the advantage against Colorado.
The Buffaloes rank last in the conference in both offensive and defensive goal percentages. They shoot 40.5 percent from the field while their opponents hit 45.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks rank No. 2 in the country in scoring offense with 86.4 points per game. Kansas also leads the Big 12 in scoring and rebounding margins, offensive field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage.
"The floor may be a different color, but the rim's still orange and the ball's still orange."
Raef LaFrentz
Kansas forward
Although Colorado has a few experienced leaders, it remains a young team. Five freshmen are on the team, and the Buffaloes lack the depth they had last season when they reached the NCAA Tournament.
Regardless, Kansas will be playing on the road, the one place where opponents have found solace against one of the nation's most explosive teams.
Pierce said that the Jayhawks tried to turn opposing crowds to their advantage during a game.
"Some teams go into a tough environment and let the crowd get to them," Pierce said. "But we're not a ball club that will let the crowd get to us. When a team makes a big run, we try and bounce back. When the crowd cheers them on, I feel like they're cheering for us. That helps us out."
Fifteen and counting
Kansas hasn't lost a game in Manhattan since 1983
By Tommy Gallagher
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are the only teams that own winning records on the road this season in conference play.
The Jayhawks, who had won 14 consecutive games in Manhattan, extended that streak to 15 on Saturday with a 73-58 victory against Kansas State in Bramlage Coliseum.
MANHATTAN - No. 4 Kansas has made a routine out of winning games away from home this season, which is something a select few Big 12 Conference schools can boast about.
Forward Reef LaFrentz, who recorded game highs with 24 points and nine rebounds, said that coach Roy Williams motivated the Jayhawks not to be the team that ended the Kansas winning streak in Manhattan.
"He told us to just go play hard and prolong the streak for one more year because it has to end sometime," LaFrentz said. "I don't have to worry about it anymore. I've won four in a row here and I'm through."
The Jayhawks never trailed Saturday, but K-State did lurk around for a late rally before Kansas pulled away.
Kansas jumped out to a 16-9 lead early. K-State slashed the lead to 25-21 late in the first half, and the Jayhawks pushed the advantage to 38-30 at the intermission despite a 1-for-8 shooting performance by forward Paul Pierce.
Pierce, who played only 11 minutes of the second half because of foul trouble, was 3-for-14 from the floor and finished with 13 points and five rebounds.
LaFrentz and Pierce spurred an 8-1 run to start the second half, giving Kansas its largest lead of the day at 46-31. The Wildcats slowly chipped away at the lead, but could pull no closer than eight points before LaFrentz
sealed the game.
LaFrentz scored 10 consecutive points down the stretch, including a three-point shot, and helped the Jayhawks protect a double-digit lead. Kansas finished the game with a 7-0 run as the Wildcats' dreams of an upset were dashed.
Pierce said the Jayhawks never allowed K-State and its fans to gain momentum when they most needed it.
"We kept them from making the big runs that they needed," Pierce said. "We were able to counter them on the offensive end when our defense wasn't going.
"We traded baskets, so we were able to keep it an eight- to 10-point game most of the time," he said. "We were able to stop their run."
KANSAS 73, KANSAS STATE 58
KANSAS (27-3)
Pugh 2-6-3-4-7, Pierce 3-14-7-9-13, LaFrentz 10-18-3-5-24, Robertson 2-10-5-2, Thomas 4-7-3-13, Earl 0-3-2-2-2, Gregory 1-3-0-3, Bradford 1-1-0-2, McGrath 1-1-0-2, Chenowith 1-2-0-2. Total 25-8-18-23-73.
Dies 3-12-2-2, Reid 1-4-5-9, Rhodes 1-5-0-2,
Swartzendruber 2-8-4-10, Davis 0-1-0-1-2,
Vajiljevic 0-2-0-0, Griffin 1-2-2-2, Lopez 0-
1-0-0, May 5-7-0-11, McColough 4-5-1-20,
Sims 1-1-2-4. Totals 18-47 17-23 58.
Halftime—Kansas 38, Kansas St. 30, 3-Point goals—Kansas 5-10 (Thomas 2-5, LaFrentz 1-1, Robertson 1-1, Gregory 2-1, Pierce 0-1), Kansas St. 5-18 (Swartzentbruder 2-6, Reid 1-3, May 1-2, McCollough 1-2, Vajilevic 0-1, Griffin 0-1, Lopez 0-1, Rhodes 0-2.) Fouled out—Rhodes. Rebounds—Kansas 37 (LaFrentz 9), Kansas St. 32 (Dies 6).
