2B
SPORTS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
—John Wooden,
former UCLA basketball coach
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas' 47.4 percent from the free throw line Wednesday night against Colorado was a season low.
Source: Kansas Athletics
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who has the best free throw percentage on the men's basketball team?
A: Sheron Collins. He has shot 84.6% for the season so far despite making 4 of 6 attempts Wednesday night.
Source: Kansas Athletics
SCORES
NCAA Men's Basketball:
No. 8 Purdue 78, Indiana 75
No. 10 Duke 86, No. 21 GT 67
No. 13 Gonzaga vs. Portland, late
No. 14 Tennessee 59, LSU 54
No. 23 Butler 63, Detroit 58
NCAA Women's Basketball:
No. 2 Stanford 74, UCLA 53
No. 5 Tennessee 74, Arkansas 57
Boston College 61, No. 6 Duke 57
No. 8 Ohio State 86, Iowa 82
Miami (FL) 80, No. 9 UNC 69
No. 14 Georgia 49, No. 19 LSU 46
No. 20 Kentucky 80, Mississippi 66
Detroit 71, No. 23 UW-GB 55
BASEBALL
Three selected in preseason poll
Rivals.com has tabbed Kansas juniors Brian Heere, Tony Thompson and T.J. Walz as preseason All-Big 12 performers, marking the team's most preseason all-conference selections since it joined the Big 12 in 1997.
Heere, an outfelder from Lawrence, batted .364 during his sophomore campaign while tallying five home runs, four triples and 40 RBI. Heere was also named to the All-Big 12 Second Team, and later to the Chapel Hill Region All-Tournament team for his post-season efforts.
The Rivals.com selection becomes yet another preseason accolade for Thompson, a third baseman from Reno, Nev., as he's already been named a preseason All American by three other publications. Thompson won the conference's Triple Crown last season, leading the league in batting average (.389), home runs (21) and RBIs (82). For his outstanding sophomore season, Thompson received a plethora of national attention, including First Team All-Central Region and First Team All-Big 12 honors.
Walz, a right-handed pitcher from Omaha, Neb., racked up a team-high eight wins and 88 strikeouts last season, which earned him a spot on the All-Big 12 Second Team. Five of Walz's eight victories came against ranked opponents, most notably a 3-2 win over No. 4 Arizona State, and a complete game shutout against No. 9 Baylor.
Ben Ward
MORNING BREW
Playing the numbers game
Beating Missouri on the road to complete a perfect Big 12 season wouldn't just give Kansas a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament
It would be Kansas' 2,000th victory, an accomplishment only achieved by Kentucky so far. Now,2,000 victories is purely a number and it doesn't hold much significance beyond being the number 2,000,but it is a good mark of the overall dominance of the top programs.
The interesting subplot is that Kansas is only third in all-time victories. North Carolina is nearing the finish line and has 1,997 all-time victories.
When the year started, it seemed as though Kansas had no chance at catching Roy's Boys before they reached 2,000 victories. Carolina brought in a top recruiting class, and, though they were losing a great deal of the team that won the national title, it was North Carolina. The Tar Heels would eventually figure it out.
Surely the Tar Heels would win 5 games in ACC play, sing the second-to-
Early season results made it appear they had. North Carolina opened the season with a 11-4 record and hung with top dogs Kentucky and Texas. Inexperience was an issue, but the youngsters were talented.
BY CLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
twitter.com/clark_gobble
2000-victories crown and claim their all-time dominance against any team except Kentucky. The message boards would spontaneously combust with Carolina fans bashing the Kansas program.
But the Tar Heels aren't on that pace now. The team's 2-4 record — including three losses at home — to start conference play has brought Kansas back into the 2000-victories conversation, KenPom.com, a site that uses advanced statistics to predict future games, says that North Carolina will win just twice more in conference play, including a loss to Duke on the road on March 6.
If Kansas runs the table — unlikely, but still somewhat possible — a victory against the hated Missouri Tigers would give the program its 2,000th victory. On March 6.
