SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, February 25, 1994
9
Manning traded for Wilkins
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers traded star forwards Thursday night, with Dominique Wilkins and a No. 1 draft pick going to the Clippers for disgruntled Danny Manning.
The deal was announced at the NBA trade deadline of 9 p.m. EST and culminated weeks of discussions about where Manning would end up.
"We have been exhaustive in our efforts," Clippers vice president Elgin Baylor said. "We are excited to bring such a charismatic and electrifying player to the Clippers."
Both Manning and Wilkins are to become unrestricted free agents after the season, meaning they could sign with any NBA team with no compensation going to their former clubs.
Atlanta gave Los Angeles its No. 1 pick in 1994 or 1995. Manning, who gave the Clippers a trade-me-or-losee ultimatum, also was sought by Houston, Portland and Miami.
"I talked to Danny this afternoon and just wished him the best," Baylor said. "Danny said likewise."
Manning, a versatile 6-foot-10 forward, told the Clippers he would not re-sign with them after his original six-year deal expired after this season. Faced with the choice of trading Manning or losing him with no compensation, the Clippers chose to get what they could.
Manning has faced knee trouble sincejoining the Clippers in 1988 after leading Kansas to the NCAA title and becoming the No. 1 draft pick. He played only 26 games his rookie year after injuring his right knee.
Manning, 27, is having perhaps his best season, averaging 23.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 38 minutes a game this year. He has career averages of 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
Wilkins, 34, is a 12-year veteran and eight-time All-Star who has spent his whole career with Atlanta. He is ninth on the NBA's career scoring list with 23,292 points.
After averaging at least 25.9 points a game over the last nine seasons and 29.9 in 1992-93, Wilkins' average has dropped to 24.4 points in 49 games this season.
The 6-foot-8 forward was one of the most flamboyant players in the league during the late 1980s, earning him the nickname "The Human Highlight Film." He missed the 1991-92 season with an Achilles' tendon injury.
Although his point production fell this season, he remained Atlanta's prime offensive weapon and led the team to a 36-16 record, tied for first with New York and Chicago for best in the Eastern Conference.
He now goes to the Clippers, who are last in the Pacific Division with a 17-34 record.
"I talked to Dominique within the last hour," said Clippers coach Bob Weiss said. "He was a little down about the way he feels Atlanta has handled him, he's also excited about coming to L.A. I think it will be a good transition for him.
"The thing he said was, 'Hey, you know me, I'm going to come and play hard to win every time. He's going to take it as a personal challenge to help us win more games. When 'Nique puts on his sneakers, he will not sulk."
Kansas not overlooking LSU
Bv Matt Siegel
Kansan sportswriter
Freshman Bianca Kirchof prepares for the Jayhawks' matches at the Alvamar Racquet Club. The No. 15 Jayhawks play LSU tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
kansas and louisiana state play at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Alvamar Racquet Club. Kansas is 6-1 overall in its loss coming to No. 1 Texas. The players have used that less as a pitcher.
Jennie Zeiner / KANSAN
"The motivation is that with tennis we don't have as many matches," he said. "One or two bad matches can take us out of the NCAA. Everybody is a stumbling block, and we don't want to stub our toe."
"It showed us that we were literally points away from beating the No. 1 team in the country," senior Abby Woods said. "When we played Mississippi, we felt like we were in a position to beat them from the beginning. Everyone started the match at 0-0, and we just outplayed them that day. I think the Texas match was more of an eye-opener than something to be down about."
Fresh off a victory against No. 9 Mississippi, one might believe that the No. 15 Kansas women's tennis team may overlook unranked Louisiana State. But Kansas coach Chuck Merzbacher said that wasn't the case.
The Jayhawks defeated No. 9 Mississippi this past weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. The victory, coupled with a strong showing against Texas, has the Jayhawks eying a top-10 ranking for the first time in Kansas history.
