Section B • Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, February 26, 2001
Basketball
Missouri men's basketball fighting for Big 12 seed
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Just a few days ago, Missouri coach Quin Snyder said his team was a virtual lock for the NCAA tournament.
On the Big 12 conference call last Monday, he said even if the Tigers lost their last two regular-season games, they still should make it.
"I'd hesitate to say if we lose a couple down the stretch, we are not in it," Snyder said then.
After Saturday's 69-59 victory against Baylor, he changed his tune.
This time, we are changed his tune.
"That was of year, it's really hard to start trying to figure everything out," Saverd said. "This brings out, and that
happens and you have an endless series of hypothetical."
Missouri (18-9, 9-5 in the Big 12) is in fifth place in the conference heading into the last two games of the regular season. The Tigers are at Texas — who knocked Iowa State 94-78 Saturday night — today. They finish at Kansas on March 4 before the conference tournament starts on March 8.
"Both places are tough," forward Johnnie Parker said. "Kansas, everyone knows how it is going there."
The Big 12 sent six teams to the NCAA tournaments last season, five in 1994, four in '98 and five in '97.
Missouri should be in good shape for a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament — even if it loses the last two regular-season games and ends up as the sixth-place Big 12 team — considering its difficult schedule. The Tigers were 39th in the latest RPI ratings and made it No. 38 last season.
Missouri made it to the NCAAs with 18 regular-season victories last season. They're also 4-2 without Kareem Rush, the Big 12's leading scorer with a 21.9-point average, which should work in their favor.
Snyder said Missouri's strong performance against Baylor was a good indicator. The Tigers led by 19 points in the first half and 20 in the second half.
"This game, we needed it." Snyder said. "We needed to draw a line in the sand, and now we've got two incredibly tough games on the road.
"But I think our team is playing at a pretty good level."
Rush, who had surgery to repair ligament damage to his left thumb earlier this month, could return to the lineup at Texas. It's more likely, however, that he'll come back for the Kansas game.
"He told me not to rush it," Rush
said. "They're going to be smart and limit me from doing anything that would be stupid for my thumb."
Brian Grawer continued to fill the offensive void in Rush's absence, leading Missouri with 18 points against Baylor. All of his points came on 3 pointers and all 14 of his shots came from long range, which should not be a surprise considering all but 22 of his 170 shots on the season have come from outside the arc.
"We were trying to coax him inside, but he didn't want to go there," Baylor coach Dave Bliss said.
Snyder started 6-foot-6 senior Johnnie Parker ahead of 6-foot-9 freshman Arthur Johnson at center on senior day on Saturday. He indicated he may do that again because Johnson, who had his sixth double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, seemed more comfortable coming off the bench.
Johnson, who has started 22 games, has been prone to foul trouble and has fouled out of a team-high six games.
"He had a chance to watch and get a chance to kind of get in the flow of the game rather than come in and kind of get knocked back real quick with a couple calls that don't go his way," Snyder said.
That said, Snyder is happy with the progress his four key freshmen have made. Rickey Paulding has been starting in Rush's absence, and Travon Bryant and Wesley Stokes also are in the rotation.
Paulding had 11 points against Baylor and Stokes had a team-high six assists.
"We're starting to see some growth from all of them," Snyder said. "When you're playing that many young guys, if they just get a little bit better, each one of them, they can make our team a lot better."
Evans leads Texas' bull charge over the Iowa State Cyclones
The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy has seen enough of Texas in the Big 12 Conference.
"I wish they would leave this league," Eustachy said Saturday
night after
Texas rolled
to a shock-
ingly easy
94-78 win
against his
No. 6
Cyclones.
"Every time
I come down here we get our heads kicked in."
Maurice Evans scored 28 points for Texas as the Longhorns snapped Iowa State's 10-game conference winning streak and kept the Cyclones from clinching the Big 12 title.
"We've been working hard all
year trying to have this kind of effort," said Evans, whose four 3-pointers in the second half sparked the rout. The win kept Texas in the hunt for the Big 12 title. "I kind of feel like eventually it was all going to come together."
The victory may not have been the surprise as much as how the Longhorns did it. Texas (21-7 overall and 10-4 in the Big 12) came in as the league's worst shooting team and near the bottom of standings in foul shooting.
