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The University Daily Kansan
Flashback
Sports
Jan. 23, 1986, Kansas 81, Missouri 77. The Jayhawks defeated the Tigers in Columbia, Mo. Kansas went on to register a school-record 35 wins and a Final Four appearance under coach Larry Brown. The 'Hawks lost to eventual champion Duke 71-67.
Inside: K-State junior guard Tony Atchison had a careerhigh 28 points in Saturday's contest at Kansas.
SEE PAGE 8A
Inside: The Kansas men's and women's swim teams came up short against Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. See Page 10A
SEE PAGE 10A
For comments, contact Shawn Hutchinson or Shawn Linenberger at 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
Battle awaits 'Hawks
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Missouri rivalry to test Kansas
By Chris Wristen
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Kansas" "Men on a Mission" basketball poster depicts coach Roy Williams and his seniors in army gear. The poster was meant to promote the 2000-01 season, but the combat uniforms might also be appropriate attire for tonight's battle with rival Missouri.
No. 4 Kansas takes on the Tigers tonight at 8 p.m. in the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo. Senior center Eric Chenowith said the team is prepared for a battle.
That's easier said than done.
For starters, Kansas (17-1 overall and 6-0 in the Big 12 Conference) has lost four of the last five meetings at Missouri (13-6, 4-2). Also challenging are deadly shooters Clarence Gilbert and Kareem Rush. Rush leads the conference in scoring, and Gilbert burned the Jayhawks with seven three-pointers in last year's 22-point Missouri win in Columbia.
"It is an all-out war," Chenowith said. "Put on your camouflage and color your face. It is time for war, and there is no better feeling than going into the Hearnes Center and getting a win."
Those factors have coach Roy
Williams concerned.
"We've got to be ready to play, and I think we have to play our best game of the year to have a chance." Williams said.
Both Rush and Gilbert threaten to drop in truckloads of points against the Jayhawks, despite Missouri's three losses in its last four games. Missouri's losing streak ended with a two-point win against Texas Tech on Saturday.
Also wreaking havoc on the Hawks will be the notorious Tiger fans and their traditional Antlers club, not to mention a special ceremony honoring former Missouri coach Norm Stewart, which will take place before the game.
"I'm proud of what they're doing for Norm," Williams said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he accomplished.
"We know it will be a fired-up crowd," Williams said. "When we get over there Monday night, they'll be enthusiastic. Those shots they've been missing lately will probably be going in. We've got to find a way to compete in that atmosphere."
Williams said that he thought the ceremony was organized to give Tiger fans additional emotion but that applause for Stormin' Norm was well-deserved.
Senior forward Kenny Gregory offered a solution to defeating the atmosphere — no fear.
"Nothing scares me at all,"
"It is an all-out war. Put on your camouflage and color your face."
Eric Chenowith Kansas senior center
Kansas senior center
Gregory said. "They have to try to beat us. We're the top dogs in the conference, so they've got to try to beat us."
The Tigers have the offensive capability to beat Kansas, but the real challenge lies in their defense.
Missouri has to slow down Gregory and his 16.9 points-pergame average. Sophomore forward Nick Collison has been a menace in the paint recently, and junior guard Jeff Bosche and sophomore point Guard Kirk Hinrich have been deadly accurate from three-point range since conference play began.
Williams said he hoped his 'Hawks give the Tigers all they can handle.
With those tools and the sixth-
thest scoring defense in the Big 12,
the Tigers appear to have their
naws full.
"They've had some great, great games over there." Williams said. "Last year was not one of them. I hope we have one of those great games again."
Edited by Leita Schultes
Super fans
Super Bowl partygoers pack the homemade stadium seating built in the living room at 1000 Illinois St. Couches were set on wooden platforms for elevated seating inside the small house. There were also three TVs on hand last night to watch as the Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants 34-7. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
Women net close victory on the road
By Jessie Meyer
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Jayhawks have been searching all season for the extra player and extra basket to put them over the hump in close games.
With 50 seconds to go in Saturday's game against Kansas State in Bramlage Coliseum and the Kansas women's basketball team up by three points, that extra player stepped up and made the basket that clinched Kansas' 65-62 victory.
Junior guard KC Hilgenkamp, who had been quiet in recent games, penetrated the lane as the last minute began to tick off the clock and laid the ball in with a confidence that had eluded the junior college transfer for much of January.
"Tonight, I just had my confidence back and it was just me and the basket," she said.
The Wildcats responded with a quick basket to pull within three once again, but the Jayhawks (8-10 overall and 2-5 in the Big 12 Conference) held off the Wildcats (11-7 and 1-6) with intense defensive pressure on the three-point arc. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Jayhawks and brought them up from the bottom of the Big 12.
"I'm pleased that we got KC playing pretty good basketball tonight," Kansas coach Marian Washington said.
But Hilgenkamp, who ended the game with nine points, was not the only player who stepped from the shadows. Junior guard Selena Scott, who averages 5.4, added 11 points, four rebounds and two steals.
The main Kansas scorers continued to add big numbers, with Jackyn Johnson leading the way with 20, Jennifer Jackson adding 12 and Brooke Reves chipping in another 10.
Confidence was something the Jayhawks had plenty of Saturday as they hung on to a fluctuating lead throughout the game and gained their second conference win — their first coming against K-State two weeks ago.
Everything from grabbing boards to ball handling seemed to fall into place for the 'Hawks. They out-rebounded the Wildcats 31-28 and turned over the ball only 13 times — a season low.
"If we can keep getting players stepping up with more confidence, it will really help us," Washington said.
Game notes
Johnson's 20 points pushed her to 11th in Kansas' all-time score list with 1,201. Johnson passed Suzi Raymant who scored 1.194 from 1968-2000.
