SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 19, 1993
9
Struggling'Hawks to face floundering'Cats
Kansas seeks to regain poise against K-State
By David Dorsey
Kansas sportswriter
Kansas coach Roy Williams said that the Big Eight Conference race had intensified, which might have led to the Jayhawks' 80-77 loss to Oklahoma on Wednesday, its second conference loss of the season.
With Wednesday's loss, the Jayhawks, 20-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference, lost their two-game conference lead. Oklahoma State is just one game behind the 'Hawks at 6-4. Three other teams, including Kansas State, are within two games of Kansas.
K-State and Kansas tupoff at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Allen Field House.
"When you're ahead of everyone you tend to want to protect something," Williams said yesterday at a news conference. "You become more conservative. You begin thinking, 'Maybe I shouldn't be shooting this shot.'"
Kansas, who led the nation in field goal shooting percentage until this week, shot just 38 percent against Oklahoma. That was the second-lowest percentage during the Williams era. The lowest, 31 percent, occurred last month when the Jayhaws lost at home to Long Beach State.
"Most of the time, there's not a lot mechanically wrong with the shots," Williams said. "A lot of it has to do with mental preparation. A high level of concentration over a long season, particularly at this level, is hard to maintain, and I don't think much attention was paid to what I said at halftime."
"Maybe it's childish punishment," he said. "B I wanted them to watch
Three minutes into the second half, Williams benched all five starters at once, a tactic he used for only the second time in his coaching career.
the game and concentrate on what was happening."
After reflecting on the team's performance against Oklahoma, Williams said he also wanted to look at the three most recent losses and compare them.
"I think we have to dig down deep, take a look a those losses, look at what they do and see if there's something in common with them," he said. "Long Beach controlled the tempo, Nebraska did not. Oklahoma did in their own way."
The Jayhawks will try to control the Wildcats tomorrow afternoon, and once again, Williams said he expected both teams to be fired up. Both teams are coming off conference losses. The Wildcats lost to Colorado 88-77 Tuesday.
"My guess is they'll try to spend a lot of time working on their defense to prepare," Williams said. "No. 1."
they're going to be enthused because they're playing Kansas. And No. 2. they know they can pull us back to the pack more, which would push them a little bit farther ahead."
After Oklahoma defeated Kansas, senior guard Rex Walters said he wanted to shake off that losing feeling immediately — by having his way with the Wildcats.
"I'd like to play them right now." Walters said. "Losing is such a bad feeling. I don't understand why we're not hitting our shots."
Walters will get his chance tomorrow afternoon against a K-State squad that was ranked No. 23 in the nation last week but has lost three of its last four games.
The Wildcats, 15-6 and 5-4, are led by senior forward Vincent Jackson, who averages 13.6 points a game. Junior forward Askia Jones follows with 13 points a game, and junior point guard Anthony Beane has 99 assists and 27 steals this season.
Looking at the remainder of the season optimistically, Kansas junior forward Patrick Richey said he was confident that the Jayhawks' fortunes would turn around.
"We have to figure out whatever's going wrong and get back to where we were before." Richey said. "We'll be all right."
Kansas Jayhawks
record:
20-4, 7-2
head coach:
Roy Williams
Probable Starters
■ Rex Walters
G Sr. 6-4 13.5 pp
■ Adonis Jordan
G Sr. 5-11 12.4 pp
■ Richard Scott
F Jr. 6-7 11.1 pp
■ Darin Hancock
F Jr. 6-7 8.3 pp
■ Eric Paule
C Sr. 6-10 12.1 pp
**Probable Starters:**
* Vincent Jackson*
G Sr 6-14 3.6 ppg
* Anthony Beane*
G Jr 5-10 9.4 ppg
* Askia Jones*
F Jr 6-5 13.0 ppg
* Aaron Collier*
F Sr 6-6 9.0 ppg
* Deryl Cunningham*
C Jr 6-7 10.1 ppg
Source: Kansas Sports Information
record:
15-6, 5-4
head coach:
Dana Altman
Kansas State Wildcats
Andrew Hodges / KANSAN
Kansas' forward Darrin Hancock, foreground, guards Kansas State's Vincent Jackson as center Era Paulie anticipates the pass to K-State's D煞Y Cunningham. Kansas will meet the Wildcats at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Allen Field House.
Senior high jumper Marybeth Labosky clears the bar during practice. Kansas travels to Manhattan this weekend.
Track teams head to K-State
"It's a basic tune-up for the Big Eight meet," Schwartz said. "The way we approach it is we look at every athlete to see if they should rest or compete."
