SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 5, 1993
7
Kansas women hope to tame Ladv Buffs' stampede
By Jay Williams
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's basketball team hopes to bring a mile-high Colorado team back down to earth tonight.
Fifth-ranked Colorado, 18-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big Eight Conference, will visit Allen Field House at 7 p.m. The Lady Buffers are tied for first in the conference with Oklahoma State.
The Lady Buffs reached No.4 earlier this season, the highest ranking for a Big Eight women's team since the 1981 Jayhawks, led by All-American Lynette Woodard, reached No.2.
Kansas, 11-6 overall and 4-3 in the conference, has won five of its last six games, including last Sunday's 58-51
victory at Kansas State.
Kansas and Colorado played Jan. 10 in Boulder, with Colorado winning 80-71. The Jayhawks trailed by 1 at halftime but closed to within five points late in the contest before Colorado pulled away.
Kansas coach Marian Washington said the Colorado game was the team's best conference game this season.
"Colorado was the best in terms of team effort and having our intensity at the level we need to play at," she said.
Kansas was whistled for 15 fouls in the first half of that game. Colorado was called for four. That put the Jayhawks in an early hole.
"In the second half, we outplayed them." Washington said.
Sophomore forward Angela Aycox led the Jayhawks with 24 points and five steals in that game. She said Colorado had the edge in experience against the Jayhawks. The Lady Buffs start four seniors and one sophomore, while the Jayhawks start two juniors, two sophomores and one freshman.
"We had 27 turnovers," she said. "It's a wonder we didn't get blown out."
Aycock turnovers told the story of the first Colorado game.
Colorado first gained nationwide attention by upsetting no-No. 4 Iowa 72-70 in the Florida International Tournament in Miami. That victory vaulted Colorado into the Top 10.
In Big Eight play, Colorado is beating opponents by an average of 16
points a game. The Lady Buffs are second in the conference in team defense, yielding 56.7 points a game. They lead the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 48 percent.
Missouri nipped Kansas 64-62 in the teams' first meeting in Columbia.
Colorado's only loss came at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers crused to a 62-50 victory, breaking Colorado's 15-game winning streak.
The Jayhawks will play Missouri at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Jayhawks and Tigers are tied for fourth in the conference.
Kansas leads the all-time series against Colorado 15-12. The Jayhawks also hold a 20-19 overall edge against Missouri.
Kansas Jayhawks
record:
11-6
head coach:
Marian Washington
Probable Star
Charles Sampson
G Fr. 5-10 13.3 ppg
Michelle Leathers
G Jr. 5-6 4.6 ppg
Angela Aycock
F So. 6-2 16.1 ppg
Caryn Shinn
F So. 5-10 4.3 ppg
Lisa Tate
C L
C Jr. 6-3 10.4 ppg
Tonight at 7
Source: Kansas Sports Information
Allen Field House
Lawrence
Boston 1100 KMA
Colorado Lady Buffs
record:
18-1
head coach:
Ceal Barry
Probable Starters:
■ Shelley Sheetz
G So. 5-16 15.7 pp
■ Stephanie Mack
G Sr. 5-6 5.8 pp
■ Mindy Henry
F Sr. 6-12 14.4
■ Amy Mathen
F Sr. 5-9 7.9 pp
■ Abby Wirfs
C Sr. 6-2 9.5 pp
Radio: 1410 KMAJ
Hancock will return against 'Huskers
Andrew Hodges / KANSAN
Jayhawks will travel to Lincoln
By David Dorsey
Kansan sportswriter
Junior forward Darrin Hancock will be back in action Sunday at Nebraska, when the Kansas basketball team meets the Cornhuskers for the first time this season.
Hancock, who had surgery on both eyes last week, has been out of the lineup since the Jayhawks lost to Long Beach State on Jan. 25. His eyes were injured Jan. 23 at Colorado.
Against Long Beach State, Hancock set career highs with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Williams said he hoped it wouldn't take long for the forward to resume playing as well as he did against the 48ers.
"If I feel like Darrin's conditioning is good enough and he is mentally ready, then I'll start him," Williams said.
Kansas coach Roy Williams sad he would not know until tomorrow if Hancock would resume his starting role. Junior Steve Woodberry started in place of Hancock last week against Rollins and Monday against Missouri.
