SPORTS
' UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
Monday, November 29,1993
9
Richard Scott dominated opponents in the paint. Jacque Vaughn dished his way to his best college game. Steve Woodberry shut down another All-American candidate. And Kansas came away from New York with the Preseason NIT championship, giving Jayhawk fans ...
SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR
The Associated Press
Massachusetts' Derek Kellog is guarded by Kansas freshman guard Jacque Vaughn during the first half of the National Invitational Tournament championship game at Madison Square Garden in New York. Kansas won the NIT title Friday night with a 86-75 victory.
Kansas knocks off U Mass in final for NIT championship
By Mark Button Kansan sportswriter
NEW YORK—Four and zero.
Those two numbers represent the respective victories and defeats of the 1993-94 Kansas Jayhawks after their 86-75 triumph against Massachusetts on Friday night in the championship game of the Preseason National Invitational Tournament. Kansas advanced to the finals after defeating No. 9 Minnesota on Wednesday in the semifinals 75-71.
Kansas coach Roy Williams received balanced scoring from his troops as the No. 6 Jayhawks were able to fight off the No. 18 Minuteset. Several times in the championship game, Massachusetts made charges towards the Jayhaws, who held the lead for most of the game.
All five starters for the Kansas team, as well as freshman reserve center Scot Pollard, scored in double digits.
The tournament's most valuable player, Kansas senior forward Richard Scott, paved the way for the 'Hawks, scoring 16 points and swiping eight boards in just 26 minutes of play. However, having fouled out of the game, Scott refused to smile during the postgame award ceremony.
"Iasked Richard why he wasn't smiling out there when he got the trophy," said Williams of Scott, who sat out much of the second half with foul troubles. "He said he didn't like to smile, and I said it must just be an ugly smile. But I can tell you the way he played out on the court was not ugly. He played his rear end off."
The two teams exchanged baskets for much of the first half. However, with 7:10 remaining, Kansas junior guard Gurley swished a three-pointer, giving the Jayhawks a 25-21 lead. Kansas never relinquished that lead.
But it wasn't easy.
Kansas stretched the lead to 37-28 late in the first half, before turning the ball over twice in less than a minute. Massachusetts sophomore guards Dana Dingle and Donta Bright each converted layups after the Kansas turnovers, and the Minutemen closed the gap to 39-35 at half time.
Massachusetts junior forward Lou Roe helped and hurt both the Jayhawks and Minutemen in the first half. He scored 13 points, canning four of six shots from the field but struggled from the free throw line, converting just five of 13 charities.
"It's a mental thing," Roe said. "I have no excuses. I just have to go back and work on it."
The second half saw Kansas turn things up on defense, holding the Minuten scoreless for the first 3:48 while the Jayhawks added 10 points to their tally.
The Minutemen would come back, though.
narrowing the margin to 57-52 following Scott's third and fourth fouls, which both occurred within 35 seconds of each other.
But Kansas answered.
With the shot clock winding down, freshman point guard Jacque Vaughn quieted the thousands of U Mass supporters with a three-point shot from the corner that found nothing but net.
Williams said that Vaughn, Kansas' only member of the All-Tournament team, played his best game as a Jayhawk. The Pasadena, Calif., native dished out 10 assists and scored 11 points with only one turnover.
Kansas again looked to pull away, but not for long. With 3:24 remaining, Scott fouled out, and Roe scored two of his game-high 25 points, closing the gap to 77-71.
This time the answer came in the form of three monster dunks from junior center Greg Ostertag. The dunks sealed the game for good.
Kansas answered again.
"I was really shocked that Greg Ostertag was not on the All-Tournament team," Williams said. Ostertag scored 27 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked six shots in the two games at Madison Square Garden in New York. "If anyone's lines can match up to his, then they deserve to be on more than he does, but I have a hard time believing he didn't deserve to be on there as well."
In Wednesday's Kansas victory, Golden Gopher junior guard and All-American candidate Vashon Lenard was held to nine points on 4 of 14 shooting while being defended by Kansas senior guard Steve Woodberry. Woodberry dumped in 17 points of his own, and Scott added 20.
