JAYHAWK
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Basketball
Pro Baseball
The widow and a friend of Hall of Fame outfieldder Mickey Mantle are trying to stop an auction set for Saturday. Mantle's longtime companion is providing the goods.
Yesterday's game - Kansas vs. Western Kentucky
KANSAS 3-0 75
RANKED NO.2
SECTION B. PAGE 1
HILLTOPERS 0-1 62
UNRANKED
WWW.KUBASKETBALL.COM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1997
RECRUITING UPDATE
- Tayshaun Prince, a 6-foot-B-inch forward from Dominguez High School in Compton, Calif., announced yesterday afternoon that he had signed a letter of intent to play for Kentucky.
Kansas, Georgetown, Southern California and UCLA had been in contention. Doug Wrenn, a 6-foot-7-inch forward from O'Dea High School in Seattle will not be attending Minnesota because the Gophers withdrew their scholarship offer. Kansas was an early contender for Wren.
BOX SCORE
WESTERN KENTUCKY (0-1)
Farris 5-8 1-3 11, Bides 6-13 0-1 13,
Springfield 0-1 0-0 0, Harney 9-12 1-1 21,
Latimer 0-6 6-6 6, Adams 1-2 0-0 2,
Edwards 0-4 0-0 0, McPherson 0-2 0-0 0,
Strong 3-8 1-2 7, Lampley 1-3 0-0 2.
Totals 25-59 9-12 62.
NO.2 KANSAS (3-0)
Pierce 3-12 5-5 11, LaFrentz 8-13 8-14
24, Pugh 2-4 0-24, Robertson 2-2 6-8
11, Thomas 3-7 0-08, Gregory 4-6 0-0
8, Bradford 0-2 0-00, Janisse 0-0 1-2 1,
Chenowith 3-8 2-2 8. Totals 25-54 22-
33 75.
Halftime: Kansas 40, W. Kentucky 18.
3-Point goals: W. Kentucky 3-12 (Harney
2-4, Bides 1-2, Adams 0-1, Edwards 0-1,
McPherson 0-1, Latimer 0-3), Kansas 3-
10 (Thomas 2-6, Robertson 1-1, Gregory
0-1, Pierce 0-2). Fouled out: None.
Rebounds: W. Kentucky 30 (Farris 6),
Kansas 41 (LaFrentz 9). Assists: W. Kentu-
key 14 (Latimer 7), Kansas 15 (Thomas
4). Total fouls: W. Kentucky 25, Kansas
15. A: 14,335.
AP TOP 25
How the top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll fared yesterday:
1. Arizona (0-0) not do play. Next: vs.
Morgan State today.
Kansas coach Roy Williams discusses the defense with forward Rae LaFrentz and guard Billy Thomas during the third quarter. The Jayhawks won their first-round game in the Chase Preseason NIT last night. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
2. Kansas (3-0) defeated Western Kentucky 75-62. Next: vs. UNLV or Eastern Michigan tomorrow.
3. Duke (1-0) did not play. Next: vs.
Davidson today.
Next: vs. Citadel tomorrow
UCLA 9/12/18 No. 1
4. North Carolina (2-0) defeated Richmond 84-65. Next: vs. California on Saturday.
5. Clemson (1-0) did not play. Next: vs.
lana at Fafo (1-2). Tomorrow: toma-
ron at Fafo (1-3). tomorrow:
7. UCLA (0-0) did not play. Next vs. No. 4 North Carolina at Anchorage, Alaska, on Nov. 27.
6. South Carolina (1-0) did not play.
Next: vs. Citadel tomorrow.
10. Xavier [1-0] defeated Toledo 95-76.
Next vs. Ackon on Saturday
B. Purdue (2-0) did not play. Next: vs.
Northeast Louisiana today.
11. New Mexico (2-0) defeated New Mexico State 80-79. Next: vs. Texas Southern tomorrow.
12. Connecticut (3-0) defeated No. 20 Rhode Island 80-67. Next: vs. Coppin State on Monday.
9. Kentucky (0-0) did not play. Next: vs.
Morehead State today.
14. Iowa (2-0) did not play. Next: vs.
Long Island on november 28.
14. Iowa (1-0) but horribly.
Long Island University on Nov. 29.
15. Stanford (1-0) not do play. Next: at Hawai'i-Hilo on Nov. 28.
13. Fresno State (1-0) did not play. Next:
vs. Massachusetts on Saturday.
