06
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2006
TED PRESS for Walk the day in
Jared Gab/KANSAN
Freshman guard Brandon Rush powers past a K-State defender during the first half of play on Saturday. Rush led the Jawhacks once again with 24 points and 6 rebounds for a 66-52 win over the Wildcats.
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MEN'S BASKETBALL: 66-52
Rush quiets critics
PAGE 1B
BY DANIEL BERK
dberk@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SWIPTERWITHER
MANHATTAN — It's a term that all freshmen athletes are aware of. the "freshman wall."
Athletes encounter the dreaded wall when they start getting fatigued because they are playing so many more games and practices than they were in high school.
On Internet message boards Kansas fans have been saying that freshman guard Brandon Rush had hit that freshman wall, and it was a major concern heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Rush proved those critics wrong Saturday afternoon, when he poured in 24 points and grabbed six boards on route to Kansas" 66-52 victory against Kansas State.
Rush said after the game that it felt good to have another solid game after struggling for a few contests. Rush said he was starting to feel a bit tired after playing so many games.
"I feel like your body tires a bit," Rush said. "You have your days when you don't feel good and it shows on the court. My confidence wasn't down. I knew I was going to come out of it."
Saturday, Rush looked fine and healthy to most observers. He returned to his old form, drove to the basket more and played more aggressively.
Rush did struggle in the first half, shooting just 3-of-8 from the field. But he also hit a three-point bank shot at the end of the first half to extend Kansas' lead to 39-24.
Kansas State started to make it a contest in the second half, cutting the lead down to as few as three points. That is when Rush started to be more aggressive and drive to the basket.
"The point guards were finding me, and I was getting open shots," Rush said. "My shots started dropping and I was getting kind of hot."
Rush bailed out his team twice in the second half. He hit a pair of three-point shot in the corner di-
fenders have been trying to make him go left more instead of right because he is a stronger dribler with his right hand. He said he practiced going to his left hand with the basketball all week.
Just more than two minutes later, with Kansas State again trailing by only three points, Robinson drove to the basket again and passed it out to Rush, who calmly anthot-
three-point shot right in front of a jubilant Kansas bench. That shot would extend the lead to six points, and Kansas State would never get closer the rest of the game.
"Brandon has been playing timid lately," senior guard Jeff Hawkins said. "This was an important game for him to have. I think it will boost his confidence down the stretch quite a bit."
rectly in front of the Kansas bench. Kansas State had cut the lead to three points. Sophomore guard Russell Robinson drove to the basket and spotted an open Rush in the corner. He kicked it out to him, and Rush hit nothing but net.
"They are still playing me to my left hand." Rush said. "I was trying to go left all game. I had 24. It had to work."
Rush said after the game that de-
- Edited by Lindsey Gold
THE COLUMN
Youngsters outlast growing pains
A few weeks ago, the thought of a Big 12 Conference championship for the Kansas men's basketball team was heralded as a pipe dream at best.
Kansas was once at 10-6 and lost consecutive games to Kansas State and Missouri this season. Growing pains along the way are to be expected for a team with its best players as freshmen and sophomores.
The same thing could be said for former Kansas coach Roy Williams and North Carolina, which lost seven players from last year's championship team.
Both teams are relying on young talent to carry them into
JIMMY CHAVEZ ichavez@kansan.com
March. North Carolina played four freshmen and one sophomore Saturday night against Duke. Kansas played three freshmen and four sophomores Saturday afternoon against Kansas State.
SEE CHAVEZ ON PAGE 5B
Big 12 Tournament opponent in the air
Texas' victory against Oklahoma on Sunday gave Kansas the second seed in the Big 12 Tournament in Dallas this week
Kansas will play on Friday at 6 p.m. against the winner of the Oklahoma State-lowa State game.
"Iowa State is a team we beat twice, but we certainly had to play well to do it," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Oklahoma State was a tie game with 10 minutes. They're playing a lot better now."
iowa State and Oklahoma State were two of four teams that finished in a tie for seventh place in the Big 12 Conference. Oklahoma State nearly topped Oklahoma a week ago.The Jayhawks struggled offensively against the Cowboys when they met earlier in the season.
Self said the Cowboys were a dangerous team and had the
"They pressured us out of everything. We didn't play well in the first half and they were the biggest reason." Self said, about Kansas' 64-49 victory in Stillwater. Okla.
potential to make a run in the conference tournament.
Iowa State came into the season with high hopes for an NCAA tournament bid, but a 6-10 conference record ended those hopes. Guards Curtis Stinson and Will Blalock anchor the Cyclones.
"You shouldn't look at them as a 10 seed, you should look at them as a No. 7," Self said. "They just went on a cold streak for a couple of weeks."
