PAGE FOUR
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 1942
Kansas may as well forget about any play-offs for this year. That fact, if nothing else, was gained Friday night when the Oklahoma Sooners took on a difficult job and came out of the scrap with colors flying.
It was a great Oklahoma team that night. It is doubtful if very few teams in the country could have beaten them that night if the opponents had been in Kansas' shoes.
ENTIRE OKLAHOMA TEAM WAS HOT
Most basketball authorities agree that if a team makes 30 per cent of its shots at the basket that team will win the game. Even an average between 25 and 30 per cent will take most contests. But not that one Friday night. Not on your life! Those Sooners fired away at the basket only 58 times and hit for the downright sensational mark of 41.4 per cent. They made 24 buckets during the game. You can't beat shooting like that.
At least you can't beat a team that is hot on long set shots as Oklahoma was Friday night by playing a shallow, stratified zone defense. During the first half of the game Marvin Sollenberger was assigned to guard Gerald Tucker. He was to stay between Tucker and the basket constantly. On the other side of Tucker was to be Charlie Black who was to stay between Tucker and the ball all of the time.
That sounded like a very logical defense before the game. It would stop all passes into Tucker and he would be sewed up. Well, the game started and the defense worked fine—on Tucker. But the thing that wasn't taken into consideration was the fact that Oklahoma had four other players on the court and all of those players were allowed to try for baskets with the same privilege that Tucker had.
The effectiveness of those four players is shown by their record of shots. They were all allowed to shoot, unmolested, from any point beyond the free throw circle. Bob McCurdy hit four of his first seven shots in the first 10 minutes. Don Jones hit two out of three and Paul Heap came through with one out of three. A. D. "Ug" Roberts potted one of his first two and Tucker himself made the only long shot he attempted during the first half.
With such accuracy as this it seems that K.U. could have afforded to let Tucker roam wild and stop the other players from hitting. Consensus of opinion was that Tucker could have been followed man-to-man and put the same type of defense on the other players and it would have resulted in a different score.
Tucker, undoubtedly, would have made more points. But the other players wouldn't have come near their record of shots if they had been guarded closely all over the court. This difference in points would have meant the difference in the outcome of the game, many fans thought, but it is all supposition and might not have worked as effectively as the system used.
In Tucker, Oklahoma probably has the outstanding player in the conference. On offense he is spectacular but not to the point where he shoots unnecessarily. Proof of this is shown in the number of shots he took. During the entire game he took only 12 shots and made 8 of them. Three of his goals were in tip-ins, another came after K.U. muffed a rebound and Tucker grabbed the loose ball for a fourth tip-in, two were long unguarded shots from center, and the other two goals came on direct passes to Tucker from his guards and he connected on "swing" shots.
On the majority of passes into Tucker he was guarded so closely that he passed out to either forward and gave them an open shot. On defense he uses his height to the best advantage. Very seldom was he ever drawn out of position or allowed a player to dribble around him.
And when it comes to rebounds he is practically the entire Sooner team. He analyzes each shot and plays the backboard perfectly for the rebound. Kansas seldom ever got more than one shot at a time at their goal and the man who took the ball for Oklahoma was Tucker.
The Kansas team needs no alibis for the defeat. They placed good enough ball to win any game they have won this season. It was just a question of which team was the hottest and Friday night Oklahoma was sizzling.
The Jayhawks never gave up for a moment during the entire game. At one point the Sooners led 53 to 36 with only 8 minutes to play. Less than six minutes later the score read 55 to 49. And the surprising part of this rally was that the Sooners were playing a stalling game-constantly. This, in the final summation, was what broke the Kansas rally. The Sooners could afford to be slow and deliberate in their movements whereas Kansas had to gamble on close guarding and chance-taking.
MILLER WAS "TOO HOT TO HANDLE"
Odds and ends of the game: Bruce Drake, Sooner coach, made an appeal to the crowd before the game started for all the fans to be courteous and not boo the Kansas players . . . As a result, the Oklahoma crowd was the best behaved of any that Kansas has played away from home . . . One difference that can be noted is that Oklahoma was ahead for 36 minutes of the game and there was very little cause for alarm or boos. . . Bob McCurdy, outstanding defensive man of the Sooners, guarded Ralph Miller and after the game came into the Kansas dressing room and said to "Cappy", "You were just too hot for me out there tonight." . . . McCurdy nevertheless played a bang-up game in spite of the black eye which he received in the first half . . .
Harold Keith, publicity director in sports for Oklahoma and one of the best in the nation, said that Charlie Black was one of the best rebound men he had ever seen and the best in a long, long time ... Oklahoma used many floor passes during the game . . . When guarded closely they would stoop and roll the ball to a teammate . . . "Ug" Roberts, who played a driving game all the while for Oklahoma, collapsed after the game and was "out" for 15 minutes . . . Although the refereeing was lax at times it seemed like one of the better officiated games of the season.
Sooners Drop Jayhawks In Red-Hot Tilt, 63-51
Tucker Is Sooner Ace In All Ways
Pass the aspirin, please! And the entire Jayhawker team, with "Phog" Allen included, must have felt the same way Friday night when the Oklahoma Sooners had finished their torried exhibition of basket shooting and emerged the victor, 63 to 51, over a hard-fighting Kansas quintet.
Kansas was out shot but not out-classed nor out fought. The Jayhawks were in the game fighting every minute and were always a threat, even when 17 points behind with 8 minutes to play.
The Sooners led for 36 minutes of the game but the contest was not as cut and dried as that. It was probably the best game, offensively, that either team has displayed this season. Not only in the number of points scored but also in the consistency of shooting and all-around floor play.
