University Daily Kansan / Friday, December 8, 1989
Sports
13
Kansas shoots for ninth victory
By Dan Perkins
Kansan sportswriter
When the second-ranked Kansas Jayhawks take the floor tomorrow afternoon, their opponent will be a rarity.
Kansas will put its 8-0 record on the line against college basketball's most successful team at 1:35 p.m. in Allenfield House.
The Kentucky Wildcats, 3-1, are one of only two college teams that have more career victories than Kansas. Kentucky has won 1,469 games, compared to Kansas' 1,410 victories. North Carolina is second on the victory list with 1,463.
The Wildcats may lose the top spot on the all-time victory list this season, not because of what they do on court but for what they do off court.
This year's Kentucky team, which is in the first year of a three-year probation, is in a situation similar to the one Kansas faced last season.
The Wildeats are ineligible for postseason play for the next two seasons.
"I'm a little concerned about
them," Coach Roy Williams said after Wednesday night's victory against Southern Methodist. "They are in the same position we were last year. They've got seven or eight guys who can play, and they have a cause."
The Wildcats, led by 6-foot-8 guard Derrick Miller, have no players on their roster taller than 6 feet 7 inches. Miller is averaging 21.8 points per game, coming off a 36-point performance against Tennessee Tech Wednesday night. Kentucky, which has three point attempts in the game with 1, beat Tennessee Tech 111-75. Kentucky hit 18 pointers.
The victory was the second in a row for the Wildcats after losing to No. 14 Indiana, 71-69, in Bloomington, Ind. Kentucky beat Mississippi State, 102-97, in the Southeastern Conference opener.
Two other probable starters for the Wildcats are averaging in double figures.
with 11.3 per game.
Forward Reggie Hanson is averaging 18.5 points per game, and Derson Feldhaus is averaging 11.3. Hanson also is the team's leading rebounder
As a team, Kentucky is hitting only 41.9 percent from the field, including 35.7 percent from three-point range. The Wildcats are hitting 69.7 percent from the free-throw line.
Kansas and Kentucky aren't exactly strangers. The two teams lead the series, and the Wildcats lead the series 162, including a 7-2 record in Lawrence.
Kansas won the last game played between the two schools, 83-66, in Allen Field House on Dec. 14, 1985. That game was the last of 15 consecutive years that the two teams played each other, dating back to 1971.
The Kansas-Kentucky series in the past also saw the two all-time greatest coaches competing against each other.
Adolph Rupp, Kentucky coach for 41 years, compiled a 880-190 record, surpassing F.C. "Phog" Allen's record of 771 career victories. Rupp, a talented native, was also a former player at Kansas on the 1922 and 1923 team that won the Helms Foundation National Championship.
Kansas Basketball GAME 9
KANSAS JAYHAWKS
Coach: Roy Williams
Record: 8-0
KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Coach: Rick Pitino
Record: 3-1
PROBABLE STARTERS
| Player | Ht. | PPG | RPG |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| G-Kevin Pritchard | 6-3 | 12.5 | 3.0 |
| G-Jeff Gueldner | 6-5 | 9.6 | 4.3 |
| C-Pekka Markkanen | 6-10 | 7.4 | 3.8 |
| F-Rick Calloway | 6-6 | 9.1 | 5.1 |
| F-Mark Randall | 6-9 | 17.0 | 6.5 |
Game Notes: Kentucky leads the series 7-2. Rick Pitino, first-year coach of the Wildcats, returns to college basketball after coaching the New Yorks Knicks in the NBA. Tip-off is 1:35 p.m. at Allen Field House. The game will be broadcast on KJHK 90.7 FM and KZLR 168 FM.
Player Ht. PPG RPG
G-Sean Woods 6-2 9.3 2.5
G-Derrick Miller 6-5 21.8 4.5
C-Reggle Hanson 6-7 18.5 11.3
F-Deron Feldhaus 6-7 11.3 5.3
F-John Pelphrey 6-7 8.0 4.8
KANSAN Graphic
Finnish player adjusts to Jayhawk basketball
By Andres Cavelier Kansan sportswriter
Long before he arrived in Kansas, Pekka Markkanen knew he wanted to play basketball in the United States.