Massachusetts, in its semifinal game, pulled off the biggest upset of the season, defeating No.1 North Carolina 91-86 in overtime.
Kansas will play host to the Australia National team at 7 tonight in Allen Field House in its second exhibition game.
NIT TIDBITS
Kansas 85. Massachusetts 75
By the numbers
Player fgm/fga ftm/fta tp
Scott 7-14 2-7 16
Richey 3-7 4-4 10
Ostertag 5-10 3-4 13
Vaughn 3-5 4-5 11
Woodberry 4-9 3-4 12
Pollard 5-7 0-1 10
Rayford 0-1 0-0 0
Gurley 1-2 0-0 3
Williams 0-2 2-2 2
Pearson 3-8 0-2 8
Proud 0-0 1-2 1
Weichbrodt 0-2 0-0 0
Whatley 0-0 0-0 0
**Totals** 31-67 19-31 86
Massachusetts
Dingle 7-10 5-7 20
Roe 9-19 7-20 25
Klegg 4-6 0-0 12
Meyer 0-2 0-0 0
Williams 2-10 4-6 8
Bright 4-21 0-2 8
Travieso 0-0 0-0 0
Padilla 0-4 2-2 0
Cottrell 0-0 0-0 0
Totals 26.74 18.37 75
Haltime Kansas 39, Massachusetts 35
3-point goals Kansas 5-13 (Pearson 2-6,
Vaughn 1-1, Woodberry 1-2, Gurley 1-2, Richey
1-1, Weichbrot 0-1), Massachusetts 5-15
(Kelag 4-5, Dingle 1-1, Roe 0-1, Bright 0-2,
Padilla 0-2, Bright 0-4)
Rebounds Kansas 52 (Ostertag 12), Massachusetts 40 (Dunlap 13)
Assists Kansas 10 (Vaughn 10), Massachusetts 15 (Kelor 4)
Total foula Kansas 27, Massachusetts 25
Attendance 13.590.
Kansas became the first school ever to win the Preseason NIT twice. The Jayhawks won the tournament in 1989 to start Williams' second year of coaching.
Source:The Associated Press KANSAN
RESPECT: Kansas won the preseason
NIT,despite apparent lack of support,says
Kansan sportswriter Mark Button Page 6.
Friday's championship game had a tournament-record 101 substitutions by Kansas and Massachusetts.
Kansas is 11-1 and Williams is a perfect 8-0 in Preseason NIT play.
Kip Chin/KANSAN
Freshman guard Tamecka Dixon rebounds the ball while Creighton forward Shannon Struby tries to intercept it. The Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Creighton Lay Days 74-68 in Froma, Neb.
'Hawks defeat Lady Jays in season opener 74-68
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
OMAHA, Neb. — All the elements of a high school basketball game were present Friday as Kansas defeated Creighton 74-68 in women's basketball action — even a high school gym.
The Creighton Lady Jays, who usually play in the Omaha Civic Auditorium, moved the game to a local high school because the Big Eight Volleyball championship was at the auditorium. But if the gym didn't make it feel like a high school game, the numerous turnovers certainly did.
The teams had 48 turnovers between them,29 of which were committed by Creighton.
Kansas coach Marian Washington said she was happy that the No.16 Jayhawks were victorious in their first game of the season, regardless of the sloppy play.
"We haven't beaten this team in three years," Washington said. "But there's still a lot of work to do."
Creighton coach Connie Yori said that kind of play was expected but not accepted.
"Turnovers go hand-and-hand with the first game of the year," Yori said. "We have to do a whole lot better job of taking care of the ball, but we also played against really a pretty good defensive team."
Yori said she was disappointed with Creighton's rebounding in the late stages of the game. A Creighton player fouled Kansas freshman guard Tamecka Dixon in the last minute of the game, but Kansas got the offensive rebounds when she missed.
"The ball was on their side of the court for well over a minute." Yori said. "If you can't rebound when the game's on the line in a free throw block-out situation, you're not going to get the ball and get a chance to score."
