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First-round pairings for the men's tournament, which begins Friday in Kansas City. Mo. Page 2.
SPORTS
Q
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1996
'Hawks head to final game
Dixon leads team past Cornhuskers with 25 points
By Evan Blackwell
Kansan sportswriter
SALINA — It was a performance Kansas could have expected from its player of the year.
Kansas junior guard Tamecka Dixon, who was names the Big Eight Conference women's basketball player of the year last week, scored 25 points, leading the No. 21 Jayhawks past Nebraska 65-61 yesterday in the semifinals of the last Big Eight tournament.
Kansas, 20-8 overall, will play No. 20 Colorado in the championship game at 7tonight.
WOMEN'S RESULTS:
Scores and statistics from the first two rounds of the Big Eight women's tournament.
Scores & More,
Page 2.
Dixon, who battled a sinus infection the entire weekend, performed when the Jayhawks needed her most.
"They were playing a box and one on Angie Halbleib, so I was trying to penetrate and the ball to Charisse (Sampson)." Dixon said. "Her man wasn't coming over to help, so I just took it to the goal."
Kansas was ahead 63-61 and 26 seconds were left when a Nebraska inbounds pass was tipped by freshman center Nikla Sanford and stolen by senior guard Sampson.
"Now Kansas will be the team to remember, if we win tomorrow night," Dixon said.
Sampson got the ball to Dixon, who was fouled with six seconds left. Dixon hit both free throws, clinching the win.
the game because of foul trouble
The Jayhawks received a much-needed boost from an unlikely source, junior forward Patience Grayer.
Grayer scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
She also helped Kansas do a defensive number on Nebraska senior center Pyra Aarden, who finished with only nine points.
"She really stepped up and helped us when we were down," said Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington, of Graver.
Tyler Wirken / KANBAN
In a close game throughout, Kansas led 33-29 at halftime. In the second half, the Cornhuskers took a 41-39 lead on two free throws by Aarden with 13:23 remaining.
Nebraska held the lead until Sampom hit a three-pointer, tying the game at 57 with four minutes remaining. Then Dixon scored the Jayhawks' final eight points.
Washington said she had hoped to rest the ailing Dixon but the tight game didn't allow her to.
"I was really worried," Washington said. "I knew she wasn't herself."
SECTION B
Washington said the Cornhuskus, who had reached the semifinals with a 70-64 win against Missouri on Saturday, had deserved an NCAA tournament bid.
**TOP:** Kansas freshman center Nakia Santford protects the ball from two Nebraska defenders in yesterday's game. **BOTTOM:** Kansas junior guard Tamecka Dixon gets tied up in a jump ball with a Cornhusker in the No. 21 Jayhawks' 65-61 victory yesterday in Salina. Kansas will face No. 20 Colorado at 7 tonight.
"Now Kansas will be the team to remember,if we win tomorrow night."
Kansas was forced to play without the inside presence of Sanford for much of
Tamecka Dixon
Kansas junior guard
The Jayhawks got to their semifinal match with Nebraska by defeating Kansas State 70-64 in the quarterfinals Saturday afternoon.
Halbleib led the Jayhawks in that game with 27 points, and Sanford added 11 points and 7 rebounds. Kansas won that game, despite being out-rebounded 50-33 by the Wildcats.
"They really hurt us on the offensive boards," Washington said. "I think that helped them stay in the game."
Reality check won't hurt the Jayhawks
Flipping the hat on backwards today, I'm coming at you with my game face on.
First and foremost, Saturday's loss to Oklahoma left a sour taste in my mouth. I felt the Kansas attack was firing on all cylinders after the Missouri win, but the big Jayhawk machine stalled in Norman.
Ryan Minor proved why he is the best player in the Big Eight Conference. With his size and speed, few players in the country can stop him when he's on.
But I'm still scanning through the game tape to see if there was a play that Minor — the Chris Collins of the
ASSOCIATE
SPORTS
EDITOR
Big Eight — was involved in and didn't celebrate
Sorry, I can't find one.
But fear not, Jayhawk fans. A reality check this late in the season is just what the team needed. Besides, thanks in large part to No. 6 Villanova and No. 7 Cincinnati fail-
ng to capitalize on the Jayhawk loss, it will not cost Kansas a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Still on the subject of Big Eight hoops, CBS analyst Al McGuire once said that with the exception of Larry Bird, Nebraska men's basketball coach Danny Nee is the finest competitor with whom he had ever been associated.
Well, several weeks ago this competitor met his match and folded to the pressure after 11 players didn't show up for practice, and came an hour late the next day.
Call me crazy, but if an incident like 11 players skipping practice happened at Allen Field House, coach Roy, like most college coaches, would hand out 11 suspensions — even if he had to start three Crimson Girls.
What makes this tale even stranger is that the team seems to have swept this incident under the rug and has moved on.
In football news, quarterback Neil O'Donnell signed a $25 million contract with the New York Jets last week. Coincidentally, $25 million is about the same amount of money Neil will have to dish out in doctors' fees after defenses blow past the Jets' lowly offensive line.
I don't know how they do things at Nebraska, but skipping practice is something that isn't even accepted at most junior high levels — let alone a Division I program.
With the exception of newly acquired Jumbo Elliot, New York's pass protection is as useless as a K-State football player on a Trivial Pursuit team.
But sweeping things under the rug is nothing new in 'Husker country.
