University Daily Kansan / Thursday, February 4, 1988 Sports 11 OU three-pointers crush Jayhawks' hope again Sooners give Kansas its second loss in Allen Oklahoma guard Mookie Blaylock and Kansas guard Lincoln Minor, teammates at Midland (Texas) Junior College, find themselves fighting each other for a loose ball. By Elaine Sung Kanan coords writer Kansan sports writer Kansas had its chances, but the three-point shot and Oklahoma's depth outid the Javhawks last night. Kansas lost to Oklahoma 73-65 in Allen Field House, the second straight loss at home after Kansas State broke KU's 55-game winning streak last weekend. It was the fourth straight loss for the Jayhawks, the longest KU losing streak since the 1982-83 season. Kansas drops to 12-8 overall and is now ranked seventh in the conference with a 1-4 record. Oklahoma improved its record to 19-2 overall and is still second in the Big Eight with a 5-1 record. The game started out the way Oklahoma likes it: fast-paced. The Jayhawks, however, were able to slow down the tempo enough to keep the game close in the first half. But the Sooners started launching three-point shots, effectively killing whatever leads Kansas built up. Oklahoma finished the night seven for 16 on three-point shots, while the Jayhawks did not succeed on any of six attempts. "The three-point shot, you could live by and die by, and they were lived." Danny Manning said. Manning, who scored 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, was not pleased with his own performance, even though some of his shots in the second half kept the hopes of a late comeback alive. "There are a lot more things I could have done tonight, but nobody's quitting and nobody's packing it in," he said. Kansas coach Larry Brown was disappointed with the loss, but was encouraged by the way the team placed, especially the defense. "We tried to control the tempo, but we got a little bit anxious in the first half and it started out way too fast," Brown said. "We battled back every single time and I was really excited by that. They blocked a lot of shots, got the baskets and created opportunities to score." As with the past three games, Kansas gave up another first- half lead, although this time it was only a five-point lead. Forward Keith Harris scored with 5:57 left to give Kansas the lead, 24-19. But that was chopped down by guard Ricky Grace's three-point shot, and a slam-dunk by Stacey King tied the game at 29. Grace and King led the Sooners with 19 points each. Grace also had eight rebounds and was three for six from three-point range. Kansas guard Kevin Pritchard's free-throws with 28 seconds left in the first half gave Kansas a two-point lead, 31-29, going into halftime. But the Jayhawks did not hold on to that lead for very long. Pritchard, who finished the night with 12 points and five rebounds, opened the second half with a layup under the basket to give Kansas a 33-29 lead. The lead was quickly erased when grace scores and is removed before Harvard Grant who had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the night, recovered a Kansas turnover and added two more points for the Sooners. Forward Mike Masucci, who started his first collegiate game last night, was injured just two minutes into the second half when he was elbowed in the head by Manning. Masucci was able to walk off the court by himself, but Brown said after the game that Masucci had possibly suffered a concussion. Kansas was able to gain its last lead of the game with a jump shot by Manning to make the score 35-33. But Oklahoma took over the lead permanently with two consecutive three- later, forward Harvey Grant, pointers, one by forward Dave Sieger and the second by Grace. Kansas had its chances in the game but failed to capitalize. The Sooners shot just over 38 percent for the night, while the Jayhawks were shooting 45 percent. The two teams played in the number records and free-throws, but Kansas had 16 turnovers to the Sooners. 11. "The thing that I'm most pleased about is the way we took care of the ball and moved the ball late in the game," said Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs. "That's something we haven't had to do very much, but we had to tonight. You can't get your running game going shooting 35 per minute." Oklahoma still happy, even without ending The Streak The Sooners thought they had done well defending Manning, but the Kansas All-American was still able to come through at crucial times, cutting the Sooners' lead at one point to 10 points with two free throws with 7:20 left. The lead shrunk to six after forward Mike Maddox hit his hook shot and forward Milt Newton hit a baseline jumper, both within half a minute. Manning stepped in again to cut the lead down to four, but Grace hit a three-point shot to increase the Sooners' lead to seven. Salt in the wound. Grant's jump shot with 1:45 left on the clock sealed the game for a 59-66 score. Oklahoma was five for six from the line in the last 40 seconds when Kansas fouled three times. Bv Anne Luscombe That's what Oklahoma guard Ricky Grace called last night's victory over Kansas. Oklahoma did not get the privilege of breaking the 55-game winning streak the Jayhawks had accumulated, but it did prevent Kansas from starting over. The Sooners beat the Jayhawks 73-65. 11 I was hoping we would get the chance to break the streak since they broke ours. We just added salt to the wound. Maybe now they can start a 58-game losing streak at home.' Oklahoma coach Rilly Tubbs signals to his team during last night's KU-OU game. Oklahoma guard Ricky Grace Oklahoma guard "I was hoping we would get the chance to break the streak since they broke ours." Grace said of the 48-game winning streak Kansas ended for Oklahoma in 1986. "We just added salt to the wound. Maybe now they can start a 58-game losing streak at home." hadn't used before. I thought that was the real turning point of the game. Grace wanted his Sooners to be the team to put Kansas down. They didn't get the opportunity to be the breakers, but they were still the shakers. Kansas was up 31-29 at the half, but Oklahoma took over in the second half to build a 12-point lead. However, it wasn't just the Sooners offense that pushed them ahead — it was their defense, something the team hadn't relied on much earlier in the season as it consistently ran up scores past the century mark. "In our normal defense we are strung out all over the floor. We stumbled around until we got the right defense. We didn't get big scoring tonight. This is a game we were fortunate to win," he said. "It continues to amaze me that we can shoot 38 percent and beat anybody," Sooner coach Billy Tubbs said. "We went into a defense that we Kansas guard Kevin Pritchard complemented Oklahoma on its defense. "They played great, they came out and played great defense," he said. "You really have to credit their defense." Center Stacey King, whose job it was to contain Kansas' Danny Manning, was rather modest about the victory. He was more excited about playing against Manning before the Kansas All-American makes his exodus to the NBA. Manning scored 28 points and tied his season high of 16 rebounds. "He's quicker than any man I've guarded this year," King said. "I think he should be the No. 1 pick. I was fortunate to get to play against him. I know I'll play against him in Oklahoma but this was great." Kansas 65 Oklahoma 73 The Jayhawks are just in a slump, King said. | | M | FG | FT | R | A | R | 2 | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Newton | 28 | 3-8 | 2-1 | F | 4 | 0 | 2 | | Masucci | 14 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | | Manning | 13 | 12-0 | 4-0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | | Cunningham | 12 | 0-2 | 4-5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 10 | | Minor | 29 | 4-12 | 1-3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 29 | | Barry | 5 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 29 | | Piper | 5 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | | Guildnerdra | 9 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Harris | 12 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Livingston | 4 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | | Maddox | 10 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | | Lester | 27-60 | 11-16 | 42-14 | 17 | 14 | 65 | 17 | Percentages: FG, 450, FT, 688. Three-point goals: 0-6 Blocked Shots: 3 (Manning 1, Minor 1, Piper 1). Turnovers: 16 (Pitcherhead 2) 5 (Manning 2, Minor 2). Technicals: None. Kansas Oklahoma Kansas started freshman Mike Masucci in place of senior forward Chris Piper, who has been struggling with a groin injury. Masucci played "They had to bring in some guys that were not normally used to playing and they had to do this against a team like us. But their young guys responded really well." M MFG FT RT R A F TP Grant 36 6-15 0-2 10 4 2 12 Sieger 32 3-7 3-4 8 3 2 11 King 31 3-1 3-4 1 3 1 9 Hook 34 3-13 1-2 10 1 1 11 Grace 40 6-14 4-4 0 3 1 19 Jones 8 0-1 0-0 1 3 1 0 Martin 16 0-1 0-0 1 2 1 0 Mullin 6 0-1 0-2 1 0 1 2 Totals 28-13 10-14 44-20 10 2 73 "Right now they are struggling to get their confidence back. I think right now they are struggling in the Big Eight, but when the Big Eight tournament comes around I think they'll pull together as a team," King said. "That's how we were last year. They need to regroup. Good things come to those that wait. 14 minutes before he had to leave the game with a head injury, which happened when Manning accidentally elbowed him in the head. Despite not being early enough in the Jayhawks' schedule to be the game to end the four-year hold Kansas had on Allen Field House, the victory was sweet nonetheless. Percentages: FG: 384, FT: 625. Three- point goals: 7-16 (Grace 3-6) Turnovers: 1 (Grant 4) Steals: 9 (Grace 3) Technicals: None. Half: Kansas 31-29. Officials: Hightower, Harvey, Zetcher. "Winning in Lawrence is great," King said. "I don't care if they had lost 16 games straight, it's great to have the chance to walk off the court with your finger in the air. Playing a good team like Kansas at home brings out the best in an opposing team." K-State beats Cyclones in overtime The Associated Press MANHATTAN — Fred McCoy scored 25 points, including 10 in overtime, and Mitch Richmond added 24 points last night, lifting Kansas State past No. 16 Iowa State 79-68. K-State, 13-4 overall and leading the Big Eight at 5-0, broke a 66-66 deadlock in overtime with a 9-0 surtur, getting six points from McCoy and forging a 75-66 lead with 41 seconds left in the extra period. Iowa State's fourth straight loss dropped the Cyclones to 16-6 and 2-4. The Cyclones were led by center Lafester Rhodes with 18 points and Jeff Graver with 14. Iowa State guard Terry Woods sent the game into overtime with a driving layup as time expired. K-State guard Steve Henson, who scored 11 points, had given the Wildcats a 62-60 lead with two free throws with 5 seconds remaining. K-State slowed the tempo at the outset, as they did in victories over Kansas and Oklahoma. The Wildcats, who are giving up a league-low 60.8 points per game, led 22-20 at halftime. Kansas State used a 3-2 zone defense to contain the high-scoring Cyclones, who had been averaging 94.6 points per game. Iowa State made only nine of 31 first-half field goal attempts. KU women defeat Sooners, 71-68 Sandy Shaw scored 22 points, leading the Kansas Jayhawks to a 71-68 victory last night over the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman. It was the third straight Big Eight Conference victory for the Jayhawks. By a Kansan reporter The win moves Kansas to 14-6 overall and 4-3 in the Big Eight. Oklahoma falls to 10-9 overall and 3-4 in the Big Eight. Jayhawks coach Marian Washington said the key to victory was defense, especially in the second half. "We knew we had a job to do here tonight," Washington said. "Oklahoma had a lot of opportunities, but we responded well enough to pull out the win. This is a conference to contend with. There isn't an easy game in the Big Eight." Kansas forward Lisa Dougherty, who scored her 1,000th career point against Missouri three weeks ago, scored six points to become the fifth-leader scoring in Jayhawks history. Sports Briefs Dougherty has scored 1,049 career points. The victory was only the second for the Jayhawks in Norman, the first coming two years ago. Kansas is now 8-11 overall against the Sooners. The Jayhawks will try to continue their winning streak when they host the Colorado Lady Buffs, at noon Saturday in Allen Field House. Two weeks ago, Kansas defeated Colorado 72-71 at Boulder. Lisa Bradley led the team with 19 points and seven assists. ILINOIS HIRES MACKOVIC: John Mackovic, a football coach with more than 20 years of college and professional experience, has been selected as coach at Illinois, the university chancellor confirmed yesterday. Illinois defensive coordinator Howard Tippett, who had been a candidate for the job vacated by Mike White, said Tuesday that Athletic Director Neale Stoner had notified him of the decision to hire Mackovic. "He said it was a close call, a tough call, but they had offered the job to mackovic and he had accepted," said Tippett, who indicated he would leave the team. Illinois accepted the resignation of White, an eight-year veteran, on Jan. 18 after charges by the NCAA and the university of recruiting violations. Illinois had been placed on probation in 1984 for a long list of infractions TYSON TO MEET SPINKS: An agreement has been reached for a Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks heavy-weight title in fight, Spinks' adviser said yesterday. Butch Lewis said the agreement was being put into writing. "By the time the lawyers get done dotting the i's and crossing the l's, the contract could be signed by next week," Lewis said. Lewis said that a date had not been set but that the closed-circuit television fight would take place in June. A site has yet to be picked. "Everyone is interested in getting it," said Jimmy Jacobs, Tyson's co-manager.