MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2002
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3B
humbles Kansas
game2: Florida83,Kansas72
John Nowak/Kansan
Experience insignificant; Tar Heels trample 'Hawks
By Jessica Scott
jscott@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Javhawks gather and say a few words of inspiration before taking on the Tar Heels.
NEW YORK -The North Carolina starters -the Tar Heel teenagers -played like men among boys Wednesday night against Kansas' more experienced team.
As the overall youngest team in the nation, Carolina used its youth to its advantage in the Preseason NIT semifinals as it stunned the No. 2 Jayhawks 67-56 at Madison Square Garden.
Sophomore Keith Langford, who was plagued by foul trouble and ended with 7 points, said his team lacked the focus needed for this type of game.
"We came out, executed poorly, gave a poor effort," he said.
Kansas, which trailed for all but four minutes, constantly played catch-up as North Carolina dominated nearly every play of the game. Coach Roy Williams said he would remember this early upset for one overwhelming reason.
"This is the most embarrassed I've ever been as a coach," he said. "Their game plan was a great game plan, their coach was by far the best coach on the floor tonight, and their kids were more prepared to play. It's a sorry job on my part; there's no question about that."
Carolina freshmen combined for 43 points, led by explosive forward Rashad McCants with 25. Forward Sean May scored 8 and guard Raymond Felton scored 10. Sophomore forward Jawad Williams added 15.
expected great things from this young team.
"They are a confident group," he said. "They are a very poised group. Rashad said at one time that being a freshman is just a label."
Even before the game started, coach Doherty's squad had all the right ingredients for an upset. The nearly 11,000-person crowd heavily favored the underdogs, and the team took this momentum and ran, literally. By turning Kansas' 11 first half turnovers into 12 easy points, the Tar Heels emerged with a 38-29 halftime lead.
The Jayhawks had another problem to worry about during the break. Senior guard Kirk Himrich left the game in the first half with back problems after a fall under the basket and never got back in the flow.
As a former Kansas assistant, Doherty was familiar with the players and said he was relieved the Jayhawk superstars, including Hinrich, struggled.
"We are fortunate that their big three, which scared the mess out of me - Hinrich, Collison and Simien - were a little out of sync," he said.
"We knew their freshmen were good," he said. "They just outplayed us, bottom line. They had more intensity and more heart tonight."
Senior Nick Collison ended with 19 points, followed by Hinrich's 13 and sophomore Wayne Simien's 11. Hinrich said Wednesday that the talented young team didn't surprise him.
Langford said he agreed.
Tar Heel coach Matt Doherty said he -Edited by Nicole Roché
"Whatever happened tonight," he said, "we deserved."
John Nowak/Kansan
Junior foward Jeff Graves pulls down one of his 10 rebounds against North Carolina in Wednesday night's 67-56 loss in the Preseason NIT tournament.
Problems plague game, team shocked by loss
By Jessica Scott
jsccott@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
"We just weren't ready to play," senior guard Kirk Hinrich said. "We haven't had a good road trip. Guys have been showing up late. It's hopefully a wakeup call for this team."
NEW YORK OFF-court issues may have affected Kansas during its first loss of the season against North Carolina Wednesday.
Coach Roy Williams said whatever hindered the team on Wednesday was addressed immediately, with the problem fixed by Friday's connotation game.
Bryant Nash and Aaron Miles sit quietly in the locker room after losing their second straight game in the Preseason NIT tournament. At 2-2, KU is off to its worst start in 15 years.
The Jayhawks' loss to North Carolina marked the first ever meeting between Williams and former Jayhawk assistant and current Tar Heel coach Matt Doherty. As the shock of losing set in, players admitted to some non-basketball related issues. Sophomore Wayne Simien would not name who caused the problems.
"It's team stuff,not a problem."
he said. "We took care of it."
"I really can't speak for those guys," he said. "I haven't been one of those guys. I don't know what's going through their minds. It's not me, that's all I can tell you."
John Nowak/Kansan
Hinrich said team cockiness could be setting in already. Kansas, in its two season-opening wins against Holy Cross and
UNC-Greensboro, won by at least 20 points each game.
"We win two games and thought we were kind of unbeatable." Hinrich said.
In addition to tardiness and cockiness, sophomore Keith Langford said the attitude between players hindered the team's chemistry.
"Things seemed normal, but there was no love on the team," Langford said. "We just came out and hit a wall, and as soon as we recovered the wall just got bigger and bigger."
The loss ended Kansas' 12 game NIT tournament winning streak, with its last loss coming in 1985 against Duke. Williams said the starters and the bench played poorly, but his biggest disappointment was with the coaching.
"There's no way that the game should mean more to them, but that's what it was." Williams said.
"It's my job as a coach to make sure my team is more focused than we were tonight. Maybe we do believe in what everybody
was saying about how good we were."
- Edited by Chris Wintering