SPORTS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
BIG 12 BASKETBALL
PHOG'S PHORCE? BY DANIEL BERK dberk@kansan.com KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWRITER
PAGE 10A
Dani Litt/KANSAN
Big 12 South teams prove inept in fieldhouse
W when Oklahoma guard Michael Neal missed the potential game-winning shot Sunday afternoon, he did more than secure a victory for the Kansas basketball team.
He also secured Kansas' perfect all-time record against Big 12 South teams in Allen Fieldhouse, which has reached 29 games.
The victory also marked the eighth straight time Kansas has beaten Oklahoma in Lawrence and kept coach Kelvin Sampson winless in the fieldhouse.
Kansas coach Bill Self said during Monday's Big 12 coaches teleconference that the crowd played a large part in Kansas' comeback.
"Whether you're playing Northern Colorado or Oklahoma, you're going to have a full house," Self said. "It can get quite loud. They hung in there Sunday and helped us win the game."
Since Self arrived at Kansas three seasons ago, Kansas has lost just two home games to league opponents — one last season to Iowa State and the other this season to Kansas State.
The crowd was instrumental in Kansas' comeback Sunday and forced Sampson to call multiple timeouts late in the second half. After freshman guard Mario Chalmers drove to the basket and hit a shot that cut the lead to four, Sampson called his second-to-last timeout.
The crowd continued to get louder.
Oklahoma forward Kevin Bookout said he thought the crowd played a factor in the outcome of the game as well.
"This arena has a lot of history, but it can't play against you," Bookout said. "The crowd can only do so much. It was loud, right up there with Gallagher Iba Arena, but they got into it there in the last seven or eight minutes, and I thought that helped them out."
By its standards, Kansas had struggled at home this season, losing its second game in the fieldhouse to Kansas State after suffering a 2-point loss to Nevada in December. If Oklahoma would have beaten Kansas, it would have marked the first
time since the 1998-1999 season that Kansas lost three home games in a season.
"We've lost some close, tough games at home," Self said. "Certainly it wasn't because the fans didn't do their job."
In Self's four losses in Allen Fieldhouse over the past three seasons, the 4-point loss to Kansas State was by the largest margin. The others came against Richmond, which was a 1-point loss, and against Iowa State and Nevada, both 2-point losses.
The victory against Oklahoma also secured Kansas' 23rd straight season of winning at least 10 games in Allen Fieldhouse.
— Edited by Frank Tankard
Ryan Berg/KANSAN
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Big 12 rocky on road
Jayhawks, 0-4 on the road to face Sooners. Tigers
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
mphillips@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
In Big 12 Conference women's basketball, there is no place like home.
Kansas will hit the road this week for a game against No. 9 Oklahoma Wednesday and one against Missouri on Saturday.
Across the conference this season, the road team has won only 20 of 56 league games.
They will enter both games as the underdog.
"Everybody's got to play on the road in this league, and we've got to find a way to win," she said.
Earlier this season, Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson called the conference a "dogfight."
That will be especially hard to do in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is led by freshman forward Courtney Paris, who was named to the midseason list of 20 candidates for the Wooden award, given to the best player in the country.
The Sooners have emerged as the team to beat in the Big 12 with an undefeated 9-0 record.
Paris is featured in this week's Sports Illustrated along with her twin sister, Ashley, who also plays for the Sooners.
"Everyone is going to write about and talk about Courtney, and rightly so," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said after Saturday's victory against Missouri. "I'd write about her a lot, too."
The team has been averaging 6,394 fans a game, compared to the Jayhawks' average of 2.808.
Oklahoma has almost sold out its 12,000-seat arena for Saturday's game against defending national champion Baylor.
Oklahoma will enjoy a particularly large home-court advantage.
The Tigers are the secondhottest team in the conference behind Oklahoma, winning seven of their last 10.
