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KANSAS 5. CREIGHTON 4
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Jayhawks end losing streak
Sophomore catcher James Stanfield slides into home for the winning run after a two-out line drive by Junior Brandon Macias Tuesday at Hoquindl Parkle. Kansas defeated Creighton 5-4 to end a four game losing streak.
PAGE 1B
BY BEN WARD
bward@kansan.com
twitter.com/ben_dub
After making a flashy play defensively that prevented Creighton from regaining the lead, it was only fitting that junior shortstop Brandon Macias came up with the chance to give Kansas a much needed win.
With the game tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth — and the potential winning run standing on second base — Macias stepped to the plate with only one thing in mind.
"I was just looking for something out over the plate," Macias said.
Macias laced the first pitch, a changeup, over the leaping Blue Jays' shortstop into left field. Sophomore James Stanfield, the runner on second, scampered around third while the left fielder fielded the ball and fired it toward home plate.
But the throw was up the first base line, allowing Stanfield to dive across the plate and notch the walk-off victory for Kansas (12-8) — which snapped a four-game skid.
Macias, the team's number nine batter, had struggled at the plate in his first season in crimson and blue after transferring to Kansas from a junior college that used wood bats. But the steady improvement
the junior has made at the plate drew high praise from coach Ritch Price.
"It was really good to see him come through in the clutch," Price said.
After seeing an early 3-1 lead vanish when Kansas rallied for three runs in the fifth inning, Creighton responded with a rally of its own in the eighth inning. The Blue Jays pieced together back-to-back hits, knotting the score at four runs a side and threatened to take the lead, with runners on the corners and two men out.
In situations like this — with the Jayhawks in dire need of an out they've turned to junior reliever Brett Bochy all season.
Faced with another high pressure situation late in the game, there wasn't any question of who was coming out of the bullpen.
As he had all year, Bochy delivered, but not without help from Macias. Bochy induced a slow ground ball to shortstop, which the Flagstaff, Ariz. napped scoped quickly and fired to first, retiring the runner by a half-step.
"He's been real special." Price said.
Even in the next frame, with a Blue Jay runner on every base and two men out, Bochy bore down — recording a clutch strike out and getting the Jayhawks out of another jam.
Bochy's latest strong cutting set
up the game winning heroes of Macias, who instead focused on the importance of getting the victory.
For a rewind of Tuesday night's game, see PAGE 6B.
"We needed a 'W' after losing four," Macias said with a smile. "It was a big win for us."
— Edited by Kirsten Hudson
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Self reflects on the Jayhawks' unhappy season ending
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
twitter.com/c/thibodeaux
Self spoke for almost 30 minutes covering topics such as his feelings on the season, the overall expectations of coaching at Kansas and the statuses of freshman guard Xavier Henry and junior center Cole Aldrich.
Kansas coach Bill Self addressed the media for his season-ending press conference Tuesday.
Self said he wasn't going to watch the tape of the Northern Iowa game any time soon, nor would he watch the NCAA tournament.
Here's a run-through of what he said:
Reflecting on the 33-3 season, Self said it was obviously a disappointment to come out empty. But it was as good of a season as he could have had sans NCAA tournament.
"Hey, going 15-1 and winning the tournament championship is an accomplishment. But I'd rather be playing now. I'd rather be in the Final Four than that. Still, I don't think it makes this season a failure
After playing off not caring about the No.1 ranking all year, Self finally came clean, saying the lajhayws didn't enjoy victories because they were too busy protecting the role of No.1.
by any means."
"As a coach, you want your kids to care so much," Self said. "But if they care as much as you want, then you always subject them to potential huge disappointment. But that's what life is all about: caring so much about something and coming up short sometimes. They should
Against Northern Iowa, the mentality of holding on to its top seed could have been Kansas' downfall.
"Even when you're the favorite, you subconsciously hope to get through it as opposed to go take it." Self said.
As depressed as his team looked at the end of the game, Self has only talked to about half of the players since then. The amount of pain they feel is just a reflection of what they put into the season, he said.
SEE MEN'S ON PAGE 8B
Weston White/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
WESTERN WING/EXCLUSIVE TITLE PHOTO
Kansas coach Bill Self listens to a question following Kansas' season ending loss to Northern Iowa last Saturday in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Northern Iowa won, 69-27.
COMMENTARY
Slow starts led to demise
BY NICHOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
twitter.com/nroesler8
I tmd myself perplexed by Kansas' early end to the season to the point that I need to see a psychiatrist and ask questions about the existence of God.
The painful thing is that I know what the shrink would ask me, and I know what I would tell him. Like all the popular psychiatrist scenes in movies and TV shows, he would draw out the fact that I knew this would happen the whole season.
First of all, if Self knew the reaction of other teams jumping ahead of Kansas was confidence, why didn't he make it a strategy to stomp out their fire in the first minutes? Secondly, why didn't Self hire some sort of horse whisperer for the players to get their racing legs ready at the sound of the gun?
Bingo, my psychiatrist would say. That is what is at the core of your problems. And as I would become more aware of where my inner frustrations and baffled existence as a KU student stemmed from, more and more questions would pop up in my head.
Yes, Kansas had an amazing year Starting the season and ending the regular season as the No. 1 team is nothing to scoff at.
This dark truth has been apparently since January. Kansas' consistent slow starts would lead to a fast and painful end in the NCAA tournament.
Ever since the glory days earlier this season, the Jayhawks have found themselves fighting a slow start. The Colorado game in Boulder, the Cornell game, the Oklahoma State game, the Tennessee game and even the away game at Nebraska were all painful starts to watch.
"It was 10-2 with 17:30 left," Self said about the slow start against Northern Iowa. "So there were two minutes in there at the start of the game where they were a lot better than us, and that right there probably gave them the confidence they needed."
Maybe that will be a focal point for the lajwahks come next season. At some point, however, like after losing the first half to Nebraska 44-43 earlier in the season, the clear message has to be conveyed to the players that slow starts will not allow us to win games later in the season. Especially in the NCAA Tournament.
The Colorado and Oklahoma State games were much harder than expected for one reason: The Jayhawks instilled hope and confidence in their opponents that they could beat the No.1 team in the country.
I can see his point that a team's strategy is not to play well for 10 minutes but rather for 40 minutes, but how do you not make it a point when this issue has come up throughout the whole season? Self's team almost lost to Cornell at home because of the frustrating starts the team trademarked.
Kansas Coach Bill Self addressed the slow starts after the loss to Northern Iowa.
"From a coaching standpoint, you don't go into a situation and say, OK, our strategy is to get off to a good start," Self said.
.
Edited by Megan Heacock