Now he leads the Jayhawks in blocked shots and helps them with his height and size.
But his life goes beyond the boards. Pekka Markkanen's story is different and interesting, for he is the only married and international Kansas basketball player.
Center Pekka Markkanen leads the Jayhawks in blocked shots
Andrew Morrison/KANSAN
"This is our honeymoon," says Markkanen to his wife, Rikka. When people in Finland get married they go to a house, but we decided to move out.
The 6-foot-10 former high school soccer goalie, who gave up the sport at age 18 because he was too tall, now overcomes overcome extra hurdles at <u>anssau</u>.
Markkanen, 22, and Rikka, 26, both basketball players, got married last July before moving to Lawrence in September. Their new experience has meant considerable changes in their lifestyle.
Andrew Morrison/KANSAN
And foreign.
The language, the Jayhawk fanaticism, the coaches and teammates and American basketball rules are new and distinct for him.
Markkanen, (pronounced PECKU-
mARK muk-uh-nun) finally came to
the United States to play basketball
after wanting o do it for two years.
"I wanted to improve my basketball because Finland is too little," says Markkanen, speaking slowly and carefully. "Everybody knows the U.S. is the best place to play basketball."
Calling every night
Markkanen insisted, and finally he heard about Kansas from the assistant coach of the Finnish national team.
Markkaneen, whose full name is
Juha Pekka Markkaneen, says several schools were interested in him.
Markkanen says, "Kansas and Brigham Young called almost every night during late summer."
"You counted them one day," Riikka said to him one afternoon after practice in the locker room. "There were more than 12 universities."
In September, Kansas coach Roy Williams offered Markkanen a scholarship after seeing videoedot highlights. He will have two years of college experience with CAA regulations, which takes away one year for each year above 20.
Before coming to Kansas, Markkainen had visited the United States twice. The first time was in November 1988 when the Finnish national team toured the country, playing some Division I and II schools that were not too good, he says.
The second time was in June 1989 by recruiting trip to Brigham Young.
But he says one of the reasons he chose Kansas was because he was afraid to become a Mormon.
"There were two other (Finnish) players who changed to Mormons," he says.
Late start
Also, Markkahan says he heard Kansas was a good school and that he knew the Jayhawks had been the 1987-88 national champions.
Markkanen, like most Finns, grew up playing soccer, Finland's other national sport besides ice hockey. Yet, he did not start playing basketball until he was 16.
His wife, Rilkka, (pronounced REE-kun) played basketball for six years during high school, including three for a club team. Last season, she was the highest scorer playing for the second-highest level in Finland. There are four women's club levels and neither men's nor women's college basketball in Finland. Players join clubs up to high
school graduation
"You have played more than me." Markkanen says to his wife.
Markkanen, who also played basketball for his high school team that wore the Finnish high school championship in 1986, later joined the Honu club team, located in his hometown of Jyaskylia, which won the 1987 Finnish national championship.
After he graduated from high school, he spent a mandatory year in the army where he was able to play
basketball as part of a special military program.
Last year, Markkkanen was named the most outstanding player of the year by the Finnish Basketball Federation.
Also, last summer he played for the Finnish national team at the World University Games, in Duisburg, West Germany, averaging 18 points, as Finland went 3-4 for ninth place.
"We weren't a very good team," he said.
Kansas, Nebraska swim teams to meet tomorrow in Lawrence.
See MARKKANEN, d. 14
By Andres Caveller Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's team, conference champion for the past two years, will try to improve its 5-0 dual meet record.
The meet is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at Robinson Natatorium.
Freshman Michelle Wilde, sophomores Barb Pranger and Kelly Redden and junior Lauril Hill are among
rivalry between Nebraska and Kansas."
When the Kansas women's swim team faces Nebraska in a dual meet tomorrow, the Jayhawks will depend on young swimmers who have stepped forward this fall, said swim coach Gary Kemmf.
Leading the Jayhawks is Pranger, who last week qualified at the Arkansas invitational for the NCAA and will be seen such in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly.
"She is probably one of the most talented swimmers I have ever had the opportunity to work with," Kempf said. "She has a tremendous
the swimmers who stepped forward this fall, Kempf said.
"We think we'll swim really fast."
Kemp said. "There is always a big
Pranger, who said she considered this dual meet the focus meet of the fall, said it would not be easy for Kansas to defeat Nebraska according to their times and results that she had seen.
work ethic, she holds swimming as a very high priority, and more importantly, she enjoys it a great deal. She has all the attributes that make a great athlete."
KU to fight 'Backs Winning 'Hawks hope to keep streak
By Paula Parrish Kansan sportswriter
Kansan sportswriter
"It'll be a lot like our starting five versus our starting five," assistant coach Kevin Cook said. "They run a lot of the same offenses and defensive sets that we do."
The women's basketball team will be pitted against what might seem to be themselves as the Jayhawks face the Arkansas Razorbacks tomorrow in Fayetteville, Ark.
Perhaps that's because the Razorbacks have been guided, to a certain extent, by assistant coach Tracey Mays. Mays was a graduate assistant six years ago for Coach Marian Washington's basketball team.
"Looking at their offense, it's like looking at a mirror image of Kansas," Washington said. "They're very, very aggressive players. They pressure after every made shot."
Kansas, 4-2, are on a run, having won the Lady Jayhawk Dial Classic last weekend and having whipped the Wichita State Shockers 87-75 Wednesday night in Allen Field House.
Kansas, on a three-game winning streak, has picked up its shooting percentage considerably during the last three games.
Util Wednesday, the Jayhawks were shooting just 35.5 percent from the field, including a season-low 29.1 percent against the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the final game of the Classic.
But the Shockers jolted Kansas
into action, forcing the squad to a much-improved 49 percent from the field.
Arkansas has not played since last week but has managed to beat all five of its opponents so far this year.
Center Delmonica DeHorney leads the Razorbacks, averaging 18 points per game and 5.3 rebounds.
"I'd compare them favorably to Vanderbilt," Cook said.
Arkansas guards Juliet Jackson and Amber Nicholas are each averaging at least 12 points per game. They get into trouble against Kansas.
Kansas lost to Vanderbilt 70-64 in a close match for third place at the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic two weeks ago.
"If their initial guards, Nicholas and Jackson, get into foul trouble, then we'll be in good shape," Cook said.
Kansas veteran Lisa Bradby faced Nicholas three years ago in the 1987 Lady Jayhawk Classic that Kansas won, 75-68.
"Nicholas is one of the top five point guards in the country," Cook said. "That will be a good match up between her and Brady."
Probable starters for Kansas are forwardes Terrilyn Johnson and Dave Shareet, center Lynn Page, and Guards Bradley and Kay Hart.
Brady scored a team-high 20 points and seven assists against the Shockers. She leads the team with a season-high 11.2 points per game and 7.3 assists. Page leads in rebounds, averaging 8.2 per game.
Royals sign pitcher
The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The World Series champion Oakland A's lost their third free agent yesterday when the Kansas City Royals signed 19-game winner Storm Davis to a three-year, $6 million contract.
"We feel like we have acquired one of the more successful pitchers in the American League over the past several years," Kansas City vice president John Schuerholz said. "His addition is another step in our objective of strengthening our overall pitching depth this winter."
Davis, 19-7 last season, gets a $500,000 signing bonus, $1 million in 1990, $2.2 million in 1991 and $2.3 million in 1992. Davis has a 35-14 record over the past two years, and is 90-55 in seven AL seasons.
In other baseball moves;
▶ KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Outfielder Willie Wilson and second baseman Frank White, two Kansas City Royals' veterans who had become free agents, will be back with the club next season.
