SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, January 14, 1993
9
Oral Roberts coach praises No.4 Jayhawks
Dan Schauer / KANSAN
By David Dorsey
Kansan sportswriter
A struggling Oral Roberts basketball team faces No. 4 Kansas tonight at Allen Field House in a game that Titan coach Ken Trickey, Sr. said would challenge his players more than any other this season.
The Titans, 3-9, are coming off a four-game losing streak that includes three losses in Southern California, where they were outscored by an average of 33 points a game.
Trickey, whose career record at ORU is 212-103, said he hoped his team had recovered from the grueling California trip.
"We've been beaten up physically in the games we've played," he said. "Hopefully we won't be as tired as we were last week. Kansas will be an interesting team for us to play."
Trickey had nothing but praise for the Jayhawks, especially senior guard Rex Walters, who is coming off a season-high 23-point performance at Oklahoma.
"They get great credit as a team, but they've also got some great individuals," Trickey said. "If I were building a team, the first player I would pick would be Walters. I think he is just a pure player. To me he is a throw-back to the great old guards like Jerry West and JoJo White."
White was a two-time All-American at Kansas in the late 1960s. He went on to an 11-year career in the NBA.
Oral Roberts has two returning starters from last season in senior forward Ray Thompson and senior guard Matt Crain. Thompson has led his team in scoring this season with 23.8 points a game.
The Titans face a Jayhawk squad that made a season-high 66 percent of its field goals against the Sooners and led the league in half-time point deficit, winning 90-85.
Scott was confident that he would be ready, but Williams indicated that junior Patrick Richey could start in place of Scott against Oral Roberts.
However, Kansas forward Richard Scott is questionable for tonight's game with an injured tailbone, Kansas coach Roy Williams said yesterday. Scott hobbled around in practice yesterday after being injured when he took a charge against the Sooners.
"He's got to improve significantly to play." Williams said.
"I don't mind playing non-conference games during the course of the season," William said. "The conference race is a grind. You just have to keep after it and keep after it."
The Jayhawks are off to a 2-0 start in the conference, with victories against Iowa State and Oklahoma. The team returns to conference play Monday at Kansas State after playing Saturday at Louisville. Kansas has won nine consecutive games in Manhattan.
Four Kansas starters are averaging more than 12 points a game, but junior forward Darrin Hancock's scoring production has dipped to just 8.8 a game since conference play began. Nevertheless, Williams is pleased with the newcomer's defense as well as his shot selection. Hancock is shooting 57 percent from the field, and 17 of his 47 field goals were slam dunks.
"We're working on his jump shot and he's working on his jump shot," Williams said. "But I don't care where his shots come from. Darrin is going to improve his shot, and I haven't told him not to take shots."
Hancock said that he was confident in his abilities but needed to improve.
"Right now I'm just taking the shots that it get," he said. "Everyday I'm working more on my jumper. As the game gets going, as I get more comfortable, I think my jumper will come around."
Women's team hopes to repeat
Jayhawks turn to rising star to spark team
By Blake Spurney
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's tennis team was left with a void after four-time All-American Eveline Hamers graduated in May.
The 20th-ranked Jayhawks now have to rely on rising star Rebecca Jensen in their attempt to repeat as Big Eight Conference champions. But do not expect her to replace Hamers entirely.
"She did so many amazing things," Jensen said about Hamers. "It's going to be hard to follow."
Jensen is ranked 16th in the nation in singles and 13th in doubles by the U.S. National Championship.
Jensen finished last season as the third-ranked player in the Midwest region last year and as the best No. 3 singles player in the Big Eight. Overall, she was 51st in the national rankings.
For her accomplishments, Jensen was named the region's Newcomer of the Year.
"She's just been a very dominant player in our region," Coach Chuck Merrzbach said. "She wants to be dominant in the nation. We need her to be that way to succeed as a team."
Already this season, Jensen won the Rolex Regional in singles and doubles. That qualified her, and doubles partner Mindy Weiner, for the National Indoors held in February at Minneapolis.
Weiner, a Chicago junior, transferred to Kansas from Clemson last year. She said it was a pleasure to have a partner as strong as Jensen.
"Rebecca gives me a little more confidence," she said.
She also said playing with Jensen took the pressure off of her because with past partners, Weiner was the dominant player.
But Jensen and Weiner originally were not paired together.
the preseason rankings came out, Jensen was ranked 13th in doubles with Nora Koves, a Budapest, Hungary, sophomore. Koves may still pair up with Jensen sometime this season.
Jensen said that Weiner, Koves and herself were interchangeable for the top three singles spots come tournament time.
Merzbacher said all three have the potential to be All-Americans.
The top 16 singles players and top eight doubles pairs at the end of the season quality for All-American standings is one of Jensen's goals for the year.
Jensen apparently possesses the proper genetics for a tennis player. A twin sister and two older brothers all play professional tennis. Her brother Luke is ranked in the top 20 in the world in doubles, she said. At one time, he was ranked as high as sixth.
She emphasized that she was not forced into tennis, however.
"My brothers would be at the tournaments, and my sister and I would just play," she said about her initiation into the sport.
The women's tennis team does not compete again until Jan. 28 when it travels to Provo, Utah, to meet Brieham Young University.