Last season the Jets had one of the finest passers and scramblers in Boomer Esiason, but he struggled, even got a concussion, behind those fragile china dolls the Jets used to protect him.
O'Donnell, who grew up only 20 minutes away from the Meadowlands, left a tame media market in Pittsburgh for a huge contract in New York.
Hmm ... sounds a lot like the Bobby Bonilha story. Bonilla, who bolted out of Pittsburgh and settled in New York for the money, spent more time hitting reporters than fastballs in his unhappy stay with the Mets.
So my advice to Neil is to get a good doctor who works on Sundays and a good lawyer who specializes in locker room brawls.
Cold weather steals home games from Kansas
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
Jayhawk freshmen pitchers are put-on ice
A three-game series between Kansas and Iowa were canceled because of cold weather this weekend.
Don't count Mother Nature as a fan of the Kansas baseball team.
The series will not be rescheduled.
The Javhawks (5-4) have yet to play a
"It's disappointing, but not discouraging," he said. "I really thought this was going to be a great day to play. But this is not the point of the year when you play games in this weather. If something bad happens you go 'Why did we play?'
Kansas coach Bobby Randall said with temperatures in the 30's, the decision had not been a tough one.
home game this year. All four of their scheduled games canceled so far because of low temperatures.
The cancellation disappointed freshmen pitchers Chris Williams and Les Wal-
"I was really looking forward to my first start," Williams said. "I think I'll get one some other time."
rond who were to get their first starts of the year.
And Walrond's parents came from Tulsa, Okla. to see him pitch.
"It was the first home game, and I was kind of pumped up and ready to go," Walrond said. "Coach hasn't said anything about when I'll get to start again."
Iowa hasn't played a game yet this year, and Hawkeye coach Duane Banks said while the decision was the right one, the Hawkeyes were anxious to play.
"We don't control the weather, so there's nothing we can do about it," he said. "When you've got the wind chill in the teens, it would be too cold to play football."
Banks said that they hadn't played all year, and it was all right to wait another week.
The Jayhawks won't have to wait a week through. Tomorrow they travel to Norman, Okla., to open the Big Eight Conference play with a two-game series.
Kansas' third attempt at a home opener will be on Friday, when the Jayhawks start a three-game series with Mankato State.
Matt Flickner / KANSAN
Kansas junior center Scot Pollard collides with Oklahoma senior center Jason Yanish in Saturday's game.
9
Jayhawks say it was better to lose sooner rather than later
Oklahoma raises Minor questions
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
NORMAN. Okla. — No one called it a good loss.
But No. 3 Kansas' 85-79 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday might be the jump start that the Jayhawks need. The NCAA tournament starts in less than two weeks, and a loss then would end the Jayhawks season.
"This is really a crossroads right now," said Kansas junior guard Jacque Vaughn, who scored a team-high 16 points. "I think we're smart enough to understand we don't like the feeling of losing. We have to try and make a positive out of this situation."
Kansas coach Roy Williams didn't know whether the loss would be a positive. Although, it had better shake the team up, he said.
"It better tick them off because it ticked me off," Williams said. "We just can't go out and let somebody be so much more aggressive and emotionally into it than we were."
The Sooners had plenty to be emotional about. They honored their four seniors prior to tipoff and hoped to grab an NCAA tournament at-large bid with a victory.
That emotion and aggressive play carried Oklahoma to a 17-point lead. A pair of free throws from Oklahoma senior forward Ernie Abercrombie with 6:55 left in the first half gave the Sooners a 38-21 advantage.
Kansas turned the tables on Oklahoma for the remainder of the first half, outscoring the Sooners 15-5.
"We let them take it to us instead of us taking it to them," Kansas junior guard Jerod Haase said. "That's the hardest part. It's something we pride ourselves on."
The Jayhawks continued cutting into the deficit in the second half. With Haase and freshman forward Paul Pierce picking up their fourth fouls during the first five minutes of the half, the points had to come from another source.
Enter Rvan Robertson.
The freshman guard hit a three-pointer with 14:36 remaining. Then, he grabbed a rebound on Olddahoma's next possession, dribbled to the other end and sank an 18-footer from the left side. Kansas trailed by just three, 55-52.
Robertson's next basket from the floor gave Kansas its first lead with 8:44 remaining. He hit a three-pointer from deep in the right corner, and the Jayhawks led 64-62.
"I was fortunate to get the ball that open," said Robertson, who finished with 12 points. "I feel if I get the ball wide open, I can make it."
In response to Robertson's charge, another Ryan stepped up — Oklahoma senior forward Ryan Minor. He gave Oklahoma the lead, 70-66, with back-to-back three-point goals.
He finished with a game-high 26 points.
"The kid can play any time, any day — morning, noon or night," Williams said. "Just call him, and he'll be ready to play. I like those kinds of kids."
Despite Minor's outburst, Kansas took the lead again, 74-71, with 4:05 remaining. Oklahoma ended the game on 14-5 surge, though, as Kansas hit only one of its last eight shots.
All the Jayhawks felt disappointed in the loss that dropped them to 24-3 overall and 12-2 in the Big Eight. It was a particularly hard for Robertson, who lived in Lawton, Okla., until he was 13 years old.
"It's kind of funny that every time that I go home we lose," said Robertson, who moved to St. Charles, Mo., from Oklahoma.
The Jayhawks lost at Missouri on Feb 10.
"They say, 'Home is where the heart is.' I got my heart broken at home today." Robertson said.