The Kansas men's and women's track teams will make their third trip of the season to Manhattan tomorrow for the Kansas State Invitational.
Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said the meet was an opportunity for some athletes to prepare for the Big Eight Conference Indoors next weekend in Ames, Iowa.
Jayhawks to focus on preparations for Big 8 Indoors
Team scores will not be kept in Saturday's meet, which will feature mostly Division II, NAIA and junior college teams.
By Blake Spurney
Kansan sportswriter
Three other Jayhawks have been out with injuries for the whole season. They are sophomore Kristi Kloster, a middle distance runner, and junior pole vaulters Brandon Blain and John Bazzoni. Schwartz said that Blain would miss the rest of the season. Klester and Bazzoni will resume training.
One athlete, senior Jon Handy, will be running for the first time this season. He is one of many on the team who has been battling injuries this spring.
The prognosis on sophomore sprinter Natasha Shafer, who pulled a hamstring in the Cornhusker Invitational last weekend, will not be known until Monday. She won both the 55 and 200-meter dashes in each of the first four meets.
meet, she was still going to compete hard.
Schwartz said that every healthy field athlete would compete, but that some of the long distance runners would stay home to rest.
All-American high jumper Marybeth Labosky, a senior, said that even though it was not a high-intensity
"I am because I have a difficult time not doing it," she said.
compete in the Big Eight," Schwartz said.
Sophomore high jumper Nick Johansen said that he thought the men could improve upon last year's finish.
The meet at Kansas State comes five days after former K-State track coach John Criotti admitted he had violated NCAA rules by paying several athletes.
Both the Big Eight Indoor and Outdoor meets are the focus of the season for the team. The women's team placed second in indoors last year and the men's team placed fifth.
"I think we'll be pretty competitive in most of the events," he said.
Schwartz would not comment on the situation and said that he did not know any of the details.
Jayhawks hope to improve offense
Note:
Kansas dropped its season opener against Grand Canyon University 4-3 but won its next two games, producing 21 runs in the process. Southeast Missouri State, a Division I team in Cape Girardeau, is opening its season against Kansas. It was 13-7 on the Ohio Valley Conference and 22-27 overall
The Kansas track office is looking for student volunteers for the Kansas Relays, which will be held April 14 through 17. Those who are interested can contact Jean Thoma at 864-3486 or stop by the track office at 143 Allen Field House.
Although Bingham was concerned about his players swinging for the fences last weekend, he was pleased about the play of two sophomores, left fielder Josh Igou and third baseman Brent Wilhelm.
"We'll be lucky if she'll be able to
By Brady Prauser
Kansan sportswriter
Team switches game plan this weekend against Southeast Missouri State
"Offensively, we have to get less selfish and hit the ball all over the field." Bingham said about his batters' debut performance last weekend. "We are trying to hit home runs instead of doubles. We can win a lot more games when we concentrate on hitting for average than on hitting home runs."
Igou had five hits and reached base in 12 of 14 plate appearances. Wilhelm drove in two runs and had six hits.
"They made good hard contact," Bingham said. "They are a very intense attack."
Integral parts of the pitching staff early this season have been seniors David Soult and Tom Stewart. Both pitchedms the first steps of their
Two bases at a time instead of four. That is what Kansas baseball coach Dave Bingham wants his team to concentrate on when they step up to the plate this weekend against Southeast Missouri State in a three-game series
two bases at a time instead of four
The Jayhawks were scheduled to play the Indians today, but the game was postponed because of snow. They will play a double-header Sunday and one game on Monday.
"You just have to not worry about it and go out and pitch." Corn said.
Corn will start Sunday's first game, and classmate David Meyer, a left-hander, will pitch the second game. Freshman right-handler Jamie Splitterf will start Monday. All three have no decisions this season.
careers against Grand Canyon, winning one game each.
In the three innings he pitched against Grand Canyon, Corn said that he was somewhat anxious and that it affected his performance. He said he would try to relax more on the mound against Southeast Missouri State.
last season.
Corn said it was important that the Jayhawks find fourth and fifth starting pitchers who could get the team into at least the fifth inning without giving up many runs.
Pitching is an early question mark for the Jayhawks, but Bingham said the performance of Soult and Stewart encouraged him.
"They picked us up and put us in the position to win," Corn said. "It is a lot easier to play that way."
Junior right-hander Chris Corn also was encouraged by their performance.
Sources. Kansas Sports Information. Grand Canyon Sports Information
Andrew Hodgges / KANSAN