The Jayhawks have been victorious mainly because of consistent play from the team's top five players or, as Merzbacher likes to refer to them, "his five studs."
Merzbacher said that his team was so talented in positions one through four that he has used a rotational system to let each player have a chance to play at the No.1 singles slot.
"We have four girls that could go to the NCAA Tournament," Merzbacher said. "They are all pretty close in talent. We had a Rolex tournament in Salt Lake early this year in November. Kim Rogers beat Rebecca Jensen and Mindy Winebeat Nora Koves in the semifinals. Then Mindy beat Kim in the finals. That's a good tournament."
Kansas is hoping for another good tournament showing when it travels to Madison, Wis., next week for the Intercollegiate/United States Tennis Association National Team Indoors. Kansas will have to be at the top of its game because in the first round it squares off against the host team Wisconsin. Should the Jayhawks advance to the second round, they would play the winner of Pepperdine and Duke, both top 10 teams.
"We want to be in the top ten," senior Kim Rogers said. "If we win, we want to win convincingly against whoever we play. We have to play with the same intensity and stay pre-
pared."
But for now, the Jayhawks are trying to concentrate on LSU. The Tigers from Baton Rouge are 4-1 on the season, with their only loss coming from
Texas A&M.
"The teams that supposedly aren't as good as the other ones are the ones that aren't ranked or have nothing to lose playing against Kansas." Woods
said. "They are going to go for it all. Teams that sometimes are the underdog are the ones that come out and surprise you. We've seen that with Kansas basketball."
'Hawks to end conference season
By Matt Siegel
Kansans sportswriter
The Jayhawks finish the Big Eight Conference regular season tomorrow in Manhattan against Kansas State. This month, the Jayhawks are 1-3 on the road.
It's literally the end of the road for the No. 12 Kansas women's basketball team.
To do that, the Jayhawks will have to contain the Wildcats' Shawnda DeCamp and Shanele Stires. DeCamp is 19th in the nation in scoring, averaging 21.8 points a game. Stires is averaging 17.3 points a game. DeCamp or Stires has led the Wildcats
"it's a big game for us." Kansas senior center Lia Tate said. "It's a big rivalry, and we want to enter the Big Eight Tournament on the unswing."
in scoring in all but one game.
Kansas will be trying to counter K-State's attack with its own high-octane offense that relies heavily on pushing the ball up the floor and is producing 80.2 points a game. Leading the offense is sophomore guard Charisse Sampson and junior forward Angela Aycock.
"The way we prepare for them this week will be no different from the way we have been preparing for the other teams," Kansas coach Marian Washington said. "They went to Oklahoma and knocked down 10 three-point shots. They are just very capable."
And considering that K-State ranks second in the conference in three-point field goals made, the 19-4 Jayhawks said that they had their work cut out for them.
Sampson won the Big Eight Player of the Week honors last week, and Aycock won the award the week before. The early season meeting between these two intrastate rivals in Allen Field House saw Kansas pummel K-State 77-50.
"We lost two games on the road we shouldn't have," Tate said. "We have to try to keep the ball out of DeCamp's and Stires' hands and force the other players to do some things. Last time we did a good job on Stires in the first half, but she scored at will against us in the second half."
Although K-State is 12-12 overall and 5-8 in conference play, the Wildcats have posted a 9-2 home record.
But that was at home.
The Jayhawks trail Colorado in the conference by one game. If Kansas defeats K-State and Colorado loses
one of its two remaining games, the Jayhawks would tie for the Big Eight Championship. Even if the Jayhawks lose to K-State, they are assured of the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament at the Bicentennial Center in Salina next week.
But before the tournament the Jayhawks will have one more regular season home game against UNC-Asheville. Seniors Erica Muncy, Michelle Leathers and Lisa Tate will be playing in their final regular season home game for the Jayhawks. The usually reserved Tate said emotions would run high, but not until after the game.