Self said every coach in the league would agree that the Cyclones had talented enough players to finish in the top half of the Big 12.
Kansas defeated Iowa State twice this season: 95-85 in Ames, Iowa, and 88-75 in Lawrence.
In preparation for Kansas' game on Friday, Self gave his players the day off on Sunday.
They will practice this afternoon before traveling to Dallas for the Big 12 Tournament.
— Ryan Colaianni
BASEBALL
Sophomore infielder Erik Morrison is congratulated by his teammates after his first of two home runs in the first game Sunday. Morrison had five RBI in the 11-3 victory and added his third homer of the day during the second game.
Randall Sanders/KANSAN
Kansas takes home opener
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Ritchie Price rounded first base, but decided to hold up for a single. In his fourth hit on Sunday, Price became a familiar face to sophomore first baseman Matty Newquist of Western Illinois. Price is a familiar face in the Kansas lineup.
Game one of Sunday's doubleheader against Western Illinois marked the Kansas iron man's
"I'm really proud of the fact that he's in our program," Kansas coach Ritch Price said. "He doesn't like the fact that he's the coach's son very much, as you can kind of tell. One of the reasons I've been able to turn this program around so quickly is because he's been really special at shortstop. He's as great of a player as I've ever coached in my career."
200th consecutive start.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 6B
Late call frustrates 'Hawks
CLUB SPORTS
Contributed by Matt Roper
OVERLAND PARK - Dan Guilfoil smacked the hell out of the puck. He lifted it into the air from 15 feet out, and it sailed. Past one player, two, three, four, the goalie and into the back of the Missouri net.
BY FRANK TANKARD
itankard@kansas.com
KANSEN SANITY STATE WRITER
The score went up in red letters — 3 to 3. Kansas players mobbed Guilfoil, sophomore forward. The KU side of the arena cheered wildly. The players on the KU bench pounded the boards.
The celebration didn't last long. The referee said something and skated over to the scorer's table. Players stopped celebrating. The bench grew quiet, then so did the standing-room-only crowd.
KU junior forward Ryne Tusten gets a shot off against Missouri Friday in Overland Park. Kansas lost the game 4-2 and lost again to Missouri in its last game of the season Saturday in Jefferson City, Mo., 5-4 in overtime. The Jayhawks finished the season with a record of 11-17-2.
The scoreboard changed — 3 to 2. The bench cursed. The crowd chanted angrily.
By the time the referee dropped the puck for the face-off, Kansas' momentum had drained away. Two minutes of good chances and near-goals following junior forward Nick Hantge's goal with 5:43 left morphed into reckless frustration.
"It was a pretty bad sight to see," Guilfoil said.
Missouri picked up Kansas' lost momentum and went on to score with 32 seconds left and win the game 4 to 2 Friday in Kansas' home rink, Ice Midwest in Overland Park.
The cause of death: standing in the goal crease, the most important
call in the game, which was defined by penalties. The teams combined for 56 minutes in the penalty box —29 for the 10 Kansas players who sat in the box and 27 for eight Missouri players.
Players don't know who was called for standing in front of the goal when the puck hit the net. Freshman forward Erik Bredesen was in the area, along with some other players.
Until the final Missouri goal, the game was close and hard-fought. It was senior night, the final home game for forward Steve Barbaro, defenseman Eric Mathias, forward Tyler McNally, defenseman Kyle Wilson and forward Timon Veach, a University Daily Kansan copy editor, who started the game.
"It could've been me," Bredesen said. "There were a couple of guys standing around the net. We scored the goal. That was one of the worst refs I've ever seen."
Then Hantge scored neatly, sliding the puck past the goalie after receiving a pass across the goal from freshman forward Alex Wahl. Kansas picked up momentum and dominated Missouri for the next couple of minutes, until Guilford's shot, apparent goal and
In the first period, neither team gained the upper hand. Missouri sophomore forward Wes Gale scored the first goal six minutes into the game, sneaking the puck past Kansas freshman goalie Brent Plits off a pass from sophomore forward Tony Jost.
looked sluggish for more than 10 minutes, getting few good shots off.
Kansas responded five minutes later when Bredesen knocked in a goal after a long shot by junior forward Adam Crohn rebounded off Missouri goalie Keith Van Gels.
Kansas came out for the second period a step behind Missouri and was outscored 2-0. Kansas started the final period down 3-1, and
the dooming call.
"It killed us, basically," Pitts said.
The Kansas hockey team finished its season Saturday with a 5-4 overtime loss to Missouri in Jefferson City, Mo. The team's final record was 11-17-2.
Edited by Hayley Travis
2023-09-18