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SPORTS NIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 1995
SECTION B
UCLA earns first title since 1975
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — With its starting point guard on the bench and its greatest coach in the stands, UCLA won its first national championship in 20 years and kept Arkansas from joining a select list of repeaters.
The top-ranked Bruins won their record 11th NCAA title last night with an 89-78 victory that was even more impressive considering senior Tyus Edney was limited to 2/12 minutes because of a sprained right wrist.
UCLA forward Ed O'Bannon stepped up, as he was supposed to, but so did freshman Toby Bailey and Cameron Dollar, Edney's replacement. It meant the first title for the school since 1975, when former coach John Wooden, who sat quietly in the stands of the Kingdome, won the last of 10 in a 12-year span.
"I'm very proud," Wooden said. "To be honest, I didn't think they could win it without Edney. He makes that team run. But Bailey and Dollar played wonderfully. Dollar didn't score many points, but his defense was superb."
For Arkansas, it was the end of a tournament run of close finishes, and it ended one game short of becoming the second.
repeat champion since Wooden's Bruins won seven consecutive.
O'Bannon scored 30 points and had 17 rebounds in a game that certified his All-America credentials.
"I owe a lot to Tyus," Dollar said.
"The two years we've been together,
he taught me a lot, and I was able to
apply it tonight.
Bailey, who had struggled to a 1-for-2, two-point outing in the semifinals, finished with 26 points and nine rebounds. And Dollar came up with eight assists.
Edney had been UCLA's sparkplug during the tournament and beat
Missouri in the second round with a length-of-the-court drive and basket in the final seconds.
"I think he had the best tournament of any player of
the 64 teams up until tonight," UCLA coach Jim Harrick said of ELA. "But what a gutty performance by the rest of the guys. They sucked it
"It was a bad feeling knowing I couldn't play, but I had confidence in my guys," Edney said. "They've played without me before. I knew they could do it."
up and played hard."
"I just played as tough as I could," said Zidek, who is from Prague in the Czech Republic. "I tried to move
Arkansas center Corliss Williamson, who was 9-for-12 in the second half of the semifinal win against North Carolina, finished 3-for-16 from the field against the Bruins, including a 1-for-10 effort in the second half. Williamson was stymied by 7-foot UCLA center George Zidek.
my feet. I did it, I don't know how I did it, but I shut him down."
The Bruins built a 65-53 lead with 11:27 left on a rebound and basket by Bailey. Arkansas managed to get within 67-64 on a free throw by Williamson with 5:22 left, but O'Bannon hit a jump hook, Bailey scored on yet another rebound, O'Bannon and Dollar each made two free throws and Bailey scored again and the lead was back to 12 with 3:13 left.
Clint McDaniel led Arkansas with 16 points, while Williamson had 12 and Scotty Thurman, the hero of last year's title win against Duke with a last-minute 3-pointer, had five points on 2-for-9 shooting.
'Hawks hope for'Husker healing
Kansas travels to Nebraska,plan is to improve record
By Tom Erickson
Kansan sportswriter
Sean R. Crosier / KANSAN
Bring on the Cornhuskers.
ansas sophomore outfielder Justin Headley makes a diving catch in center field as Sophomore outfielder Issaac Byrd backs him up.
The Jayhawks and Cornhuskers will play a two-game series beginning at 7 tonight in Lincoln, Neb., with the second game at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Kansas is 2-8 in the Big Eight and 10-20 overall. Nebraska stands at 5-5 and 16-11.
After facing Big Eight Conference baseball powerhouses in No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 3 Oklahoma State to open the conference schedule, Kansas should have an easier time with Nebraska.
Kansas sophomore outfielder Justin Headl
have been outhit 100 to 51 and outscored
86 to 35 by conference opponents.
Kansas sophomore outfielder Justin Headley, who has seen his batting average improve from .163 to .282 in a less than a month, said he believed that Kansas could sweep Nebraska.
"I'm really looking forward to it," Headley said. "I really don't want to say our backs are against the wall, but we just played the two best teams in the Big Eight. Maybe we can learn from what they do and how they pressure us, and do that to Nebraska and win a couple there."
Amore rested Jamie Splittorff (2-5, 5.53 ERA) will get the start for Kansas in tonight's game. The junior pitcher has continued to struggle, but Kansas coach Dave Bingham said the last few days had been good for Splittorff.
"We were trying to give Janie one more day of rest," he said. "He's been out there fairly regularly. He had a better workout Saturday, so hopefully he will be ready to go."
Junior right-hander Clay Baird (3-4,
5.77 ERA) will start for the Jayhawks on tomorrow. Baird's last start came Friday in a 9-7 loss to the Cowbys.
Pitching has not been much better.
The Kansas offense has been anemic after eight conference games.
As a team, Kansas is hitting .198, while its opponents are at .330. The Jayhawks
K an s a s
takes a 9.51
team ERA
in conference
play to
Lincoln.
The Jay-
h a w k s
have issued
60 walks in
Eerstad lead the team in batting, hits, home runs, runs scored, and RBI last season.
"Maybe we can learn from what they do."
70 innings while only striking out 42.
Justin Headley
Kansas sophomore outfielder
Nebraska is led by outfielder Darin Erstad, a preseason All-American who is also a punter on the Cornhusker football team.
B u t despite the slow start,
the bad K a n s a statistics
haven't put down the optimism
of senior
Brent Wilhelm.
"We've got a lot of young guys," he said.
"But as long as we keep running out there, sooner or later we will turn this
Baseball America Top 10
The top 10 college baseball teams as determined by the staff of Baseball America magazine through April 2
rank team rec pt% pr
1. CS-Fullerton 29 5 2
2. Okla.State 29 3 3
3. Clemson 28 3 1
4. Florida State 28 7 5
5. Miami 28 4 4
6. LSU 24 4 8
7. Auburn 25 4 13
8. Wichita State 20 6 9
9. ArizonaState 20 10 6
10. Oklahoma 20 8 11
American Baseball magazine
Ready for Mizzou
Kansas junior Mike Isroff returns the ball during a match against Oklahoma on Sunday. Isroff lost to Gene Highfield, 6-1, 6-2.
The No. 12 Kansas men's tennis team will play unranked Missouri at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the Allen Field House courts. The No. 33 Kansas women's tennis team also will play Missouri today at the same times.
Heading into today's match, the men's team is 13-7. The women's team is 9-11.
BRIEF
Yumi Chikamori / KANSAN
Men's golf struggles in Georgia, finishes 12th
The Kansas men's golf team faltered and struggled to a 12th-place finish during the weekend.
The Jayhawks competed in the 18-team Augusta College Invitational in Augusta, Ga. Their three-round total of 892 was 29 strokes off the win score. Florida State claimed the team title with an 863.
Kansas got a top-20 finish from senior Tyler Shelton. Shelton rebounded from an opening round of 78 and shot a 219. He placed 19th.
Florida State also took home the tournament's individual title. Christian Raynor shot a 207, winning by six strokes.
Other Jayhawk scores and placings were:
junior Dan Rooney, 222, 39th
junior Alan Stearns, 223, 42nd
freshman Jacob Fellander. 231, 70th
WOMEN'S GOLF
junior Slade Adams, 232, 72nd
Compiled from Kansan staff reports.
4t. Jennifer Kangas, MSU, 231
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
Golf team has four; looks for one more
The competitive squad is starting to solidify for the Kansas women's golf team.
After a fourth-place finish during the weekend at the Indiana University Women's Invitational, four of the five traveling spots are set in stone, Kansas women's golf coach Jerry Waugh said.
Seniors Michelle Uher and Ann Holbrook, junior Lynn Williamson and sophomore Missy Russell should compete in Kansas' remaining tournaments.
"Those have been the top four in competition and in qualifying." Waugh said. "We got some good scores out of some of them. They're able to maintain their focus."
And the Jayhawks focused well on Saturday and Sunday. In the opening round in Bloomington, Ind., the team posted a score of 313. It was the team's best competitive round of the season.
"I have had confidence all along that this is a team that can shoot between 310 and 320 with ease," Waugh continued. "But golf is such an emotional game."
The mental side of the game can affect a golfer, but so can the weather. Kansas played in cold conditions during the weekend, with temperatures ranging from the low-30s to the mid-50s. There was even some light snow early Saturday morning. Uher said.
"It only snowed for a couple holes," she said with a laugh. "But we've practiced in cold weather, and we know how to play in it."
Kansas finished the tournament with scores of 320 and 325. Its 958 total was good enough to the Northwestern for fourth place. Indiana dominated its own tournament with a team score of 916 and won by 17 strokes.
The Jayhawks finished fourth for the second consecutive time. They were fourth at the Texas A&M Bookstore/Welsh Memorial Invitational during spring break.
The final piece needed to continue the Jayhawks' success may be a solid fifth player. Russell said it was one of the team's most important spots because that player could take pressure off of the other four players.
"You can feel OK that if someone has a bad round, your fifth person can come up and shoot a good score." Russell said.
No one has had to worry about Russell shooting a bad round. She finished in a three-way tie for fourth with a 231 total. She opened the tournament with a 1-under-par 73.
"Missy showed some signs of brilliance as a freshman," Waugh said of the Bartlesville, Okla., native. "I'm not surprised at all Missy has emerged."
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