"You can't be out there crying on the court," Tate said. "We want to try to make the game a good going-away for the seniors. After the game everybody will probably be kind of sad."
File photo / KANSAN
Kansas junior guard Calvin Rayford and Colorado junior guard Donne Boyce, who are friends off the court, will face each other tomorrow.
Jayhawks hope to end losing streak
Kansas to face Colorado for second time
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
Troubled times have hit the No. 10 Jayhawks, and Kansas coach Roy Williams said their next game could be the toughest test of all.
The test is not necessarily because of the opponent, since Kansas will face Colorado at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Allen Field House. Colorado is seventh in the Big Eight Conference, while Kansas is third.
Rather, it will be a test because Kansas now has lost three consecutive games for the first time since the 1988-1989 season. In the Jayhawks' game Wednesday against Nebraska, Kansas lost 96-87 and dropped its record to 21-6 overall and 6-5 in the conference. At one point, the Cornhuskers led by 24.
Losing three consecutive games is big news for Kansas, but Kansas senior forward Patrick Richey said the streak was exaggerated.
"Other teams have lost three in a row," Richey said. "But because it's Kansas, everything is going to be magnified a little more."
Kansas junior center Greg Ostertag said he was not ashamed of losing to Oklahoma State, Missouri and Nebraska.
"Those are three good teams," he said. "Nebraska is a really good team, especially when they play at their place."
Although Colorado is only 10-13 and 2-9, Ostertag said the Jayhawks were not assured of a victory. The Buffalooes are trying to recover from a 73-56 defeat at the hands of Oklahoma State.
"It'll be a challenge," Ostertag said. "We could be so much better. The Colorado game is going to be a tough game."
Kansas will have to deal with Colorado junior guard Donnie Boyce, who is averaging 21.7 points and 4.7 assists a game. In the Jayhawks' 87-53 victory Jan. 29, Boyce had 16 points.
Usually a premier scorer like Boyce would not be such a problem for Kansas. The Jayhawks have played well defensively this season and limited opponents to a 38.3
overall shooting percentage before the Nebraska game. But Williams said defense was the problem against the Cornhuskers in the first half.
"Our defense has been the thing that has kept us in the basketball game when we couldn't do anything else," he said. "I jumped on everybody after the first half. Our defense wasn't there, but they made every shot they looked at."
One of Kansas' big concerns during the middle of the season has been injuries. Although senior forward Richard Scott did start against the Cornhuskers and scored nine points, a left shoulder injury has limited his shoulder mobility. That injury has caused the starting lineup to shuffle a bit on occasion. Kansas sophomore forward Sean Pearson has started twice in place of Scott.
Kansas' leading scorer this season is senior guard Steve Woodberry, but his left eye remains a bit swollen after receiving an elbow during the Oklahoma State game Feb. 16. Since the injury, Woodberry has shot 14 for 49 from the field and has hit six of 20 three-pointers.
Williams said that Woodberry had been affected by his injury but that he was not making excuses.
"Against Missouri, he had a couple open three-pointers, and you don't see Steve Woodberry miss many of those," Williams said. "But that's just using excuses."
"We've either got to turn it around, or we can feel sorry for ourselves."
Ostertag said the team was down emotionally after the defeat to Nebraska. Kansas came back to within seven points after being down by 24 points at halftime, but Ostertag said he didn't know if the comeback would be something upon which the Jayhawks could build.
"Coach was pretty happy with the way we played in the second half," Ostertag said. "But we've got to start putting our halves together. Coach was mad at halftime."
Williams said that Kansas had faced a lot of adversity during the season but that it was no excuse for the team's performance the rest of the season.
"I've always had the saying that adversity makes the strong stronger," he said. "We'll find out if we fit into the strong category. I think we do. The bottom line is, we've got three games left, and we'd better play."
Because of the weather, today's baseball game between Kansas and Arkansas-Little Rock was postponed until Sunday at 1 p.m. Tomorrow's game still is scheduled for 4 p.m.