The Jayhawks, 18-2 and 5-0 in Big Eight Conference play, will meet the Cornhuskers, 14-7 and 2-4, for the 200th time in the history of the two schools. Kansas has not won in Lincoln since 1990, and Nebraska has not lost at home this season. Nebraska is
"I've always felt as a coach that if a guy loses his spot because of injury, he's going to get the spot back when he's 100 percent and ready to go," he said. "But everybody knows how I feel about Steve. I can guarantee that if Steve doesn't start, he'll still play his tail off."
Source: Kansas Sports Information
coming off a 96-69 loss Wednesday at Iowa State.
Andrew Hodges / KANSAN
"Any time you lose like that it's going to have one of two effects," Williams said. "It's going to make you more hungry, or you're going to go down. I tend to think that with most good teams with good leadership, it makes you more hungry."
"And it's no secret that they are much more confident at home."
Kansas junior forward Richard Scott, who leads the dayhawks in field goal percentage at 66.9 percent, said that playing on the road was tough because teams usually played better at home, not because they were playing in a different setting.
"It's not the arena," Scott said. "It's the players. It's the team coming out hard and ready to play. Nebraska has some big guys inside. We're going to have to go up there and concentrate." Scott credited his teammates for his success.
"I feel aggressive on offense, but I just think my teammates give me the ball in great situations," he said.
Those situations led to Scott making 9-10 off shots Jan. 23 against Colorado, and all seven attempts last week against Rollins, Scott, who has
made 99 of 148 shots this season, needs one more field goal to be listed among the nation's leaders.
Scott will get his chance Sunday against the likes of Nebraska junior forward Bruce Chubick and senior center Derrick Chandler, who have 13 and 33 blocked shots, respectively. The Cornhuskers are led offensively by junior guard Eric Piattowski, who averages 16 points a game. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. at Devany Center and the game will be televised on ABC, channels 9 and 14.
Courtside:
Kansas returns home Wednesday against Oklahoma State for the teams' first meeting of the season.
■ The Kansas Athletic Department has obtained 30 tickets for Kansas students for the Kansas-Missouri game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13 in Columbia, Mo. The tickets cost $2 and will go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday. Students are limited to one ticket each on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The Kansas-Missouri game will be the second meeting between the two schools in 12 days. The Jayhawks defeated the Tigers 86-69 Monday at Allen Field House.
Eye on Darrin Hancock
Junior forward Darrin Hancock suffered retina damage during the Kansas-Colorado basketball game Jan. 23 leaving him unable to play in either the Rollins or Missouri games this week. A Colorado player, vining to save the ball going out-of-bounds, threw the ball back onto the court hitting Hancock in the face.
The damage
1 The impact of the ball caused trauma at least 4 to 5 tears in each eye.
The retina tears are small and have not caused any significant loss of eyesight. However, if left untreated, the vitreous fluid, in the eye, can be weakened under the retina causing it to detach and resulting in partial or total loss of sight.
The tears are in the peripheral retina, the region along the inside sides of the eyeball where little of the images that are transmitted to the brain are received. If the tears had been toward the inside back of the eye, Hancock's eyesight would have been impaired.
The treatment
Hancock underwent two retinal
stem test, one for each eye,
Kansas City
The surgeries were done with a laser, which focused its team on the edges of the tears to cauterize and seal the rest of the retina off from the vitreous fluid. Because the tears are on the sides, the laser was bounced off a small, angled mirror located in a type of contact lens. The laser bounced from the mirror up through the pupil where it focused on the tears.
The tears may never completely heal, but there is no more danger of further loss of sight because of this injury. Hancock probably will wear a new basketball career or rest of his basketball career to protect himself from future retinal trauma.
Sources: Dr. Lvvn W. O'Neal, M.D., Kansas Sports Information, Gray's Anatomy
Celtics retire Bird's No. 33 in honor of 13-year career
Sean M. Tevis / KANSAN
The Associated Press
BOSTON — Larry Bird donned his old Celtics' warmup suit and, for one last night, chants of "La-reee. La-reee. La-reee" rained down from an adoring, packed house at Boston Garden.
The postponed Celtics retired Bird's No. 33 yesterday, hoisting it to the dusty raffers on a green-and-white banner. Fans packed the Garden even though there was no game.
Bird could do almost everything on a basketball court. He couldn't turn back the clock.
