Student ticket pickup begins today for the games played between Jan. 10 and Jan.27.The games are against Oklahoma State, Missouri and Colorado.Tickets can be picked up between now and Wednesday at the Allen Fieldhouse ticket office or online at kuathletics.com. There is a $1 charge for online pickup.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
DEPAUL 64 KANSAS 57
STANDING AROUND
Jeff Roberson/ASSOCIATED PRESS
DePaul's Sammy Mejia and Karron Clarke celebrate their team's 64-57 victory as Kansas' Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and Julian Wright walk off the court Saturday in Rosemont, Ill. Kansas led 26-17 at halftime.
Practice makes imperfect as Kansas loses lead at DePaul
BY SHAWN SHROYER
ROSEMONT, Ill. — If No. 5 Kansas needed any reminder that it was playing its first road game of the season, chants of "overrated" from DePaul faithful certainly drilled the point home.
Furthermore, if the Jayhawks thought they could coast from game to game without practicing well,
perhaps a 64-57 loss to the Blue Demons cemented the point that coach Bill Self had been driving into his team all season — it must practice better.
Kansas' last two victories gave the appearance that the Jayhawks were running on all cylinders, but a second loss to a team they should have beaten brought their behind-the-scenes issues to the forefront.
"You can have great moments and not be a great practice team, but over time you usually end up playing like you practice a majority of the time," Self said. "We're not a practice team like we should be."
But at the 14:08 mark in the second half, things couldn't have been going much better for Kansas. The Jayhawks were in the midst of a 9-2 run. Sophomore forward
and Chicago native Julian Wright had just slammed home a dunk to put Kansas up by 14. The Jayhawks looked like they were finally going to bury the Blue Demons.
But rather than rollover, DePaul's leading scorer, forward Wilson Chandler, responded by sinking a three-pointer and jumpstarting a slow, yet steady comeback for the Blue Demons.
By the 8:36 mark, Kansas' lead was trimmed to just four after a pair of Chandler free throws, lust before the three-minute mark, DePaul's most lethal weapon of the afternoon, guard Sammy Mejia, knotted the game 53-53. A second straight Mejia three-pointer was all but a dagger in the Jayhawks' heart.
SEE BASKETBALL ON PAGE 5B
》 PROFILE
KU guard to face twin in fieldhouse
BY C.J. MOORE
Andrew Stewart used to have to mediate when his twin sons Rodrick and Lodrick Stewart played one-on-one in the driveway.
"There's been a couple occasions where me and brother got into little scuffles playing one on-one," Rodrick, KU junior guard, said.
Andrew will have to watch from the bleachers — sporting a half Kansas, half Southern California T-shirt — and let the officials keep an eye on the Stewart twins, as they play against each other tonight in an actual game for the first time in their lives.
Lodrick, a senior, starts at guard for USC, where Rodrick started 17 of 27 games his freshman season. The Stewart twins chose USC together because they've always made decisions together.
"It's just weird being a twin." Rodrick said. "It's somebody you're with every day. In high school, we never went anywhere without each other. Even if he had a girlfriend, I'd be the third wheel and he'd the same with me."
When they started at USC, the Stewarts were still attached at the hip, taking the same classes and going everywhere together. So when Rodrick decided he needed a change of scenery, it was the first time the two would separate for an extended period of time.
"It was weird coming down and making a decision for yourself and not the both of us," Rodrick said. "I think he took it way worse than I did because at first he felt like I left him down there. I could have just staved. When you look at the big picture, he knew it was the best thing for me."
Lodrick continued to be a fixture in the Trojan lineup. He averaged 8.7 points per game his freshman season and the smoothshooting letty has averaged double figures the last three seasons. This year Lodrick is the second-leading scorer for the Trojans at 14.7 points per game.
Rodrick, who was Washington's 3A State Player of the Year his senior year at Rainier Beach High School, averaged only 4.4 points per game his freshman season.
SEE TWINS ON PAGE 2B
》 20 QUESTIONS
Stoops deserves coach of the year award Despite mishaps, he leads Sooners to Big 12 Championship victory
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This season could have turned ugly for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Their starting quarterback, Rhett Bomar, was dismissed in August for NCAA rules violations
Star running back Adrian Peterson broke his collarbone just
five games into the season.
Yet, somehow, Stoops rallied his team of backups and sophomores to the Big 12 Championship game on Saturday, defeating Nebraska 21-7 for another BCS bowl game.
At best, coach Bob Stoops and Oklahoma could have been staring down a trip to the lowly Independence Bowl. Not quite what Sooner fans were used to after qualifying for four Bowl Championship Series games in six seasons.
He's certainly deserving of the Big 12 Coach of the Year
Stoops has had better, more talented teams — his squads in 2000, 2004 and 2005 played for the National Championship — but he calls this his hungriest.
award he won earlier this season. Considering all that's gone on this season, Stoops should receive the national award as well.
"Super competitive. Resilient. Just has a great will and determination to them, all of those," Stoops said after his team's Saturday's victory.
SEE SCHNEIDER ON PAGE 3B
BCS Bowls
Ohio State will take on Florida for the National Championship on Jan. 8. These teams were also selected to BCS bowl games:
SUGAR BOWL: Notre Dame vs LSU, Jan. 3
ORANGE BOWL: Louisville vs.
Wake Forest, Jan. 2
FIESTA BOWL: Boise St. vs.
Oklahoma, Jan. 1
ROSE BOWL: USC vs. Michigan, Jan. 1
Associated Press
FOOTBALL
No bowl for Jayhawks; Mangino disappointed
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BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
The layhawks' at-large chances were ended late Saturday night when the Motor City Bowl selected Middle Tennessee State. Kansas' Big 12-affiliated bowl possibilities, which were slim to begin with, were finished when 6-6 Oklahoma State was selected ahead of the Jayhawks.
As expected, Kansas was not selected for a postseason bowl game.
Kansas ends the season at 6-6, after a 3-1 start. The team lost four
in a row to start Big 12 play, blowing late leads in every game.
"Obviously, we are all disappointed that we did not receive a bowl bid," coach Mark Mangino said in a release. "However, we had 12 opportunities on the field this season to leave no doubt, and we did not get that accomplished."
The Jayhawks won three in a row — against Colorado, Iowa State and Kansas State — to become bowl eligible for the second-straight season. The team was defeated by Missouri to end the season.
Edited by Kate Shiplev