Saturday night, the Longhorns shot 49 percent from the floor and blistered the foul line by knocking down 25 of 28 free throws in a tightly called game.
Texas stormed into the game with a 10-2 run punctuated by Evans' two-handed dunk on a putback.
It was difficult for either team to develop any offensive rhythm early as the officials called 12 fouls in the first four minutes. Both teams were
in the double-bonus foul shooting before 10 minutes had been played.
The constant fouls clearly frustrated Iowa State (23-4 and 11-3) and Eustachy, who was hit with a technical foul in the first half after he stomped up and down on the sideline after a whistle.
The antics trickled down to the Texas bench as Eustachy and Texas coach Rick Barnes started jawing at each other. At one point in the first half, the coaches met at midcourt and Eustachy could be seen wagging his finger at Barnes.
But nothing the Cyclones or their coach did could slow down Texas.
"Different refs are going to call it different ways," Evans said. "You just have to learn how to adjust."
Chris McColpin's 3-pointer and Darren Kelly's short jumper made it 34-25. Jamaal Tinsley then scored seven in a row for Iowa State to pull the Cyclones to 36-32 on his 3-pointer.
Texas answered with a 6-10 run that made it 42-32. Brian Boddicker's 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half put Texas ahead 53-38.
The fouls mounted for Iowa State in the second half. Texas stayed aggressive, forcing Tinsley and Cyclones forward Paul Shirley to both pick up their fourth fouls in the first six minutes.
Visibly frustrated, Tinsley picked up his third and fourth fouls in a span of 40 seconds when he twice lowered his shoulder into Fredie Williams and knocked him down.
Tinsley fouled out with just over seven minutes left to play when he was called again for charging. He led the Cyclones with 19 points.
"Officiating had nothing to do with this game," Eustachey said. "If we called our own fools, we probably would have lost by even more.
Evans, who had nine points in the first half, hit three 3-pointers and fed Chris Owens for a dunk that put Texas up 70-50 with 15:32 to play.
aging 15.5 attempts per game in conference play, but was just 3-of-7 against Texas.
Iowa State, which had talked about possibly earning a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, must continue concentrating on winning the Big 12.
"I really don't know, and I really don't care" about a No. 1 seed, Eustachy said. "We're trying to win this league, and we're still better off than anybody else in the league right now. This was good for our team. We needed to get spanked."
Iowa State, the nation's best 3-point shooting team, came in aver
Texas has won four straight since an embarrassing 75-54 home loss to Oklahoma on Feb. 10. The Longhorns have now beaten two Top 10 opponents at home this season. Texas knocked off then-No. 5 Illinois 72-84 on Dec. 23.
Virginia blows out second-ranked North Carolina
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — First Duke, now North Carolina.
No. 9 Virginia rolled at home yesterday, beating No. 2 North Carolina 86-66 for its 13th victory in 14 games at University Hall.
The win came 11 days after Virginia topped then-No. 2 Duke 91-49 on the same court. Once again, the Cavaliers (19-6 overall and 8-6 in the ACC) won in impressive fashion, leading by as many as 20 and withstanding a 547 scoreless drought.
The Cavaliers used a 22.6 run late in the first half to push their lead into double digits and never allowed the Tar Heels (22.4 and 22.2) back in it as Joseph Forte and Brendan Haywood provided the only offense.
Forte scored 28 points, but made only four of his last 16 shots after hitting 7 off 8, and Haywood added 20 points, all from in close.
For Virginia, balance was once again the key as five players scored in double figures, led by Donald Hand with 17 points, Roger Mason with 16 and Travis Watson with 14.
Virginia led 56-42 at halftime. It was the most points allowed by the Tar Heels in a half this season and featured nine Cavaliers 3-pointers.
Playing a more deliberate offensive style, the Cavaliers outfirsted North Carolina 2014 during the first 10 minutes of the second half, opening a 76-56 lead.
Hall followed by taking a feed from Donald Hand for a dunk on a fast break, and after Forte scored, Hand added two driving lays.
The run ended with 12 consecutive Virginia points, including a flying tip-in by Hall and Chris Williams' first two baskets, including a 3. Hand finished the half with a 25-footer at the buzzer.
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