The Jayhawks won one game and lost another as they opened SuperTarget field last weekend. Page 4
SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY,OCTOBER 16,1995
LATE NIGHT
PAGE 3B
Weekend leaves fans in heaven
Late Night festivities pack'em in
Welcome to 'Hawk heaven. population: all Kansas fans.
If you see people walking around with their heads in the clouds today, don't be alarmed. They're probably remembering one of the Kansas athletic events they saw this weekend: maybe women's soccer, swimming or volleyball.
But most memories from the weekend will involve yet another victory by the Kansas football team and the crazed scene from "Late Night with Roy Williams."
The football team put Saturday's game against Iowa State out of reach by halftime and dismantled a decent team.
Iowa State sophomore running back Troy Davis — the nation's leading rusher — looked good early and gained 54 yards in the first quarter. Davis managed only 67 yards for the rest of the game.
SPORTS EDITOR
While Davis struggled against the Kansas
defense, the Jayhawk backs showed him how to do offense. Eight Jayhawks recorded rushing yardage, and four scored touchdowns.
Senior L.T. Levine led all Jayhawks with 116 yards, scoring two touchdowns. Sophomore Eric Vann gained 49 yards and rushed for his first touchdown of the season. Junior June Henley and sophomore Eric Galbreath also scored for the Jayhawks.
But after the 34-7 victory that would propel the football team to No.7 in the Associated Press top 25 poll, there was little time to celebrate. Thousands of Jayhawk faithful were making the first of many pilgrimages this season to Allen Field House.
A frenzied crowd ushered in the new basketball season at Late Night. By 10:15 p.m., the field house was filled to the rafters, the doors were closed and about 2,000 people were turned away.
Those who got in weren't disappointed. After C.B. McGrath slammed every Big Eight Conference rival in a Dave Letterman-like top 10 list, Sean Pearson proved his dancing superiority and Jerod Haase proved his dancing inferiority, the men's basketball team got down to business with its first practice of the year.
Well, it may not have been all business. But fans got a glimpse of a team that many have picked as the nation's best.
From my estimation, other teams should be very, very scared.
Although several Jayhawks proved their commitment to the weight room, sophomore guard Billy Thomas was the most impressive. His well-developed upper body may be different than last year, but his shot is still the same. Thomas was four of seven from the floor and scored 11 points.
Jayhawk fans were ecstatic to see their favorites return. Haase redeemed himself after the dancing part of the evening by scoring 20 points. Big men Scot Pollard and Raef LaFrentz worked against each other all night in the paint and scored in double figures.
Forward Paul Pierce stole the show during the slam-dunk drill, showing why he was one of the top high-school seniors last year. Even though he struggled a bit during the scrimmage and was two of eight, just remember you heard it here first that this guy is a future star. That is, if you already hadn't figured it out.
And the final member of the freshman trio is forward T.J. Pugh. He might be the least-known of the newcomers, but people will get to know him very soon. Pugh has a great shooting touch and works like a horse on defense.
Freshman guard Ryan Robertson's 17-point, five-rebound performance may have been one of the bigger surprises. Having Robertson in the backcourt will add further depth to an already awesome guard corps.
What a weekend. Can we do this again sometime?
Tom Leininger / KANSAN
Kansas junior guard Jerod Haase slams down two of his 20 points in the Crimson and Blue Scrimage at "Late Night with Roy Williams" at Allen Field House. Haese led the Crimson team to an 81-45 victory.
Field house filled for first practice; many turned away
By Bill Petulla and Matt Irwin
Kansan sportswriters
It was a family affair.
From the families of fans that arrived early to get glimpses of the Kansas men's basketball team to the team and the Crimson girls dancing to Sister Sledge's "We Are Family," Late Night with Roy Williams was a party both young and old will remember for a while.
The Late Night party held on Saturday at Allen Field House was the kind in which it was both fashionable and necessary to arrive early.
The field house's capacity of 16,300 was exceeded and about 2,000 people were turned away at the door. In the process of filling the field house, the attendance record for most fans at a collegiate volleyball match was shattered by more than three thousand fans.
The Kansas volleyball team lost to Kansas State in three games.
Then the kids warmed up the crowd for the fun that would follow. Although the boy with Jacque Vaughn's jersey was declared winner of the Kids' Slam Dunk contest, the seven-year old wearing Sean Pearson's jersey may have been the biggest winner. Following his introduction, Pearson ran to him, picked him up and put him on his shoulders.
In the midst of Kansas' athletic successes in this season, many were hoping to help ensure more winning in the future. Highly touted prep basketball player C.J. Black, who attended the event, was greeted warmly by fans.
One section of the crowd even started chanting, "We want C.J." Then the fun began.
Dancing and skits brought laughs and loud cheers from the fans. However, the loudest came when a mock
press conference starring a Roy Williams impersonator from the Kansas spirit squad was interrupted by Kansas football coach Glen Mason.
Fresh from a 34-7 rout of Iowa State, which improved the football team's record to 6-0. Mason walked out to a standing ovation.
C. B. McGrath gave a "Top Ten Reasons why Recruits Choose Kansas," — a la David Letterman. His reasons included:
We've got Roy Williams, not Norm Stewart
Five words: Kansas Jayhawks are No. 1
Purple Sucks
The women's basketball team also got into the act, dancing to Kool and he Gang's "Celebration" and Michael Jackson's "Beat It."