Yes, the same day that North Carolina might lose to its rival.
I realize we are dealing in purely hypotheticals, and a lot of things have to go Kansas' way for it to be in contention. Roy Williams will probably rally his team, pull a couple upsets in ACC play, sneak in the NCAA Tournament and upset somebody. Kansas has to beat Texas on the road, a tough Kansas State team at home and win at Missouri. The approximate odds of all this all happening are pretty slim
But North Carolina has opened the door and invited Kansas inside. If Kansas keeps winning and North Carolina keeps struggling, there may be a lot more on the line March 6 than a single game.
-Edited by Sarah Bluvas
THIS WEEK IN KANSAS ATHLETICS
TODAY
Tennis vs. Notre Dame, 3 p.m.
Women's swimming at Iowa State, 6 p.m.
Track at Husker Invitational, all day
SATURDAY
Swimming at Iowa State, 10 a.m.
Men's basketball vs. Nebraska, 5 p.m.
Track at Husker Invitational, all day
SUNDAY
Women's basketball vs.Kansas State,1 p.m.
MONDAY
Men's basketball at Texas, 8 p.m.
TUESDAY No events scheduled
WEDNESDAY
Tennis
vs. UMKC, 2 p.m.
Pitching in paradise
Women's basketball vs. Nebraska, 7 p.m.
Germany's Martin Kaymer plays a ball on the 13th hole during the first round of Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who won the event last year, is tied for the lead at 4-under 68.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NCAA BASKETBALL
BY CLIFF BRUNT Associated Press
Purdue holds on for first victory at Indiana since 1999
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Robbie Hummel and Jaluan Johnson each scored 21 points and No. 8 Purdue held off in-state rival Indiana 78-75 on Thursday night.
The Boilermakers won in Bloomington for the first time since 1999 to snap an eight-game road skid against the Hoosiers.
E Twaun Moore added 14 points for Purdue (19-3, 7-3), which won its fifth straight heading into a showdown at conference leader Michigan State next Tuesday.
Indiana's Verdell Jones III, who led the Hoosiers with 22 points, missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have forced overtime.
Tom Pritchard scored a season-high 13 and Devan Dumes added 11 for Indiana (9-12, 3-6).
It was the second straight tough
Purdue asserted itself in the early minutes of the second half. Johnson corralled an errant pass from Lewis Jackson, then powered the ball in and was fouled. The
loss for the Hoosiers, Illinois beat Indiana 72-70 on Jan. 30 when Demetri McCamey made a floater at the buzzer.
- NOW TAKING RESERVATIONS -
three-point play gave Purdue a 57-51 lead five minutes into the second half.
I nd i a n a hung tough.
Jones hit a 3-pointer to tie the game, then Jordan Hulls
Hummel was fouled again with 4.1 seconds left. He missed the first free throw and made the second to make it 78-75 and give Jones the
Purdue won its fifth straight game thanks to 42 combined points from Hummel and Johnson. Up next: Big Ten leader Michigan State.
hit another to give Indiana a 69-66 lead with just under 6 minutes to play.
and Indiana regained possession,
and a chance to tie. Jones left the
ball short on a drive. Hummel
rebounded, was fouled and made
two free throws.
Hummel hit a three-pointer with 2 minutes left, then Moore drained a floater in the lane with 1:17 remaining to give Purdue a 75-69 edge.
Moore missed a short jumper
Jones made a three-pointer with a minute to play to trim Purdue's lead to 75-72. It also ended a Hoosier scoring drought that had lasted nearly five minutes.
final shot.
I nd i a n a missed the front end of the one-and-one three times in the final six minutes.
Pritchard averages just under five points per
game, but he scored eight in the first 13 minutes and made Johnson work. Indiana took a 31-28 lead on a 3-point play by Jones. The shot was part of a 10-2 run that gave the Hoosiers a 36-28 lead.
Indiana led 45-38 before Moore hit a three-pointer and Barlow got a steal and layup in the final minute.