Miller Leads Kansas
Stars of the game were many and not by much of a margin. For Kansas Ralph Miller, John Buescher, and Charlie Black were the offensive stand-outs. "Cappy" bagged seven field goals and four free throws for 18 points. This gives him an even 15-point average for eight conference games. Buescher pushed in five field goals and two free throws for 12 points and a 9.25 average. Black tallied five field goals and one free throw for 11 points. This brought his average down to 13.25 points a game.
Tucker Was Oklahoma Star
For Oklahoma Gerald Tucker was the leader and another sophomore,
OKLAHOMA · (63) fg ft mft pf tp
Roberts, f ... 4 1 2 2 9
Lehman, f ... 1 0 0 0 2
Jones, f-g ... 3 3 0 2 9
Rousey, f ... 1 0 0 2 2
Tucker, c ... 8 6 2 2 22
McCurdy, g ... 6 1 0 3 13
Heap, g ... 1 4 0 4 6
Bob McCurdy, was right in the thick of the fight the entire way. Tucker came up with eight field goals and six free throws for 22 points. This was second high only to his 25 points against Iowa State. His five-game conference average is complete at 19.8 points. McCurdy sank six field goals and one free throw for 13 points and this upped his game average to an even six points.
Ray Evans and A. D. "Ug" Roberts turned in strong supporting roles for their teams. On defense Evans was the main feature as he shuttled back and forth between McCurdy and Paul Heap to keep them from potting short shots.
Kansas started strong by getting the tip, taking the first shot and making it, all within 10 seconds. Miller made the tally but Roberts tied it up on a side swisher. Not to be outdone Miller came back with a duplicate but then McCurdy made the first of his long set shots.
Oklahoma Leads at Five Minutes
Tucker scored on a tip-in as Black fouled him and three points was the result. A little peeved, Black retaliated with two beautiful baskets. The first a tip-in when he saw that Miller's long shot was missing its mark and the second when he took a rebound, faked, and whirled for a set-up. Fifteen points had been scored in the first two minutes and ten seconds.
McCurdy's second long set shot sent Oklahoma into a short lead
Intramural
Stars of the Week
Warren Lowen, Battenfeld—Lowen was this week's star of stars as the high-scoring forward crammed 46 points into the basket in two games with Newman club squads.
Larry Johnston, Sigma Phi Epsilon—Johnston not only led the Sig Ep scoring in the win over the Sig Alph's, but also was the most aggressive man on the floor.
Bob White, Hell Hounds—White, one of the finest defensive guards in intramural basketball, also continued his high-scoring tactics against Rock Chalk Coop as he racked up 17 points.
Joe Crawford, Pi Kappa Alpha—Crawford, a steady forward, had his best week of the season, climaxing it with 12 points against Delta Tau Delta.
Bill Hodge, Phi Kappa PaI—Hodge was red-hot against both Kappa Sigma and Phi Gamma Delta, collecting 24 and 11 points in the two contests respectively.
KANSAS (51) fg ft mft pf tp
Buescher, c 5 2 1 2 12
Miller, f 7 4 2 3 18
Hall, f 0 0 0 0 0
Black, f 5 1 2 3 1
Evans, g 3 1 1 4 1
Walker, g 0 0 0 0 0
Ballard, g 0 0 0 1 0
Hunter, g 0 0 0 0 0
Sollenberger, g 1 1 2 3 3
Bob Bond, Sigma Alpha Epsilon—Bond took scoring honors for his team in the Sig Ep contest, and then came back later in the week to turn in the best defensive game of the week against the Phi Delt's.
John Hallberg, Phi Kappa Psi—Hallberg's fine offensive rebounding was too muct for even the mighty Phi Gam's to solve as he played a major part in their defeat with six field gals.
Larry McSpadden, Phi Gamma Delta— McSpadden loaded good even in defeat as he kept his team in the Phi Psi contest with 11 points.
Bill Chestnut, John Moore Coop—Chestnut, chunky colorful guard, displayed his speed and spirit to good advantage both against Newman II and Rock Chalk Coop.
John Horner, Phi Kappa Psi "B"
—Horner continued a string of season-long performances against the Delta Tau Delta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon "B" teams.
which Miller tied as he made good a free throw on McCurdy's dolf. At the five-minute mark Don Jones sank a long unguarded shot which sent the Sooners into a lead they never lost.
A Final Kansas Spurt
Oklahoma pushed this lead to 25 to 15 in six minutes but the Jayhawks came right back and in another five minutes had brought the score to 28 to 27 with the Sooners just a point ahead. The last four minutes of the first half were strictly Oklahoma's as they gained a half-time advantage of 34 to 28. That final spurt did much towards deciding the final outcome of the game.
With a chance to rally at the start of the second half, Kansas allowed Roberts to get set on an open shot to start another Oklahoma avalanche. Within 11 minutes the Sooners had run the count to 53 to 36 and the game looked like a walk-away. The crowd was thoroughly enjoying itself but the relaxation came a moment too early the Jayhawks started coming back the long, hard way.
Miller made a free throw and followed with a set shot, Buescher on a close-in push shot and a tip-in, Miller made a one-hander and then a tip-in on Black's missed free throw, and Evans on a side bank shot was the way the rally ran. During this time Oklahoma was limited to free throws by Heap and Tucker.
With two minutes now to go the Kansas cause was spent as the Sooners slowed the game down and stalled and free throwed their way out to victory.
BEAT MISSOURI!
New Spring 1942 Styles
Featuring the lower crown,
wider brims, bowl back, flip
front. Hats that will look
good on you.
Pedigrees ------------ $4, $5
Stetson Play Boys ------------ $5
Stetson Body Hats ------------ $6.50
March into March under a New Spring Hat.