16. Utah (2-0) defeated Weber St. 87
17. North Carolina Charlotte (00) did
17. North Carolina Charlotte (0:0) did not play. Next at Miami tomorrow
18. Temple (2-0) did not play. Next: at No. 21 Mississippi on Saturday.
19. Oldhamia (2-0) did not plow. Next: vs.
Southwest Texas State on Saturday.
20. Rhode Island (1-1) lost to No. 12 Connecticut 80-67. Next: at Boston 11 on Nov. 30.
22. Louisville (0-0) did not play. Next vs.
Hofstetra at Gatton, P.R. P., on Nov. 27
21. Mississippi (1-0) defeated Louisiana Tech 88-56. Next: vs. No. 18 Tempie on Saturday.
24. Illinois State (1-1) did not play. Next:
vs. Pittsburgh on Saturday.
23. Indiana (0-1) did not play. Next: vs.
Alabama-Birmingham today.
25. Georgia [1-1] did not play. Next: vs.
Mercer today.
Because of a reporter's error, the "Kansan" reported that the men's basketball team's loss to Temple on Dec. 22, 1995, occurred during the NIT. Kansas did not play in the NIT in 1995, and coach Roy Williams has not lost a preseason NIT game to date.
CORRECTION
'Hawks climb over Hilltoppers
Defense lacks normal bounce
By Tommy Gallagher
tgallagher@kansan.com
Associate sports editor
Kansas coach Roy Williams got career victory No. 250 last night, but he was not pleased about the Jayhawks' performance in their 75-62 win against Western Kentucky in Allen Field House.
Williams voiced concern about the team's defense, and it was two seniors — forward Reef LaFrentz and guard Billy Thomas — whom he said had to be benched in the third quarter.
The Jayhawks are playing in the Chase NIT tournament, which uses four 10-minute quarters instead of the usual two 20-minute halves as part of an experiment with NCAA rules. The tournament also uses a 40-second shot clock instead of the regulation 35 seconds.
The Jayhawks, behind runs of 11-0, 12-0 and 11-0, led by as many as 24 points near halftime. Kansas seemed in control.
Facing a 40-18 halftime deficit, the Hilltoppers chipped away at the lead and eventually went on a 13-0 run. Western Kentucky trailed 45-38 late in the third quarter as LaFrentz and Thomas watched from the bench.
"In the first 10 minutes, we didn't get any defensive stops and that doesn't happen to Kansas." LaFrentz said. "We were just terrible, and I was probably the worst one out there."
Williams said he wanted both players to analyze how Western Kentucky was able to get back into the game.
"That's about as bad as I could ever remember getting on somebody on the sidelines during a game," Williams said. "Let them sit there for a while and think about it. And then I put Raef back in, and he responded very well."
Providing Kansas with a spark was guard Kenny Gregory, who had his best night so far this season. He was 4-for-6 for eight points, and two of his field goals came during a critical stretch in the fourth quarter.
Forward Paul Pierce was 3-for-
12 and finished with 11 points and
eight rebounds. Guard Ryan
Robertson had eight points and
three assists but also had four
turnovers.
"Kenny Gregory gave us a big lift off the bench tonight," Williams said. "He made two big buckets for
us during that time period when we were struggling most."
Williams said that while the team's performance was far from spectacular, he saw some improvement.
"I liked the way we made plays after we sat on our tails for a while," Williams said. "After those first five or six minutes (of the third quarter), we got three or four stops in a row, and we made plays
at the other end. That was the most encouraging thing to me."
Kansas will play the winner of the Eastern Michigan-UNLV game in the second round of the NIT at 8:35 tomorrow night in the field house.
Young Western Kentucky team gives Kansas tough second half
By Matt Gardner sports@kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
Western Kentucky brought two teams to Allen Field House last night. One team to shoot 33 percent from the field in the first half and the other to cut a 24-point deficit to seven points with only six minutes remaining in the game.
"I think we have a tremendous young team, and we had a lot of good ideas out there tonight, but we just couldn't execute," said Matt Kilcullen, Western Kentucky coach.
Not much went right for the Hilltoppers in the first half. Twelve turnovers and only 18 points led to a 40-18 halftime deficit. Kansas' frontcourt didn't allow Western to get the ball inside and didn't allow the Hilltoppers one trip to the free-throw line through two quarters.
"I thought we didn't have as good as composure in the first
half." Kilcullen said. "We didn't want to go downcourt and have one pass, one shot, and Kansas did a good job forcing us to do that quite a bit."
After halftime, the Hilltoppers showed the Jayhawks their better side. Western Kentucky caught Kansas off guard and outscored the Jayhawks 22-5 in the first 5:29 of the third quarter.
Kilcullen found several things in the first half that the Hilltoppers could execute against the Jayhawks and slow down their transition.
"I thought we did a good job in the third quarter of getting the ball inside so we could start our press," he said. "We felt good with our press against them, but we knew we could only do this if we were able to score."
Starting the second-half surge for the Hilltoppers was the guard tandem of Joe Harney and Monty Latimer. Harney had only four points in the first half but scored
"We just need to be able to play two good halves."
Matt Kilcullen
western kentucky coach
17 points in the second half. Latimer added six points, but he was responsible for getting the offense going, according to Harney.
"Latimer took more control and showed he was calm out there," Harney said. "When we saw he was calm, it helped me us calm and gave us more confidence."
The Hilltopppers' young squad only has one senior on the roster and felt a little overwhelmed with the field house and the crowd in its first game of the year.
"We had a lot of jitters out there, but at halftime coach said he had confidence in us, and we knew we had nothing to lose," Harney said.
Western Kentucky guard Joe Harney looks for an opening against Kansas guard Billy Thomas. Harney led the visitors with 21 points. Photo by Geoff Krieger/NAIA
"We just need to be able to play
two good halves," Kilecullen said.
"I told them at halftime that this is a 40-minute game, so if we go out and play hard for 20 minutes, good things will happen."
Raymant dropping accent, picking up points
By Penny Walker
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Suzi Raymont is afraid she's losing it
Her accent, that is.
"I talk to my mom, and she comments on how I don't even sound Australian anymore," said Raymant, a native of Melbourne, Australia, and guard for the Kansas women's basketball team. "Not many people comment on it anymore."
"When I first came here, the team had trouble understanding me a lot," Raymant said. "I used to repeat a lot of things I said."
"I really didn't want to lose my accent, but it kind of happened," she said. "My sister and father were going to send me tapes to teach me how to speak Australian again."
Raymant said that when she called out plays, other members of the team tried to mimic how she spoke. As Raymant enters her junior season at Kansas, however, her accent is fading.
In Kansas 'victorious season opener against Creighton on Sunday, Raymant led all scorers with 21 points, hitting 75 percent of her three-point attempts. And in Tuesday's exhibition game, in which the Jayhawks fell to Athletes In Action, 86-74, Raymant scored 17 points, second only to forward Lynn Pride's 18.
Raymant may be losing her accent, but she's not losing her edge.
Raymant: Losing her accent but not her adge.
Continuing to dominate outside the arc, Raymant hit three on Kansas' five three-point shots against AIA.
Coach Marian Washington said she was relying on Raymant more this season as one of her two starting juniors.
"This is her opportunity," Washington said. "This is what Suzi's been working toward. She's a key player for us this year, and she's been doing a great job shooting the ball for me. I think her intensity on
defense has really nicked up as well. "
Raymant has been playing basketball since she was 7 years old. She came to the United States after playing in the Australian leagues for several years following high school. Australian universities don't have sports programs. Raymant said.
Her family wasn't too sure about letting her come here after watching news reports of crime in the United States.
Speaking of food, Raymant has found a favorite among American cuisine.
"A lot of people get the wrong impression about America from the movies, like it's just so dangerous over here," Raymant said. "My mom was really scared when I was coming over here. You always see stuff on the news about riots and things like that. Most of America isn't even close to being like that."
"People always ask me about kangaroo's," she said. "You can eat kangaroo meat over there, but I personally don't."
"I fell in love with Twizzlers," she said.
"I tried to take a whole bunch when I went
Erroneous stereotypes go both ways. Raymant said.
home, and I ate them all in the first week."
home, and I ate them all in the first week." Raymant, who sports a tattoo on her left ankle of the Chinese symbol meaning "to be your best," said one of the hardest things about being in America was the distance to family and friends.
"When the Australian team came here, I got to meet with some of my friends," Raymant said, referring to Kansas' first exhibition game against the McDonald's Victorian All-Stars. "They were telling me everything that had been going on — friends are getting married and stuff. It made me sad because I was missing out on all that."
Raymant hasn't been home in almost a year and half but will be going home this summer for her sister's wedding.
Although she understands the fascination people can have with Australia, some topics do get a little old.
"People always talk to me about Crocodile Dundee." Raymant said. "It's so stupid. I've even been asked questions about the Tasmanian Devil, like 'Do they really spin like that?' That's stupid. It's a cartoon, you know?"
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