From Norman, Okla., Kansas will travel to Columbia, Mo., for a Saturday afternoon game against archrival Missouri.
Defense has been the Tigers' strength.
They have held opponents
to 38 percent shooting this season.
That victory helped the team break a three-game losing streak, but Henrickson acknowledged it wouldn't mean anything Wednesday night against Oklahoma.
After chiding her team for a lack of intensity in a 77-71 home loss to Colorado last Wednesday, Henrickson was impressed with the Jayhawks' effort in a 65-64 victory against Iowa State last Saturday.
It will be an interesting match-up for Kansas, which has won games with offense and tried to play catch-up on defense.
"You just don't have a lot of time to be excited," she said. "You have to have a shortterm memory."
The list of 36 candidates includes two former Kansas players, guard Tamecka Dixon and guard/forward Lynn Pride.
The Big 12 is giving fans the opportunity to vote for the Big 12 10th Anniversary Team. Voting is available online at big12sports.com.
Big 12 celebrates 10th anniversary
Women's basketball notes:
Source: big12sports.com
BIG 12 WOMEN
Team Home Away
Oklahoma 4-0 5-0
Baylor 4-1 2-2
Texas A&M 4-1 2-2
Missouri 4-1 2-2
Kansas State 4-1 2-3
Texas 4-0 2-4
Texas Tech 4-0 1-4
Nebraska 3-2 1-3
Kansas 3-2 0-4
Iowa State 1-2 2-3
Colorado 1-4 1-4
Oklahoma State 0-5 0-5
The school with the most nom-
nies is Texas Tech, with six.
Season conference records
The Kansas-Oklahoma game Wednesday night in Norman, Okla., will not be televised. Oklahoma is offering an Internet video broadcast of the game for a fee on its Web site, soonersports.com.
Saturday's game against Missouri in Columbia, Mo., will be televised locally on Metro Sports.
Tip-off is at 3 p.m., which coincides with the Kansas men's basketball home game against Iowa State.
- Edited by Frank Tankard
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks frustrated with rankings snub
BY RYAN COLAIANNI
rcolatianni@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SWITCHER
Coming off of five straight victories and winning 12 of its past 14 games, Kansas is a little disappointed with its lack of national publicity.
The Jayhawks were once again omitted from the latest Associated Press poll, released Monday and have yet to be ranked this season.
The Jayhawks received 88 votes in the poll, two spots outside of the top 25.
Kansas coach Bill Self said after the victory Sunday that he would have been surprised if his team entered the rankings. The team is just starting to get respect nationally, he said, even though it has won 12 of its last 14.
Following Kansas' one-point victory against Oklahoma on Sunday, freshman guard Brandon Rush said he expected the team to be ranked this week. But rankings are not all that matter, he said, because it is "just a number in front of a team."
Rush averaged 21-points a game last week and was named Big 12 Newcomer of the week for his play against Oklahoma and Texas Tech. It was the second time this season that Rush has received the award. Last week, freshman guard Mario
Chalmers was named Newcomer of the week. Rush leads all Big 12 freshmen in scoring, averaging 14.8 points per game.
Despite Rush's efforts and the victory against a ranked Oklahoma team, the Jayhawks couldn't crack the rankings. The team in some ways has been playing underneath the radar for the majority of this season. Self said.
The victory put Kansas in sole possession of second place in the Big 12 conference and just a game behind Texas. Texas and Kansas will meet in Austin, Texas, later this month.
Sophomore center CJ Giles said he thought the victory against the Sooners earned the team respect.
"We have a lot more big games to play." Giles said. "We just need to focus on our next couple of games."
"We are in the game. These next eight days will probably determine if we are in the game down the stretch," Self said.
Kansas will have two rematches with teams that it had beat already this season when it faces Nebraska Wednesday in Lincoln, Neb. and Iowa State on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. If Kansas can win both those games it may enter the top 25 next week for the first time all season.
Edited by Gabriella Souza