Junior center Nikki White left the game with a right ankle sprain and did not return.
Kansas picked up its first conference road win of the season and the first conference road win since upending Iowa State on Feb. 16. 2000.
Edited by Leita Schultes
Kansas sophomore forward Nick Collison dives for the ball during a mid-court scuffle. The 'Hawks forced the Wildcats into committing 21 turnovers Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug/KANSAN
JAYHAWK BASKETBALL
New coach can't end streak
By Chris Wristen
New season. New coach. Same result.
Kansan sportswriter
New season, new coach. Same resurst.
First-year coach Jim Wooldridge led Kansas State into Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon, but the new boss encountered the same result that his predecessor, Tom Asbury, always did — a loss.
Kansas extended its Sunflower Showdown winning streak to 20 games with its 92-66 win, but the game appeared to be over after the opening minutes. The No. 4 Jayhawks (17-1 overall and 6-0 in the Big 12 Conference) came out hot, shooting a scorching 62 percent from the field in the first half.
Senior forward Kenny Gregory's put-back only 19 seconds into the contest was just the starting point for a game-opening 25-10 run that was fueled by 10 points from sophomore forward Nick Collison and two 3-pointers by sophomore point guard Kirk Hirnich.
After a dominating first half, Kansas opened the second on a calmer note. The Jayhawks lost their offensive rhythm and K-State found some momentum.
As sharp as the 'Hawks who k-State (8-9, 2-4) reserve Tony Atkinson torched Kansas for 28 points — the most by any player Kansas has faced this year.
"Shooting 62 percent in the first half gave us that cushion," sophomore forward Drew Gooden said. "It was important that we put this team away and prepare for Missouri."
"We've got to be able to keep our intensity up for a full 40 minutes, especially in the Big 12," Boschee said. "Especially when it gets down to the stretch of a game. That could cost us a game sometime."
K-State shot 42.9 percent from the field, becoming the 17th consecutive Kansas opponent to shoot less than 50 percent.
Five Jayhawks scored in double figures, led by Gregory's 20 points. Hinrich added 18 on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range and Collison scored 15.
More information
For more about the Kansas-Kansas State game,
See page 8A
Reynolds scored 10 points for the Wildcats — the only player other than Atchison to reach double figures.
- The Jayhawk starter outscored K-State's starters 75-24.
Smith, who was head coach at UNC when Williams was an assistant there from 1978-88, was named Kansan of the Year by the Native Sons and Daughters organization on Friday in Topeka.
Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, who was a member of Kansas' 1952 national championship team and has more wins than any men's basketball coach in NCAA Division I history with 879, was at Saturday's game.
Sports Columnist
Michael T. Rigg
Edited by Doug Poosey
sports@kansan.com
Diversions of sport soured by tragedy
I hate it when sports and reality meet.
But somehow, that championship doesn't seem quite as meaningful.
That's because as dusk descended on the Rocky Mountains on Saturday, the joyful diversions of sport met head-on with the cold bitterness of truth.
Oklahoma State played a basketball game Saturday against Colorado, but today, few will remember the score. Yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens were crowned the NFL champions in Super Bowl XXXV.
Among the dead were Oklahoma State players Nate Fleming and Dan Lawson, plus two Kansas graduates — Will Hancock, a Oklahoma State sports information employee, and Cowbvs trainer Brian Luinstra.
About 40 minutes after one of the Cowboys' airplanes took off Saturday from an airport outside of Boulder, Colo., it crashed to the ground, leaving its 10 passengers dead.
The Cowboys were scheduled to play again tomorrow, but that game was postponed. Somehow, it just wouldn't have mattered.
Some would argue that sports don't have a place in everyday society. On the contrary, sports are irreplaceable.
Sports were created as a diversion. Somehow, the triumphs and defeats on an athletic field can help you get through the pressures of everyday life.
As I write this, my television is tuned to CNN/Headline News. Since the latest news on the plane crash, there has been a report of a deadly earthquake in India, a continued investigation of a murder in Texas, and a story of a vicious dog attack that left a young woman dead.
During the last century, the tragedy of everyday life has sometimes been overshadowed by the feats of a team on an athletic field. Is it right? Perhaps not.
But sports are a necessary diversion. That sports are so inconsequential, so meaningless in the long run, makes them a necessary thread in the fabric of society.
Think of the hundreds of flights that various sports teams fly on daily around the world. And then consider that this is just the 14th plane crash involving a sports team.
But then something like the latest air tragedy happens. The diversion of sports becomes tainted as well, and the innocence of athletics is overrun with tragedy. People who were heroes just hours before suddenly die.
And no matter how many games the Cowboys play, and how many new arenas Oklahoma State opens, the Oklahoma State basketball community will never be the same.
At the same time, it's surprising that tragedies such as this don't happen more often.
Pretty amazing stuff.
But Saturday's crash certainly puts things in perspective. For one, I can't tell you how many times I've flown over that crash site heading home to Denver — a few times in the snow, no less.
And in November, two other Kansan staffers and myself were scheduled to fly on the Jayhawks' plane back from New York City after the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. They made four of us get onto another plane, saying that the plane we were on was overweight.
We laughed about it at the time. It doesn't seem so funny anymore.
The next few days will put even more things in perspective in the sporting world. The crash site will be cleaned up, and more basketball games will be played. Eventually, life will return to normal, and the Cowboys who died in eastern Colorado will fade into history.
But for now, just when everybody from Lawrence to Wichita and all the way to Stillwater needs a diversion, there just isn't one to be found.
Rigg is a Greenwood Village, Colo., junior in Broadcast News.