Raef LaFrentz works his way through Kansas State's Manny Dies and Aaron Swartzdrubber. Photo by Steve Puppe/KANSAN
Raef LaFrentz, Kansas silence Kansas State's Dies
By John Blakely Wilson Kansan Sportswriter
Kansas State power forward Manny Dies torched Kansas for 26 points and 11 rebounds Jan. 17 in a 69-62 Jayhawk victory. But Kansas All-American Raef LaFrentz didn't play because of injury.
Williams: had his players focus on Kansas State forward Manny Dies
LaFrentz, along with postmates T.J. Pugh, Eric Chenowith and Lester Earl, held Dies to eight points and six rebounds as Kansas beat the Wildcats 73-58 in Manhat-
Raef was back on Saturday.
tan. The Jayhawks nullified Kansas State's interior game.
Kansas knocked Dies around in the lane throughout the game. This strong inside play translated into the plus-14 rebound margin—versus an even margin in the first game—and a three for 12 shooting day for Dies.
"I'd like to think they scouted me harder after the game in Lawrence," Dies said. "But Raef is a great player, and they have a bunch of other solid big guys."
Kansas head coach Roy Williams said he had challenged his interior
players before the game to stop Dies.
"In the first game, Manny was getting the ball deep in the lane." Williams said. "We focused on taking away his space to get shots off."
Since LaFrentz returned from injury against Texas Tech on Jan. 24, the Jayhawks have won six games in a row and outscored their opponents by an average of 23.8 points per game.
With a much-improved Dies hounding his every move, LaFrentz clinched victory down the stretch with eight points in the
last four minutes, including a three-pointer.
"He was talking smack on me at the end, but then I took the charge and hit the three-pointer to quiet him down," LaFrentz said.
Dies voiced frustration at losing a seventh consecutive game to Kansas during his three-year career.
"It's hard when you've been here so many years and you still can't beat them," Dies said. "They took advantage of our mistakes and they had Raef back. They're just a better team."
Commentary
Kansas fan's sign banned rights violated
I've had it with students who continually turn away from the wrongdoings of the Athletics Department and the people within the department who constantly commit wrongs.
For those who haven't heard, University student Rick Thomas was told that he could not hold his sign in Allen Field House during the Texas Tech game earlier this year. The sign said, "I'm blind, I'm deaf, I wanna be a ref."
An usher, under the authority of the
department, deemed this unacceptable. The fear was that this sign might have made it on television and therefore tarnish the image of a school that accepted NCAA violator Lester Earl.
Was the sign crass? Yes. But denying Thomas the right to take it
Spencer Duncan
sports@kansan.com
into the field house was a blatant violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
This is the department's version of book-burning.
Of course, the department doesn't see it that way.
Thomas was trying to take a sign into a public forum, and as journalism professor and attorney Ted Fredrickson explained, the game is considered a "dedicated forum." That means Thomas had every right to take a sign discussing the basketball game into that game, and not allowing him to do so was breaking the law.
Between the lines this obviously means any sign that does not promote the team and make the department look good. But believe it or not some people have a different opinion than that, and they have the right to express it. If Rick Thomas wants to look like a fool holding up his sign, then he has the right to do that.
Pat Warren, associate athletics director and an attorney, points out that the department has a policy that signs and banners may be confiscated if they do not promote good sportsmanship.
It would be interesting to see someone challenge this rule in a court of law. I have a feeling the department would lose.
Give me a break. No sign has ever distracted a team or a referee. At least not any more than, say, the band or people cheering or keys being jingled during a free throw. It's all about distraction and to save otherwise is foolish.
Warren pointed out that one reason signs like Thomas' cannot be allowed into the game is that things like that can disrupt the game. It could distract the referees and the players.
But more important is the idea that a somewhat offensive sign by a student is more distracting than the catcalls during a game by alumni and non-students.
Warren claims that not allowing these signs into the game goes along the same lines as not allowing people to scream racial slurs during a game. But how often are non-students thrown out of the field house or told to be quiet because of the garbage that comes out of their mouths?
There is more to this issue than the gross civil rights violation.
In the last few weeks I have heard, on a regular basis, people with seats close to the courts yell things could incite violence on the street.
I heard one woman yell at a referee that he was so fat that he couldn't possibly see the ground let alone what was going on in the game. One man screamed out a vulgarity about the color of a Nebraska guard's skin, and during the Kansas State game
See DON'T on page 3B