SPORTS
5
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, March 19, 1993
7
Jayhawks pull away from Cardinals
Kansas eliminates Ball State
Sophomore center Greg Ostertag tips the ball in over junior forward Richard Scott and Ball State sophomore forward Steve Payne. Kansas defeated Ball State 94-72 and will advance to the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
By David Dorsey
By David Dorsey Kansan sportswriter
ROSEMONT, Ill. — Within a matter of seconds, the Kansas mens basketball team blew open what had been a two-point game and turned it into a 10-point lead during its 94-72 rout of Ball State.
The Cardinals dropped out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round, but not before staying with the No. 2-seeded Jawahrak for 30 minutes.
Kansas was up by two points as halftime neared until junior forward Steve Woodberry nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Jayhawks a 48-43 lead.
"I just kept wondering when they were going to miss a shot," said Kansas coach Roy Williams. "I challenged our guys at halftime to pick it up on the defensive end."
Ball State closed in on Kansas after halftime, however, and again came within two points of the Jayhawks.
The Jayhawks responded midway through the second half when Woodberry became the catalyst of an 8-0 run. After making a three-pointer, Woodberry picked off a Ball State pass, led the break, and gave the ball to senior guard Adonis Jordan, who ladd it in.
During the final seven minutes, Kansas outscored Ball State 17-5.
Jordan, who finished with 13 points,
four steals and a season-high 11
assists, credited teammates Rex Walters
and Richard Scott for giving the Javahawks offensive balance.
One possession later, Jordan made a three-pointer to put the Jayhawks ahead 68-58 with 12 minutes remaining.
Walters, senior guard, scored a game-high 23 points and made all six of his three-point attempts. Scott, junior forward, scored 16 points and made five of six first-half shots.
Renee Knoeber / KANSAN
If Rex has his first two shots, nothing but net, he gets hot," Jordan said. "He was my option on the outside, and Richard was hot on the inside."
Kansas 94, Ball State 72
BALL STATE (26-8)
Player fgm/fga ftm/fta tp
Hall 1-2 1-2 0-2
Payne 4-7 1-2 9
Gillis 6-11 2-4 14
James 3-9 1-2 7
Mathews 6-11 5-6 18
Holmes 0-0 0-0
Sylvester 7-8 4-4 18
Hardwick 1-2 0-0 2
Bentendon 0-0 0-0 0
Benson 0-0 0-0 0
Broz 0-1 0-0 2
Turner 1-1 0-0 2
Winders 0-0 0-0 2
Totals 29-55 13-18 72
KANSAS (26-6)
Hancock 1-4 0-0 2
Scott 6-9 4-8 16
Pauley 9-13 0-0 18
Walters 7-9 3-3 23
Jordan 5-15 1-1 13
Ostertag 3-3 2-3 8
Rayford 0-1 0-0 0
Richey 0-4 2-2 2
Woodberry 4-5 0-0 10
Pearson 1-5 0-0 2
Gurley 0-0 0-0 2
Totals 36-64 12-17 94
Halftime Kappa 48, Ball State 43-3 point
goals Bail State 15, Mathews 13, Hard wick 1, Benson 0, I Kansas 10-19 (Wall
6, Woodberry, 2, Jordan 2-8)
Rebounds Bail State 28 (Payne 9, Kansas 10-19)
Assists Bail State 17, Rheic
4 Assists Bail State 10 (Mathews 7),
Kansas 24, Jordan 11) Total fouls Bail
State 16, Kansas 19
Senior Eric Pauley, who sprained his knee during practice on Monday, split playing time at center with sophomore Greg Ostertag. Pauley picked up his four foul with 15 minutes remaining but finished with 18 points. He made four 18-foot jump shots from the top of the key.
"There is no way in the world that they are a No. 15 seed," Walters said.
"They are a really tough team."
Despite the margin of victory, several Jayhawks said the Cardinals had earned their respect.
The Cardinals outbounded the Jayhawks 16-13 during the first half and shot 53 percent from the field for the game.
"They were like animals on the boards," Jordan said. "We couldn't even box them out."
Ball State junior forward Jeermal Sylvester and senior guard Jamie Mathews led the Cardinals with 18
row. The Cougars, 25-8, defeated Southern Methodist yesterday.
"This was a good guitorie for us during a part of the season everybody loves." Scott said. "The losses are behind us. I'm ready to play in the tournament."
points each. Sylvester, like Walters, said he thought his team should have been seeded higher. Ball State was the co-champion of the Mid-American Conference.
"We showed that the MAC Conference can be competitive. We were always there, and we had a chance to do it."
"Kansas is a great team," he said.
Kansas, 26-6, will play Brigham Young in the second round toomor
Walters scores 23 points in front of old teammate
Jayhawk guard ties NCAA record for three-pointers
Renee Knoeber / KANSAN
Guard Rex Walters grabs a rebound over forward Richard Scott and Ball State forward Steve Payne. Walters led the team with 23 points.
By David Dorsey
Kansan sportswriter
ROSEMONT, Ill. — Kansas senior guard Rex Walters' jaw dropped and his eyes widened yesterday at the Rosemont Horizon. And that was before he tied the NCAA Basketball Championship record for the most three-pointers made in a game.
Walters' surprise was due to the arrival of Don Polite, who was a teammate of Walters at Northwestern. Polite, a 6-5 small forward, was a senior during Walter's sophomore season, after which Walters transferred to Kansas.
"There's no question that he's a great player and a great person," Polite said. "He's very loyal to his friends. And even in his warmups, I could tell that he's added a lot of bulk. That's going to help him when he gets to the next level."
Walters, who averages 14.4 points a game, has picked up his scoring this month. He scored a career-high 27
points at Oklahoma State and led Kansas with 22 against Colorado in the Big Eight Tournament.