Fouling Dixon was the plan at the end, Yori said. Dixon was five for nine from the freethrow line and had a team-high 19 points, but Kansas freshman guard Angie Halbleib came up with two key offensive rebounds on Dixon's misses in the last 50 seconds of the game.
Halbleib said she was trying just to hold onto the ball.
"I was thinking, 'Pull the ball out and hold onto it,'" she said. "We didn't play our game tonight. It showed us that we are beatable."
Halbleib ended the game with five rebounds but no points. In Kansas 'first game against New Zealand, she had 13 points, including two three-pointers.
"My shot was off tonight," she said. "But that's to be expected sometimes."
Sampson hit two three-pointers in the first half, and Kansas led 37-31 at halftime. But Sampson said the team finally played together in the second half.
One Kansas player who was on fire from the three-point line was sophomore guard Charlie Sampson. She had 18 points and was three-for-three from the three-point stripe.
Washington said she was pleased with some offensive and defensive things the Jayhawks did in the second half.
"We were kind of out of sync at the beginning of the game," she said. "We were kind of stuff. But for us to have four freshman play like they did was great."
"I was certainly pleased that, one, we won the ball game and, two, that we got some of these young players experience before the start of the Big Eight race," she said.
Kansas 74. Creighton 68
By the numbers
Ramses
| Player | fgm/fga | ftm/fta | tp |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Sampson | 5-10 | 5-6 | 18 |
| Aycock | 7-17 | 1-2 | 15 |
| Dixon | 7-12 | 5-9 | 19 |
| Trapp | 5-11 | 0-2 | 10 |
| Tate | 4-9 | 2-4 | 10 |
| Halbleib | 0-4 | 0-2 | 0 |
| Canada | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Muncy | 1-3 | 0-1 | 2 |
| Totals | 29-66 | 13-26 | 74 |
Creighton
Flynn 9-18 2-2 20
Landuyt 1-4 2-4 4
Miller 1-3 0-0 2
Struby 4-10 0-0 8
Kugel 5-9 2-4 12
Homer 1-1 0-0 3
Olson 6-9 6-6 18
Budak 0-0 0-0 0
McCullough 0-2 1-3 1
Gebhart 0-2 0-0 0
Totals 27-58 13-19 68
Halftime Kansas 37, Creighton 31
3-point goals Kansas 3-1 / Sampson 3-3, Dixon 0-1,
Halibert 0-3), Creighton 1-5 (Landyud 0-2), Miller
0-6)
Rebounds Kansas 37 (Sampson 8), Creighton 43
(Olson 9). Assists Kansas 14 (Municy 5), Creighton
17 (Flynn) 6. Total fouls Kansas 19, Creighton 23.
Attendance 549.
Source: The Associated Press
KANSAN
Women's basketball players miss family dinners, thankful to spend it with team
Bv Anne Felstet
Kansan sportswriter
Spending the Thanksgiving holiday on the road is not new to the Kansas women's basketball team. This year the team ate its traditional turkey dinner in Omaha, Neb.
Coach Marian Washington said she worked really hard to keep the team from missing classes during the fall semester, and the best way to do that was to travel during breaks.
"The team only misses one day of classes due to basketball by design," she said of this semester.
She said she started planning the team's holiday celebration a month in advance to ensure that the team would get its traditional dinner. Washington had the meal catered by the team's hotel because she did not want another Thanksgiving with full restaurants.
The team's game against Creighton did not keep the players from enjoying their dinner.
Washington said she ordered the traditional turkey dinner with all of the fixings: dressing, cranberries, vegetables and dessert.
Sophomore guard Charisse Sampson said the team didn't worry about indulging in a heavy meal the day before a game. The meal did not keep Kansas from defeating the Lady Jays 74-68.
While the Jayhawks may have been without their real families, they were not alone.
"The team is a family." Washington said. "They truly care about one another."
Sampson said, "It's nice to share with somebody."
This was Sampson's first Thanksgiving on the road with the basketball team, and she said it made her think a lot of her family in Los Angeles.
Last year the team celebrated Thanksgiving together but not on the road. Sampson said the team ate at Washington's house.
Washington said that if team members could not be with their families, then it was nice to be around people who cared about each other.