Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Kansas baseball coach Bobby Randall will be inducted to the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend.
Basketball Stats
SEE PAGE 8B
An update on the Kansas men's basketball team's individual statistics.
SEE PAGE 8B
Friday
January 16, 1998
Section:
B
Page 1
Swimming & Diving
Coach Gary Kempf and the Kansas swimming and diving teams face Southern Illinois tomorrow.
SEE PAGE 8B
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Record at stake vs. K-State
Kansas forward T.J. Pugh tries to block a shot by Texas A&M guard Brian Barone in College Station, Texas. Pugh played Wednesday night for the first time since suffering a stress fracture in his right foot. Photo by Geoff Kringer / KANSAN
Homecourt win streak longest since 1984-88
By Tommy Gallagher
igallgher@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
No. 3 Kansas will try to match the longest home-court winning streak in school history when it plays Kansas State at 1:05 p.m. tomorrow.
The Jayhawk record is 55 games, a streak that started in 1984 and ended in 1988. But with a possible record and the halftime jersey retirement ceremony of Wilt Chamberlain, Kansas faces a lot of distractions against its in-state rival.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said the Wildcats will play as if they have nothing to lose, and that should work in their favor.
"I'd like to go into a place where somebody thought that we had no chance," Williams said. "I'd like my odds. In college basketball today, we've already seen some crazy things. But it's been a while since we've lost at home, and I hope it stays that way."
Williams said he mentioned the homecourt winning streak to his team for the first time after Wednesday night's victory at Texas A&M. He said he mentioned the streak only out of his concern about the various subplots and feature stories which surround this game.
blazing 9.0 start. K-State lost
After a blazing 9-0 start, K-State lost three of its last five games. All three losses have come on the road, including back-to-back losses against Big 12 Conference opponents Oklahoma and Baylor last week.
Forward Lester Earl and center Eric Chenowith have had some impressive performances early in conference play, which comes as a slight surprise because both players are newcomers.
Earl has averaged 12.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in conference games, while Chenowith has averaged 13.8 points and 10.3 rebounds. Their play has helped Kansas through injuries to frontcourt players.
And with forward T.J. Pugh recovered from a stress fracture on his right foot, the Jayhawks finally found some needed depth in the frontcourt. With an undersized roster, the Wildcats could have a tall order.
K-State coach Tom Asbury said his team has rebounded the ball well this season, but more improvement was necessary to win games on the road.
The Starting Lineup Allen Field House • Lawrence 1:05 p.m. tomorrow
"The last game is absolutely no good in the next game," Asbury said. "You have to crash the boards every night out. You can't pick and choose your spots when you're going to be good and when you're going to be effective. You've got to do the whole thing against well-coached, well-scouted teams on their home floor."
KANSAS
JAYHAWKS
20-2 overall, 4-0 Big 12
G RYAN Robertson 6-5 JR.
G BILLY THOMAS 6-4 SR.
F PAUL PIERCE 6-7 JR.
F LESTER EARL 6-9 Sr.
C ERIC CHENOWITH 7-0 FR.
KANSAS STATE WILDCATS 11-3 overall, 2-2 Big 12
G DUANE DAVIS 5-11 So.
G Avome "Paco" May 6-5 Jr.
F JOSH REID 6-6 So.
F MANNY DIES 6-8 Jr.
C SHAWN RHODES 6-11 Jr.
Wait for Wilt to halt when jersey hangs
By Tommy Gallagher
tgallogher@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Finally, the Big Dipper will loom in the Allen Field House rafters.
Wilt Chamberlain will attend his official jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the Kansas State game tomorrow, and he also will visit campus today for a 2:30 p.m. press conference in Hadi Auditorium.
While Chamberlain has not visited Lawrence since 1975, he said in a recent interview on 1320-AM he continued to follow Jayhawk athletics — and not just basketball — from a distance.
Chamberlain said the Kansas track and field program was, in his words, depressed because of the cancellation of the Kansas Relays last fall. And he questioned the absence of minority players on the volleyball team.
Chamberlain:
Returns to campus today for the first time since 1975.
Chamberlain said he was eager to see if the same atmosphere that surrounded him
at Kansas in 1955-58 could be rekindled in the near future
"Change was about to happen, and people around me were for that change," Chamberlain said. "One of the things that I'm looking forward to as I go back is to see if we can perpetuate how that started and keep it going."
Coming out of high school, Chamberlain was recruited by more than 200 schools. By the time he turned 21, he had been featured in Life. Time. Look and Newsweek.
In two years playing varsity basketball at Kansas, Chamberlain averaged 29.9 points and 18.9 rebounds per game, both school records. He also earned letters in track and field.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said yesterday that most young basketball players today did not know about Chamberlain and about Kansas' basketball tradition.
"Kids don't know tradition and history," Williams said. "You'll find one every now and then, but most of those kids nowadays think that Michael Jordan invented the game. They don't know anything else."
"My first year here, I went into 18 homes and asked 18 different kids where they think Wilt Chamberlain went to school," he said. "One kid knew. That was Adonis (Jordan), and I gave him a scholarship.
Kansas center Eric Chenowith knew about Chamberlain before coming to Kansas. His father is an avid Los Angeles Lakers fan.
Chenowith said he was eager about Chamberlain's return and about the halftime ceremony.
"I remember watching him with the Lakers," Chenowith said. "As a California kid, I still have tapes of him playing with them. So to find out that he's coming back is really special because I want to meet him. He was a great, great player, so this is going to be real exciting for me."
LaFrentz longing for return to boards
By Eric Weslander Kansan sports editor
Kansas forward Raef LaFrentz paused for a few tedious moments.
A reporter had asked him whether the broken bone in his right hand — an injury that will bench him for at least two more weeks — made him regret returning
A thoughtful expression crossed his face. The room grew quiet.
kansas for his senior year.
Raef LaFrentz:
Says time on the bench is toug
After about five seconds of serious contemplation, he answered with a firm "No." The assembled media members eased back from the edge of their seats.
"There are ups and downs," he said. "With each passing day, it's tougher and tougher for me."
Yesterday, at his first press conference since the Dec. 26 injury, LaFrentze made no pretense that his time spent on the bench has been easy.
He misses the rivalries — this weekend, he will watch from the sidelines as his teammates take on Kansas State and Missouri
After about five seconds of serious conduction
He misses practicing, something he said he had become tired of before the injury.
"It if was my decision, I would have probably sat out the games in Hawaii, and when we got back here I would have started playing again," he said. "It's just my right hand. I never use that anyway."
But most of all, he said, he missed playing the game.
That argument doesn't work on Coach Roy Williams. "I'm not going to take chances with him," Williams said.
See X-RAYS on page 2B
Kansas to confront hostile Tiger country
By Kevin C. Wilson Kansan sportswriter
On the road again.
That's where the Kansas women's basketball team is headed when it travels to Columbia tomorrow to take on the Missouri Tigers.
Unfortunately, the Jayhawks have yet to notch a Big 12 Conference road win this season and they are looking to beat a Missouri team that is 7-1 at the Hearnes Center this season. The Tigers' only home defeat came at the hands of No. 5 Texas Tech.
"I know there won't be a lot of people there cheering for us," Johnson said. "It's going to be tough, but we need to match their intensity if we want to win."
Kansas forward Jaclyn Johnson said she was looking forward to playing in front of a hostile crowd.
Coach Marian Washington said it was important for the team to get its first conference road win of the season, especially since Kansas has not beaten the Tigers in Columbia since Jan. 25, 1995.
Kansas is 2-2 within the Big 12 and 10-3 overall.
Washington said playing at Missouri presented a real challenge.
She said her players always get up for the Missouri game and this year the Jayhawks have an added incentive to win.
"We picked up their media guide and in the players section a lot of them listed that their highlight of last year was beating Kansas," Washington said. "We've decided to present that to our players because we,
especially our young players, need to know how important that game was to Missouri."
The Tigers, 9-5 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12, are coming off Tuesday night's 72-56 home win against Kansas State. The Wildcats defeated the Jayhawks on Jan. 7 by a score of 53-47.
Center Kesha Bonds and guard Julie Helm provide the Tigers with a potent inside and outside attack. Bonds has averaged a double-double for the season with 14.8 points and 11.2 rebounds a game and leads the team in field goal percentage at 57.6 percent. Helm, last year's Big 12 Freshman of the Year, leads the Tigers in scoring with 21.1 points a game and has been their leading score in 13 of their 14 games this season.
Coach Marian Washington said this was probably one of Missouri's most experienced — all five starters returned from last year's squad — and strongest teams in awhile.
The Jayhawks seek to ride the momentum they created in their last two emotional home wins to their third straight victory. Johnson said yesterday's day off would help keep the winning streak intact.
"It was great to be able to go home yesterday and not have anything to do," Johnson said. "We needed to recuperate and get ready for Saturday because I've heard it's hard to win in Columbia."
"Right now the Big 12 is wide open," Johnson said. "Anyone can take it."
Johnson said the team will continue to play hard and hopefully wins and a Big 12 title will follow.
Kansas guard Shandy Robbins drives for the basket during a game against Arizona State during winter break. The Jayhawks travel to Missouri on Saturday. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN