ch29,2004
the university daily kansan
5B
sy close to home
Edited by Meghan Brune
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
e huddle on the court.
ma-Birmingham 74
Kansas 78 - Illinois-Chicago 53
'40 minutes of hell'
night from the opening tip. With the Jevahawks leading 8-6 in the opening minutes, Giddens and Graves leaved a 10-0 run that would open the gap on the scoreboard, and the Blazers would never get closer than nine points the rest of the night.
Most importantly, the Jayhawks were able to run the floor in transition, which is something the team's veterans have been accustomed to in previous years.
The second half saw Kansas do
monning more than dig its dagger a little deeper, with both flashy dunks from Giddens, and an abnormal amount of free throws from Simien. With 18 free throws, Simien broke the record of 14 free throws set in the 1957 NCAA Tournament by Wilt Chamberlain.
Fans and spectators have been locked in a time-warp the past few weeks. The Jayhawks are playing with the speed, accuracy and consistency that they have displayed in their last two tournament runs.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
first Silney Ball in the second half. Miles had his 11th career double-double with
Sophomore forward Christian Moody slammed a dunk during the first half against Illinois-Chicago. The Jayhawks defeated the Flames 78-53 March 19 in Kemper Arena.
Junior forward Wavne Simien grimaced on the ground after straining his groin muscle in the first half against Illinois-Chicago.
Jared Soares/Kansan
Jayhawks on fire, snuff-out Flames
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — By using an abundance of size and speed to slaughter the undermanned Illinois-Chicago Flames 78-53, Kansas set a date Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament second round with No. 12 seed Pacific. The Tigers pulled an upset, defeating No. 5 seed Providence.
"The point spread of the win means nothing," junior guard Mike Lee said. "We're not going to go into Sunday cocky, fat and happy thinking yeah, we just blew them out. We're going to do OK."
Illinois-Chicago came in pumped up and appeared unfazed by the crowd filled with a large number of Jayhawk fans. Despite having unbreakable nerves, there was not much the Flames could do defensively to stop an opponent that shot 61.5 percent from the floor.
The score was tied at six in the opening minutes, with Illinois-Chicago pushing as hard as it could to hold off Kansas. Then the Jayhawks took off on a 19-4 run that would give them the lead for good. What made the run even more interesting was that it was sparked by a lineup that consisted of four bench players — Christian Moody, Mike Lee, Jeff Hawkins and David Padgett. Those four combined for nine points in the run.
The Kemper Arena crowd that had been as loud as one at Allen Fieldhouse collectively held its breath when Kansas' leading scorer and rebounder, junior forward Wayne Simien, went down to the floor hurt with 6:40 left in the first half. Simien aggravated a groin injury that has nagged him all season, but he returned from the locker room to start the second half.
"There's no question about what happened," Simien said of his injury. "I did a ballerina split out there."
Having Simien on the floor in the second half gave the Jayhawks the emotion and physical presence they needed to break Illinois-Chicago's back. As the Flames' shots continued to rim out, the Jayhawks continued to turn up their defensive intensity with a slew of three-pointers and crowd-arousing dunks from Simien, Keith Langford and J.R. Giddens.
"If you work hard all day you're going to get rewarded," Giddens said. "We worked hard on defense, and I got some easy dunks."
For Kansas' juniors, the undoubted leaders on the floor, it was the first time in their three seasons they were able to pull away and blow out a first-round tournament opponent. But as glitzy as the score may appear, coach Bill Self was not as happy
as one would expect. He gave his team a tongue-lashing in the locker room following the game, pointing out his team's weaknesses such as the 25 turnovers and 15 missed free throws.
Giddens led Kansas with 17 points, while Simien and Lang-
ford contributed 13 a piece. Simien and Langford also led the Jayhawks in rebounding, combining for 16 boards.