The men's team plays host to Minnesota on Saturday and Tulsa on Sunday.
However, Jensen chose an education over the possibility of earning money through work.
"It was very hard for me to adjust to school and tennis at the same time," she said. "It took me a semester and a half to get used to it."
Jensen said it was difficult adjusting to college and the team atmosphere.
Rachel Thompson / KANSAM
Sophomore Rebecca Jensen volleys with a teammate at Alvamar Golf and Country Club, 4120 Clinton Parkway, during the team's first practice of the spring. Jensen is ranked 16th in the nation in singles and 13th in the nation in doubles play with teammate Mindy Weiner. The first meet of the spring semester for the Kansas women's team is Jan. 28th
Injured player rejoins team, focuses on winning
Junior Lisa Tate fights for position during the Oral Roberts game. The starting center missed most of the 1991-92 season because of leg injuries.
By Jay Williams Kansan sportswriter
"I'm excited she's back and playing for us," Washington said.
But it is blocked shots where Tate has enjoyed her biggest success. The 6-foot-3 center break the Kansas career record for blocks Sunday against Colorado. The record now stands at 128 after Tuesday's 106-53 victory. She had a seaport high 19 points Tuesday.
After missing almost all of last season due to injury, the Kansas City, Mo., native has made an impact on the Jayhawks' inside game through 12 games this year. She averages 11 points and 8.3 rebounds a game.
Lisa Tate is back playing for the Kansas women's basketball team, and that makes both Tate and Coach Marian Washington baney.
She also set the single-season Big Eight Conference mark for blocked shots in 1960-91 with 82 and blocked nine shots in one game in the National Women's Invitational Tournament, a Big Eight record.
"My favorite part of the game is blocking shots" "Tate said."
She has 32 blocks this season, more than double the number of blocks by Kansas onponents.
For Tate the toughest part has been getting in the game. She did not play her freshman season in 1989-90 because she was academically ineligible after failing to meet the NCAA's Proposition 48 requirements.
Last season Tate was expected to play an important role for the Jawahres. Instead, she played a total of five games after medical officials found stress fractures in both her legs. Because of the injury, the NCAA granted her another year of eligibility.
Tate said she also had some problems with her computer and is not back to 100 percent.
tors said that's to be expected," she said.
"There's still some soreness, but the doc
tors said that to be expected, she said. Doctors inserted metal rods to help stabilize her fractured bones. The rods still remain in her legs.
"They will be there until I'm through play-ing," she said. "The doctors said I can have them removed when I'm done if I want to."
washington said Tate had improved a great deal since the start of the season, but she still had to limit Tate's playing time. The starting center is averaging 27 minutes a game.
Tate still has difficulty pivoting and pushing off with her legs and does not have the strength to push.
"She's still not the player she was," Washington said "Hopefully, by the time we get to the post season, she'll be playing her best."
"We're not playing up to our potential," Tate said. "But we have the potential to win the Big Eight Tournament and the conference."
Kansas, 7-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference, returns to Big Eight action at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Alabama. At Alabama, haggahs are looking to get back into the clause for the conference title.
Jayhawks hope to land top recruits Aloha Bowl victory may help attract new football talent
Kansan sportswriter
By Mark Button
Feb. 3 marks the first day that high school football players can sign national letters of intent to their chosen universities.
Across the nation, university coaches and recruiters are working around the clock to convince high school stars that their college is the best college to attend.
The University of Kansas is no exception.
Both Coach Glen Mason and assistant head coach Golden Ruel were on the road yesterday recruiting.
With an Aloha Bowl victory against Brigham Young University Dec. 25 in Honolulu, Kansas is in a unique and exciting recruiting season.
R. D. Helt, Kansas 'recruiting coordinator, said coming home from Hawaii with a bowl victory will have a positive impact on recruiting. In fact, the Alola Bowl was the only game televised on Christmas Day.
"It was the fourth bowl most viewed," Helt said. "It was great exposure for us, especially with the win."
The game was Kansas' first bowl appearance in 10 seasons and just the second bowl victory in school history.
However, Helt said he is not concentrating on any specific positions right now.
The Jayhawks will have 12 starters returning for next year from the No. 22 team in the nation. However, the Jayhawks will lose senior quarterback Chip Hilley, second team All-American senior defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield, as well as nine other starting seniors.
"We are concerned with all of them (positions)," he said. "But we're looking for speed."
One recruit Kansas has already received verbal commitment from is Charles Henley, an all-state running back from Columbus, Ohio.
Henley the Division II high school running back of the year, is 5-foot-11 and weighs 185 pounds. He also played defensive back for Brookhaven this fall.
"He has power and speed," said Greg Miller, Henley's high school coach. "And he doesn't care which he has to use."
Henley has already met the NCAA academic requirements.
Notes:
■ Kansas Football Coach Glen Mason was selected to be an assistant coach for the West team in The East-West Shrine Bowl which will be played on Jan. 24 in Palo Alto, Calif.
Kansas seniors Keith Loneker, offensive tackle, and Gilbert Brown, defensive tackle, were both selected to play in the Senior Bowl this weekend in Mobile, Ala.
- Stubblefield will be returning to Hawaii to play in the Hula Bowl Jan 23 in Honolulu.