Section B · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, December 1, 2000
Senior guard Luke Axtell drives past an Illinois State's Cedric Knight for a basket. Axtell scored 11 points in a win against the Redbirds last night.Photo by Justin Schmidt/KANSAN
Redbirds give 'Hawks stiff challenge
Bv Chris Wristen
Kansan sportswriter
sports@kansan.com
Rather than being a scared bunch of children as Illinois State coach Tom Richardson made his team seem before last night's game, the Redbirds came looking for a scrappy playground fight.
That's exactly what they gave No. 2 Kansas (7-0), and despite the 80-61 final score in favor of the Jayhawks, Illinois State (1-1) had its chances to win.
The Redbirds trailed 35-25 at halftime but got their share of blows in on Kansas. Illinois State led 7-6 after four minutes, and Kansas coach Roy Williams opted for a wholesale substitution that included seldom-used junior guards Brett Ballard and Lewis Harrison.
Richardson said his team outplayed the Javahaws in the first half.
the way he hacks even though we were oversized a lot," Richardson said. "We outscrapped them on about everything in the first half. Kansas has been beating the heck out of everybody, so we just wanted to play hard. I told the kids if they do that, then good things would happen."
would happen.
Kansas later built a 12-point lead, but the Redbirds continued playing pesky defense and closed the gap, led by junior forward Shawn Jeppson's 10 points and five rebounds in the half. They were so scrappy that they swiped six steals and outbounded Kansas in the first half.
"Coach told us to stick with it," Jeppson said. "They're a bigger team and probably more physical, but we have some bodies so we thought we could go in there and bang."
Illinois State outbanded Kansas 8-4 on the offensive boards in the first half, but fouled the Jayhawks 13 times in the half and 28 times for the game. Kansas hit just seven of 12 free throws, which kept the game close.
"We knew we had to keep it a low-scoring game," Jeppson said. "But we
"I guess you could call this a moral victory or something, but I don't think little. I think big."
Traves Wilson Illinois State sophomore forward
couldn't because we missed so many shots. We felt if we could keep it in single digits with four minutes left then we'd have a chance."
The chance never came because the Redbirds couldn't shoot. They were a painful 8-for-31 in the first half and finished the game hitting just 33 percent from the field.
During the drought, sophomore guard Traves Wilson abused Kansas for eight points, repeatedly beating Luke Axtell off the dribble. That was the only bright spot for the offense, which struggled because the team's top offensive threat, senior guard Tarise Bryson, was recovering from the flu.
"I knew I could take him off the dribble." Wilson said about Axtell. "I know he couldn't take me because he's slow. He's 6-10, so I knew I could go by."
He's 10, so farewell.
The lead went to double digits early in the second half, but after a brief spurt by Kansas, the Redbirds didn't allow the Jayhawks to deliver a knockout punch. The lead remained constant at 18 and was cut to 13 with six minutes remaining, but the Redbirds didn't get any closer.
Illinois State is coming off a 10-20 season, and Wilson said that although the close game was a confidence builder for the team, he was not satisfied with a respectable loss.
a respectful loss.
"I guess you could call this a moral victory or something, but I don't think little. I think big." Wilson said. "My mentality coming into the game was wanting to win."
- Edited by Warisa Chulindra
Senior forward Kenny Gregory hops Illinois State's Sheddick Ford in the first half of Kansas's 80-10 win in Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Justin Schmidt/KANSAN