The Royals announced they had agreed to terms with both players on guaranteed one-year contracts.
Kansas football to build on improvement, attitude for 1990 season
By Gene King Kansan sportswriter
Last year at this time, the Kansas football team was taking a long look up the Big Eight ladder as it finished seventh with a 1-7 conference record and 1-10 record overall.
This year, the Jayhawks advanced another rung up the ladder, finishing sixth in the Big Eight with a 2-5 record for conference play and a 4-7 overall performance.
But with the team running and throwing for more yards and scoring more points than the 1988 squad, Coach Glen Mason, has his team headed in the right direction on the ladder.
The rungs get farther apart and more difficult to climb as the Jay-books prepare for the 1900 season.
"We definitely made progress," Mason said. "But the biggest area was in the attitude. We've got players
right now that are enthusiastic about spring practices next year."
Pulling his weight
Sands, who was a second-team all-Big Eight selection, rushed for 1,109 yards on 216 carriers. He averaged more than 100 yards a game and 5 yards a carry. He also led the team in points scored, rushing for 11 touchdowns.
"Tony is a good, tough football player," Mason said. "Pound for pound, he is as good as any back."
in Big Eight all-time passing yardage, just behind Kansas State's Lynn Dickey, with 5,382 career passing yards. Donohoe completed 141 of 256 passes for a 55.1 percentage completion rate. For the first weeks of the season, Donohoe was rated among the top in the nation in passing efficiency.
Commanding the offense in his final season was quarterback Kelly Donchone. He passed for 2,125 yards this season, moving him up to fourth
Donohoe threw 12 touchdown passes and was intercepted 13 times in 11 games.
"Kelly did a fine job for us this year in leading our offense," Mason said.
Donohoe received an honorable mention in the Big Eight this season. He was second in career total offence for Kansas, with 5,238 total yards, behind Frank Seuer, who had 6,117 total offensive yards.
Junior center Chip Budde, also a conference honorable mention; who snapped the ball on all but a few plays to Donohoe for three years.
praised his quarterback.
Smith at the forefront
"Kelly had a pretty good year. He did a good job with audibles at the line," Budde said.
On the receiving end of Donohoe's passes was a host of Jayhawks. Thirteen receivers caught 144 passes throughout the year.
Leading the pack in his last year of eligibility was wide receiver Quininti Smith. Smith had 50 receptions this year for 896 yards. He averaged 18 yards a catch and had eight touchdown receptions.
Smith moved into fifth place among Kansas' all-time receivers with 1,550 total yards. This season he had nine RBJ-ranked job named to first all-Big Eight team.
Mason does have them on the right track.
The offense, comprised of Donehoe, Sands, Smith and company, demonstrated in the 1989 season that
Kansas averaged less than 313 total offensive yards a game in 1988, but the Jayhawks pushed that average to almost 360 yards a game this year.
Kansas' offense, with one more year under Mason's guidance, gained 510 yards more than the 1983 Jayhawks.
That the Jayhawks won four games this year compared to their single win last year, gives some indication of the improvements on the Kansas team.
► The Jayhawks backfield rushed for 1,767 yards this season. Coming off last year's 1,777 yards, it in evidence that the ground game was more successful.
Averaging more than 189 yards a game, the running backs surpassed last year's rushing average by more than 56 yards.
Donoho, and back-up quarterbacks Chip Hilleary and Ron Page combined for a season-passing performance of 2,164 yards. The trio eclipsed last year's mark of 1,865 yards.
On the average, the Jayhawks threw for close to 200 yards a game, while last year, they threw for less than 170 a game.
Kansas put more points on the board this year than it did last season, averaging more than 22 points compared to 17 points a game in 1988.
The Jayhawks still had trouble getting into the end zone in the second half in 1989, but nothing like the second-half scoring woes last season. Kansas scored just 45 points in the third and fourth quarters last year. This year, the Jayhawks scored 129 points in the second half.
See FOOTBALL, p. 14