"I never put on a uniform to play a game. I put on a uniform to win." Bird, who wore his warmup for the entire ceremony, told the crowd. "I'm going to miss running the pick and roll with Robert Parish. I'm going to miss throwing the ball down low to Kevin McHale and watch him do his work.
BUT, never one to back down on the court, finally gave in to the agony and retired Aug. 18 after a 13-year NBA career.
"I did my very best to please each and every one of you. Tonight, my basketball career is officially over, and I had a blast."
Magic Johnson, who entered the NBA with Bird in 1979 and retired before this season said to Bird, "Larry, there will never, ever, ever be another Larry Bird. I love you. I respect you."
"Now I know why your back has been hurting." Quinn Buckner said. "You had to carry us for all of those years."
Former teammates who attended exchanged casual, humorous banter and serious words of praise.
Johnson gave one of his Laker jerseys to Bird. He had signed it and wrote, in part, to "the greatest basketball player ever."
And, then, Bird added, "We had a great time, and it's all over, baddy."
Bird then gave one of his Celtic jerseys to Johnson and said, "I signed yours on the back because that's all I ever saw of you."
Track team set for invitational
By Blake Spurney
Kansas sportwriter
Junior Ladd McClain leads the men's trunk team in push-ups. The men will compete tomorrow in the Javawk Invitation at Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas men's and women's track teams will be in action for the fourth consecutive weekend when they lace up their spikes Saturday at the Jayhawk Invitational in Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
The Jayhawks are coming off what Coach Gary Schwartz called a disappointing third-place finish in last weekend's KU-KSU-MU Triangular. Team scores will not be kept at tomorrow's meet, however. That will give the field athletes an opportunity to refine their techniques and the runners a chance to work on their time and endurance.
Junior long, jumper Harun Hazim said the team still was training heavily in preparation for some important meets down the line. The athletes need to have some good performances tomorrow to prove that they are not flukes, he said.
"We'll get a chance after the team meet last weekend to concentrate on some individual things," Schwartz said.
Many of Kauasus' athletes have had difficulty just staying healthy this season. One of those is sophomore middle distance runner KRIstien Kloster, who still is inactive due to an undetermined leg injury.
Hazim placed first in his event last weekend. Despite that success, he said he had struggled recently with his approach before jumps.
The good news is her injury is not a stress fracture, Schwartz said, but the bad news is that her ailment has yet to be diagnosed.
Sophomore sprinter Natasha Shafer
said that in spite of Kansas' injuries, the team was working hard. She will be going for her fourth consecutive victories in both the 55- and 200-meter dashes.
"I think everybody's doing good so far, considering the injuries," she said. However, she added, "I don't think anybody's broken any records."
The first event at Saturday's meet will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the meet will last until early evening. Schwartz said.
Approximately 1,000 athletes have registered to compete on Saturday, a majority of which are from NAIA and NCAA Division II schools and junior colleges.
BRIEFS
illinois' buzzer-shot beats Iowa
CHAMPAIGN, III. — Forward Andy Kaufmann hit a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer last night to give Illinois a 78-77 victory against No. 9 Iowa.
The Associated Press
Illinois, 13-6, trailed 77-75 with 1.5 seconds left when Kaufmann got the ball near midcourt, turned, dribbled, spun and fired in a 22-foot shot.
Four Illinois players scored in double figures, and Kaufmann finished the contest with a game-high 25 points.
iowa players, thinking time had expired, left the court to celebrate, but Illinois got a time out and officials increased the time on the clock from .5 to 1.5 seconds.
Kaufmann's basket came after Iowa appeared to have clinched the victory on a fluke basket. It appeared the ball was accidentally tipped in by an Illinois player.
Wake Forest holds off N.C. State
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. The Atlantic Coast Conference road warriors continued to roll last night.
Rodney Rogers scored 21 points, and Randolph Childress added 20 as No. 13 Wake Forest won its sixth straight ACC game — and fourth away from home — with a 65-54 victory against North Carolina State.
The Demon Deacons, 14-3 overall and 6-2 in the conference, overcame an 11-point first-half deficit to post their longest ACC winning streak since 1963, when they took eight in a row.
the victory also forged a three-way tie atop the ACC standings between the Demon Deacons, No. 6 North Carolina and No. 12 Florida State.
The Wolfpack, the league's worst offensive team, did not score for 60.8 during one stretch of the second half and made only 6 of 23 three-point attempts. N.C. State is 5.11 overall and 1.7 in the ACC.