Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Soccer sees mixed results Team gains first conference road victory then loses to Baylor. SOCCER | 8B
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2009
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Volleyball matches split Kansas sweeps Kansas State, gets swept by Texas. VOLLEYBALL | 6B
SLIPPING AWAY
PAGE 1B
Comeback drive comes up short
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
Kansas players slowly trickled out of the locker room after the game. They carried with them pizza, Gatorade and the disappointment from a loss that had slipped through their fingers.
As the Jayhawks made their way into the throng of friends and family, Colorado's band blasted music while marching out of the stadium, leaving behind an empty field that served as the stage for a fan-swarming party just moments before.
That 17th-ranked Kansas lost 34-30 at Colorado is certainly surprising. But what's more startling is that the Jayhawks didn't cap a furious comeback with a late, game-winning scoring drive.
Senior quarterback Todd Reesing — the leader of Kansas' late-game heroics against Missouri and the player with the shine-in-the-spotlight reputation — had the chance to manage another such finish. And so, on Kansas' final possession with 59 seconds left, it seemed destined that Reesing would pull another rabbit out of his hat.
Instead, his deep pass as time expired was jarred from the hands of junior wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe in the end zone, triggering a gold rush onto the field from those in the stands.
"I was real close actually," Briscoe said. "I had the ball, came down and the guy's helmet hit it. He was in the right position. They came to play; we didn't."
In the series before their final drive, the Jayhawks seemed to have grasped the lead with slightly more than four minutes left when Reesing flipped a pass to senior wide receiver Kerry Meier in the end zone.
But the play was nullified as junior wide receiver Johnathan Wilson was flagged for a contro-
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COMMENTARY
Check out Kansan.com to see a photo gallery from Saturday's game.
Senior quarterback Todd Reeing floats a pass as he is hit by a Colorado defender. The pass fell incomplete but was nearly intercepted by a Colorado safety. Reeing was 30-for-51 for 401 yards and two touchdowns in Kansas' 34-30 loss Saturday night in Boulder.
Weston White/KANSAN
Victory lost in the final seconds
W When the potential game-winning catch slipped through
Dezmon Briscoe's fingers, perceptions of Kansas' offensive omnipotence fell, as the ball did, to the turf.
Kansas trailed Colorado 24-3 at one point, but that wasn't too much of a cause for concern. Not with 'Todd Reesing at quarterback. Not with Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier as his targets. Not with Jake Sharp healthy. Kansas' offense would come alive and, should the defense hold Colorado in check, lead a comeback.
After all, wed seen this story before. Last season at Iowa State, Kansas fell behind to an underwhelming Big 12 North opponent in its first conference road game. But there wasn't a need to be too concerned. The Jayhawks, led by the aforementioned offensive stars, came back.
This Saturday, it was expected that the Boulder crowd would be forced to endure a repeat performance. And, albeit briefly, it looked like those expectations would be fulfilled. Kansas' offense did find its legs. Reesing did find his weapons and Kansas did take the lead.
Even when Colorado recaptured the game, matters never seemed out of hand. 34-30? No problem. Reeing would do what he does — what he seemingly has always done
— and Kansas would win. Same old story. Only there was a hiccup. Briscoe, blanketed in double coverage, couldn't come up with a
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BASKETBALL
Fans get first glimpse of basketball team ranked No.1
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
Freshman guard Xavier Henry stepped out of the phog and into a cheering Allen Fieldhouse. Henry was overwhelmed.
"It was a full packed house and I have to get used to it being at home," he said. "I was nervous the whole time. I was nervous all this week, I was nervous this whole year."
It may have been Henry's first time, but most fans gathered to see the 25th installment of Late Night knew what to expect: skits, dancing, video montages and scrimmages.
In one skit, the men's team took a stab at ESPN's College GameDay for being in Manhattan and not Lawrence this year.
Coach Bill Self entertained the crowd with his rendition of Digger Phelps, complete with Phelps' characteristic matching tie and highlighter pen and references to Notre Dame.
Self also dropped what was perhaps the joke of the night when he referred to his players as having "a"
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Cole Aldrich and Kallie Campbell dance to the song, "This Is How We Do It" during the junior men's basketball skat at Late Night. The 25th annual Late Night in the Phog featured skits and scrimmages from both the men's and women's basketball teams as the start of the 2009-10 Basketball season.
Go to Kansan.com to see a photo gallery from Friday's Late Night festivities.
Follow Corey
Thebodeaux at
twitter.com/c_thi-
bodeaux.
little fight in them," a statement that reminded many of the recent fights between the basketball and football teams.
After breathtaking displays of the history of Kansas basketball.
As in past Late Nights, the men's basketball team donned crazy getups and busted silly moves. C.J. Henry sported bright yellow throwback shorts, Tyrel Reed showed off his "worn" and Mario Little and Sherron Collins performed a snazzy Michael Jackson routine.
Afterward, Self said it was merely a play on words and was not meant to make light of the situation.
Earlier in the evening, the women's basketball team did some dancing of its own in a glorified version of "American Idol."
the team played in a 20-minute scrimmage to show off its No.1 ranking by every major preseason poll.
The game was fun for the fans, but not from a coaching standpoint — Self made it clear that the team was not ready to hang any championship banners just yet.
Self said that he was not impressed by what he saw — a lot of rusty players and a game of H-O-R-S-E.
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
"Pitiful play in some regards," Self said. "You can't expect it to be anything other than that."
Yet there were some highlights for the fans, at least.
Travis Releford, playing for the red team, and Markieff Morris, playing for the blue, each scored a scrimmage-high 15 points. Releford started the game guns-a-blazing.
"Right off the tip was a good lob
from Tyshawn, and that dunk just kept me going after that" he said
At the end of the night, senior guard Sherron Collins thanked the fans for their support and said that the team wanted to start the
season fresh and leave the past behind.
With his teammates huddled on the court, Collins ended the night by giving the crowd a reason to think the Jayhawks had their
focus in the right place: "Family" on three!"
Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorph