2B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2008
sports trivia of the day
Q: Before last week, when was the last time that the Oklahoma State basketball team beat back-to-back ranked opponents?
Victory shower
A: At the end of the 2003-2004 season when the Cowboys beat No. 9 Pittsburgh and No. 5 Saint Joseph's, Oklahoma State went on to reach the Final Four that season.
Oklahoma State Media Relations
sports fact of the day
sports quote of the day
Junior guard Byron Eaton made 16 free throws in Saturday's 61-60 victory against the Jayhawks. It was the most from a Cowboy since Feb. 17, 1986, when Rick Anderson knocked down 17 against the Jayhawks.
Oklahoma State Media Relations
Byron Eaton after the victory against Kansas
"It it came down to heart. We just out-touched them and I think we wanted it more than they did."
on tv tonight
Men's College Basketball:
-Marquette at Villanova, 6:00 p.m.
ESPN.
Tottenham Hotspur's coach Juande Ramos is covered in sparkling wine by his players Robbie Keane, right, and Jermaine Jenas after they defeated Chelsea in the English League Cup Final soccer match at Wembley Stadium in London. Sundav.
-Texas at Kansas State, 8:00 p.m.
ESPN
-Gonzaga at Portland, 10:00 p.m.
ESPN2
Women's College Basketball:
Women's College basketball
-Corntinct at Louisiana State,
6:00 p.m., ESPN2
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEN'S GOLF Team competes in All-American Golf Classic, Hermreck begins play
The University of Kansas men's golf team is in Houston trying to defend last year's team title in the All-American Golf Classic. The Jayhawks won the 2007 event with a three-round team score of 872.
This year, the Jayhawks will be led by freshman Brad Hopfinger, who has finished in the top 30 in four of his first five starts. Senior Joey Mundy and Junior Walt Koelbel are the only Jayhawks to
have competed in the 54-hole event, which takes place today and Tuesday.
Sophomore Bobby Knowles and freshman Nate Barbee are both coming off of career-best performances in the Hawaii-Hilo Invitational. Knowles recorded a three-round score of 216 and Barbee finished with a score of 217.
Making his debut for the Jayhawks is junior Brandon Hermreck. He transferred from Wichita State after an impressive sophomore season in which he had an average 18-hole score of 73.4.
Because of the cold Kansas winter, the Jayhawks have not
played a full round of practice outside.
"We are just looking forward to getting into some good weather again and allowing us to play a little bit," coach Kit Grove said.
The Jayhawks have been limited to practice indoors and have even gone to the Anschutz Sports Pavilion. Though the Jayhawks competed in the Hawaii-Hilo Invitational earlier this month, they said it has been hard to stay prepared.
"With the weather, it's almost like we're almost starting over again,"Hopfinger said."It's up and down."
Bryan Wheeler
SOFTBALL Team strikes victories in the Houston Invitational
The University of Kansas softball team continued its solid start to the season with four victories and only one loss in the Houston Invitational Tournament. The Jayhawks' only loss was to the Houston Cougars, 7-3, who are ranked 20th in the USA Softball Collegiate Top 25. The KU offense was powered by home runs this weekend. Sophomore first baseman Amanda Jobe had two home runs, while junior third baseman Val Chapple, sophomore second baseman Sara Ramirez and freshman catcher Brittany Hile also hit home runs. The Jayhawks reached the run rule against Cal State Northridge, and put up nine
runs in the first inning. They went on to win 10-2. The Jayhawks put up four runs in their first two games against Texas State and Centenary, winning 4-2 and 4-0
respectively.
Freshman pitcher Allie
Clark shutout
Centenary
through six
innings and
junior pitcher
Valerie George
struck out all
three batters she faced to complete the shutout. The Jayhawks had some last inning heroics from Jobe and Chapple, who both hit home runs against Boston College in the bottom of the sixth inning to earn the victory. The Jayhawks are now 12-4 this season and travel to
Jobe
Carbondale, Ill. for the Southern Illinois Invitational Tournament March 1 and 2.
Kelly Breckunitch
Houston Invitational
2/22/08: vs. Texas State W.4.2
Houston Invitational tournament results
2/23/08: vs. Boston College
W, 2-1
vs. #20 Houston
W.4-2
vs. Centenary
W.4-0
2/24/08: vs. Cal State Northridge W,10-2
vs. #20 Houston
L. 7-3
Memphis loses, ends streak
BY PAUL NEWBERRY ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis wanted to prove it really was the best team in the country, maybe even make a run at perfection.
Turns out, the Tigers aren't even best in their own state.
Tyler Smith hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 28 seconds left and No. 2 Tennessee knocked off the nation's last unbeaten team, edging top-ranked Memphis 66-62 on Saturday night.
The Volunteers (25-2) won the I-
"You guys all said we needed to lose one, so we lost one," Memphis coach John Calipari told the media, trying to shrug off the end of the nation's longest home winning streak at 47 games. "Great game. I have to give them credit. They scrapped, they battled."
40 showdown and are likely headed to No.1 for the first time in school history.
Tennessee won on a night when star guard Chris Lofton scored only 7 points, beating up the Tigers with a dominating performance on the boards. Lofton did finish it off, though, hitting a couple of free throws with 4.5 seconds to go after Memphis (26-1) intentionally missed at the line.
calendar
TODAY
Men's Golf, The All-
American, All day,
Houston
Women's Golf, Fresno
State Invitational, All day,
Frésno, Calif.
TOMORROW
Men's Golf, The All-
American, All day,
Houston
Women's Golf, Fresno
State Invitational, All day,
Fresno, Calif.
Now the spotlight shifts to the Vols, who've never made it to a regional final, much less the Final Four.
"No. 1's great," Lofton said. "But we want to be No. 1 at the end of the year."
The city along the Mississippi River, famous for Elvis Presley and the blues, was downright electric before the game. Thousands streamed along Beale Street, ducking into the juke joints for a helping of music and beer, or headed over to Rendezvous to munch on slab of juicy ribs.
Priscilla Presley, who had Graceland bathed in Tiger blue the night before the game, watched from a front-row seat. NFL star Peyton Manning managed to land a seat in a luxury box to cheer on Tennessee, his alma mate.
Tickets were going for as much as $5,000 on the Internet. The fans in the lower bowl were on their feet the entire game.
"It was a great night for college basketball in the state of Tennessee," said Vols coach Bruce Pearl, who felt the atmosphere was reminiscent of another big night in Memphis, when Lennox Lewis knocked out Mike Tyson in a heavyweight title fight.
"This town hasn't been like that since that fight. It was alive."
Not so much at the end. The blue-clud fans sat glumly in their seats, as if they couldn't believe their team actually lost at home for the first time since a setback to Texas on Jan. 2, 2006.
"We've just got to learn from it. We lost," junior Robert Dozier said. "They just out-toughed us. They get every loose ball, every offensive rebound. They just outlapped us."
Despite their perfect record, the Tigers had plenty of skeptics who felt their lofty record was more the result of beating up a bunch of patsies in an unheralded league, Conference USA. They wanted to show they really were worthy of making a run at Indiana, the last team to win a championship with a perfect record, way back in 1976.
The Hoosiers can rest easy, Tennessee's players walked off the court in triumph, holding up the name across the front of their orange jerseys to taunt the stunned crowd.
Start yourweek off right
Monday
$1 Natural Light & Keystone Light Bottles
$1.75 Domestic Beers $1.50 Well Drinks
Tuesday
Wednesday
...only at THE HAWK
Almost Anything
Watch the Hawks play tonight at 6 pm
No cover for girls from 8-10 pm
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tennessee guard Juluan Smith celebrates as he leaves the court after No. 2 Tennessee beat No. 1 Memphis 66-62 in the basketball game in Memphis, Tenn., Saturday.