The most enjoyable moment of the evening for Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams was watching his players dance.
"They danced a lot better than they played," Williams said.
He added the dancing of freshman forward T.J. Pugh was surprising.
"He was good, I was impressed." Williams said.
Although Williams wasn't impressed by his team's play, he was impressed by junior guard Jerod Haase's shooting. In scoring 20 points for the Crimson team, Haase shot 66 percent from the field, including four out of five three-point attempts.
The Crimson team defeated the Blue team 81-45. Junior center Scot Pollard and freshman guard Ryan Robertson also played big roles in the Crimson team's victory. Pollard had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Robertson impressed his new fans by contributing 17 points, shooting 75 percent from the field.
Sophomore forward RaeFLaFrente
led the Blue team with 16 points.
Although the game didn't seem to electrify the crowd, the pregame dunking caused oohs and ahrs.
"Paul Pierce was impressive." Mark Potter, St. Louis junior said. "He had a lot of power and a lot of grace."
Student misses shot at free ride
By Matt Irwin Kansan sportswriter
Mark Potter missed a half-court shot for free tuition, room and board during halftime of the Kansas men's basketball team's scrimmage.
The college basketball fan and ESPN "SportsCenter" viewer said that he and his friends went to another friend's home to see if Potter, St. Louis junior, would be on the early morning edition of the show. He was on the show and was happy to be a part of SportsCenter anchor Larry Beil's segment on half-court shots.
"I watch SportsCenter everyday," Potter said. "This is my SportsCenter highlight."
Potter played high school basketball for two years in St. Louis and said that he used to get flak from his teammates for shooting half-court shots after practice. That practice seemed to help Potter. His half-
court shot hit the front of the rim, bounced off the backboard and fell to the ground.
Potter said that before the shot he was excited but not nervous. Although he wasn't nervous, his friends were.
"I was more nervous than he was," Wesley Friedman, Chicago junior, said. "I took a walk outside."
Friedman also gave Potter some advice.
"I told him to go across the street to Robinson to practice," Friedman said.
As for the money that got away, Potter said that before he shot, ESPN analyst Digger Phelps interviewed him and showed him how much money he would receive if he made it. The $9,500 is all Potter can recall right now.
"It was like a dream," Potter said. "I didn't feel like it was me when I was doing it. I don't remember what I said in the interview."
Record crowd not enough for a victory
New NCAA attendance mark is set as 14,300 watch Jayhawks lose
By Bill Petulla
Kansan sportswriter
Before the Kansas volleyball match Saturday night the song, "Whoump there it is," echoed throughout Allen Field House.
When the Kansas volleyball team walked onto the court and looked around the building, "Whoomp there they were!"
The Jayhawks set an all-time NCAA record for total attendance against Kansas State. The previous mark of 11,114 in the 1993 NCAA volleyball championship match between Penn State and Long Beach State was broken, as Kansas had 14,300 fans pack the field house.
However, the tremendous crowd support was not enough for the Jayhawks. Kansas was unable to hold off Kansas State. The Wildcats won 3-0.
The Jayhawks came out fired up and led in the first game 6-1. However, following a Kansas State timeout, the Wildcats were able to chip away at the lead and tied the score at 7-7. Kansas put up a fight but eventually succumbed to Kansas State 15-12.
"This was a fantastic opportunity to play in front of that many people," Kansas volleyball coach Karen Schonewise said. "We hurt ourselves, though, because we didn't get the crowd behind us."
"I think our defense came out a little tight," Kansas sophomore right side hitter Kendra Kahler said.
With the momentum in their favor, the Wildcats busted out in game two. They never trailed, held off a late Jayhawk charge and won 15-11. Some positives things came out of the second game, though.
"We started showing some emotion if game two," Schonewise said.
Down by two games, Kansas started strong in game three. However, Kansas State stole the Jayhawks fire en route to defeating Kansas 15-12 and completing the sweep.
Kansas State, which had lost its last three matches, got a strong performance from middle blocker Kate DeClerk. The junior led the team with 16 kills and an attack percentage of .481. Junior outside hitter Yolanda Young added nine kills for the Wildcats.
"I think we were definitely better than them," Kansas senior middle blocker Jenny Larson said. "We just weren't able to put the games away."
"They are very balanced and have a lot of talent," Schonewise said. "They don't make a lot of errors."
On the Jayhawks' side of the net, Kahler had two career highs. She set a personal best with 17 kills and a .577 attack percentage;
But for Kahler, a career night was little condolence.
"It doesn't feel like I played well," she said. "When you don't play well as a team, you don't feel like you played well personally."
With 11 kills on the night, Larson recorded her 800th career kill. She also contributed 14 digs.
Although the crowd of 14,300 were many more than the 247 fans they had been averaging each match, the Jayhawks didn't feel too much pressure.
"It wasn't scary," Larson said. "We could feed off the crowd, but they won't win the match for us."
Kansas hopes it can build off of Saturday's loss against Iowa State on Wednesday at Allen Field House.
"As long as we can learn from a loss it's a positive thing," Schonewise said. "If we go away, win or lose, without learning anything then it's a bad thing."