"I just concentrate on squaring up and getting my feet set," Walters said. "I'm not a ball-watcher. I keep my
Walters was seven of nine from the field overall and hit all three of his free throw attempts. He also contributed five assists and four rebounds.
eyes on the rim the whole time."
He made six of six shots from three-point range, which tied the tournament record and broke the Midwest regional record. The performance helped propel Kansas to a 94-72 victory against Ball State. As a team Kansas hit 10 of 19 three-point attempts. Ball State made just one of five.
Walters embraced his former teammate 30 minutes before yesterday's game in which the Jayhawks' shooting guard scored a game-high 23 points in 29 minutes of action.
Polite, who had not seen Walters since their days as teammates at Northwestern, was impressed with the senior's play.
Andrew Hodges / KANSAN
Source: Kansas Sports Information
Brigham Young advances to NCAA's second round
Cougars to meet Kansas; winner to join Sweet 16
The Associated Press
ROSEMONT, III. — This time, Brighan Young didn't have to contend with Shaquille O'Neal in the first round. The Cougars ended up with a result they liked a whole lot better.
"It was easier this time, a lot easier," said coach Roger Reid after BYU beat Southern Methodist 80-71 yesterday in the NCAA Midwest Region.
Last year, O'Neal and Louisiana State beat BYU 94-83 in a West Regional opener.
It was different playing Shauqliu O'Neal. "Reid said. "He had 14 blocked shots and dominated the inside against us."
Center Gary Trost, who led all scorers with 28 points, and Jared Miller, BYU's rebounding leader with 10, still had plenty to worry about against SMU.
The Cougars, 25-8, advanced to the second round and will play Kansas, a 94.72 winner against Ball State.
The second-round game is at 3:30 tomorrow.
"SMU fought for every rebound,"
SMU, 20-8, made just 36 percent of its field goal attempts and 50 percent of its foul shots.
Trost said, "it was rugged, but that's what it is all about when you get to the NCAAs. We expected a physical game. But it was fun out there."
SMU trailed by as much as 14 in the opening half, but drew within two early in the second half. The Cougars responded with a 3-pointer from Trost and a jam by Russell Larson to go in front 46-39.
SMU used three straight turnovers for a 7-0 run that narrowed the deficit to 74-69, but the Cougars held on by making their free throws down the stretch.
"Their strength is their size. It seems like everybody they send is a 7-footer." he said.
"We just didn't shoot the ball well and the majority of them were shots that we can make," said Shumate.
Mustang coach John Shunate said he thought that BYU's taller squad may have made the difference.
SPORTS EDITOR
The seventh-seeded Cougars, a team dominated by underclassmen, were an at-large entry from the Western Athletic Conference.
Four different Cougars scored as Brigham Young opened the game with a 9-0 run.
Round two:
A Kansas roadblock
Kansas improved its all-time record in the NCAA Tournament to 44-21 yesterday with its first-round victory against Ball State.
However, the road to the Final Four only gets harder. While some people — such as Ball State coach Dick Hunsaker — are heralding Kansas as a final team, others — such as Sports Illustrated's Alexander Wolff — pick Brigham Young University to upset Kansas in the second round.
Oddly enough, both predictions make sense in light of Kansas' recent tournament history. With the exception of Kansas' third-round loss to Georgetown in 1987, Kansas either has lost in the second round or made it all the way to the Final Four in every tournament appearance since 1984.
After back-to-back second-round exits in 1984 and 1985, Coach Larry B肯 guided first round wins in 12 years in 1986.
However, Kansas slumped from its 3-4 1986 record to 25-11 in 1987. The Jayhawks fell to Georgetown in the regional.
In 1888 Kansas was back in the Final Four. With an All-American performance from senior Danny Manning, Brown guided a struggling 19-11 squad to the title with victories against Kansas State, Duke and Oklahoma. All three teams had beaten Kansas at home during the regular season.
In 1898 the Jayhawks, victims of NCAA probation, watched the tournament at home for the first time in six seasons.
However, Kansas was back in the tournament in 1990, and coach Roy Williams guided the Jayhawks to a 30-victory season in just his second year. Kansas was omitted from the preseason polls after the injury-plagued Jayhawks struggled to a 19-12 finish in 1989. However, Kansas won the preseason National Invitational Tournament and was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 for 13 weeks.
Kansas' luck ran out in mid-March. The Hawks lost to Oklahoma in the second round of the Big Eight Conference Tournament 95-77. After slippingpast Robert Morris 79-71 in the first round of the NCAA's, Kansas was upset 71-70 by UCLA in the second round.
After losing four starters, 1991 was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Kansas. Instead, the Jayhawks won the first of three consecutive Big Eight regular-season titles. But again Kansas made a second-round exit from the conference tournament, and most analysts did not pick the Jayhawks to last long in the NCAA's tough Southeast region.
However, Kansas just kept winning, Indiana, Arkansas and North Carolina all fell to the underdog Jayhawks before Duke stopped Kansas in the championship game.
In 1992 Kansas had high expectations and ended the regular season with another Big Eight title. Kansas also won the Big Eight Tournament. Kansas was rewarded for its success with the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region.
kansas destroyed Howard 100-67 in the first round. But the slow-down game of the University of Texas-EI Pao done the Jayhaws to another second-round loss.
Tomorrow Kansas faces a BYU team that won 25 games. Whether the second round will be more friendly to Kansas remains to be seen. If the Jayhawks escape BYU they again could face Duke and Indiana.
If Kansas can get past those same perennial powers it faced in the 1991 tournament, it will earn a place in the Final Four in New York.
To get to the Crescent City, Kansas will have to win in the second round and stay on the road to the Final Four.
David Mitchell is a DeSoto senior majoring in journalism.