KANSAS BASEBALL The Jayhawks use a strong hitting attack to win two out of three in the Lake Area Classic, Page 3.
SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1996
KANSAS BASKETBALL
SECTION B
Get ready for another MU victory
I have waited very patiently for this day to come.
Ever since I graduated from Missouri and have been attending graduate school here at Kansas, all I have listened to is how great the Kansas basketball team is.
I have listened to how bad Kansas was supposed to kill Missouri when they finally met. I have listened to all the prognosticators here in Lawrence announce that Kansas was going to finish 14-0 in the Big Eight Conference. I have seen Ryan Robertson jump ship and grow some ugly crimson and blue wings. I
have heard about how great Scot "with one T" Pollard played at Columbia last year.
Well, the game is long over, and I think it is time for some Jayhawk fans to eat crow. More importantly, I think it is time for me to begin collecting my numerous bets that naive
Kansas fans made with me.
I am sure someone has come up with a great excuse for this loss. When Kansas lost to Temple earlier this year, it was because the bus driver got lost in East Rutherford, N.J., and the team spent a couple of extra hours on the bus.
That excuse will not work this time. Columbia is not that big. Besides, there are numerous signs pointing the way to the Hearnes Center. If the driver still could not find the arena, maybe he could have asked "Robertson the Traitor" to point the way.
If not, I am sure the friendly residents of Columbia would have pointed the way — which is a lot more than I can say for the smobs on the Hill. But since Kansas found the Hearnes, what seemed to be the problem?
Let us start with Pollard. Sammie and Simeon Haley outplayed and harassed him into two early fouls, causing Pollard to spend most of the day riding the pine. The "Diaper Dandies" — Robertson and Paul Pierce — combined to miss four consecutive free throws at a critical point in the game. Getting to the point, Kansas simply does not have a go-to man in critical situations.
Earlier this year, Kansan sports editor Tom Erickson called Jason Sutherland one of the biggest disappointments of the season in the Big Eight. Erickson has not looked at the facts. Sutherland leads the world in free-throw percentage and looked like Jacque Vaughn's shadow in the Feb. 10 game.
Nebraska senior Terrance Badgett found out the hard way. Not only did he catch an elbow in the jaw from Sutherland for his constant haranguing, but he also was ejected from the game.
I will bet everything that the greatest fans in the nation" will conduct another "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk Walk" as they did at the Kansas-Nebraska football game last November.
Sutherland has shown tremendous improvement in his productivity each year. His penchant for fouling has decreased as well. In the game earlier this season, he led all scorers with 18 points and had only one foul. The only times Sutherland has been overly aggressive is when opposing players rile him.
I think Erickson should have pointed to Jerod Haas as the disappointment of the year. His 1-for-8 performance at Columbia and illfated pass in the waning seconds only put the exclamation point on a sorry season. Maybe he should go to Dallas and become Jason Kidd's personal towel boy.
So eat up on that crow, Jayhawk fans. And next time, watch that breast-beating. I am just waiting for Kansas to be on the receiving end of a blowout tonight.
Richard Devinki/ KANSAN
Jayhawks declaw Kansas State, win the Big Eight's final crown
Kansas sophomore forward Raef LaFrentz scrambles for a loose ball. Kansas clinched the Big Eight Conference title on Saturday by defeating Kansas State 77-66 at Bramlage Coliseum.
Seniors prepare for finale
Jayhawks looking to get even with Missouri
Vaughn cages'Cats, halts potential run during 77-66 victory
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
Before tonight's game tips off at 8:30 in Allen Field House, Kansas' three seniors will
Avenging their lone Big Eight loss, which came at the hands of Missouri earlier this month, won't be the Jayhawks' only motivation.
"We have a score to settle with them," Kansas freshman forward Paul Pierce said. "There's going to be a lot of excitement in that gym."
By Jenni Carlson Kansan sportswriter
be honored. Forward Sean Pearson, guard Calvin Rayford and guard T.J. Whatley will be playing their final home game.
In recent years, the Jayhawks have responded in Senior Day games. They have won their last game in the field house for 12 consecutive years, including a 78-62 drubbing of Oklahoma State last season. That victory wrapped up the 1995 conference title.
"I still can't believe that it's here," Kansas junior center Scot Pollard said. "It's going to be tough for everybody."
MANHATTAN —The Kansas men's basketball team had something to celebrate Saturday.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas men's basketball team won the Big Eight Conference title and beat in-state rival Kansas State 77-66 Saturday.
But Paul Pierce led the way in the locker room celebration after the No. 5 Jayhawks clinched the Big Eight Conference championship with a 77-66 victory against Kansas State in Bramlage Coliseum.
Don't count on it.
"He sort of doused me w
when I got in there,"
Kansas coach Roy
Williams said. "I said, 'This
isn't the NFL, big fella.'
So, the Jayhawks may have a big letdown tonight against Missouri?
"He sort of doused me with some water
No one seemed to mind Pierce throwing cups of water and Gatorade after the game.
Kansas won't have to worry about securing the title tonight, but there might be a little unfinished celebration.
Kansas' victory pushed its record to 23-2 overall and 11-1 in the Big Eight. The Jayhawks have a three-game lead on second-place Iowa State with just two games to play
They wrapped up their fifth conference title in six years.
"I'm happier about this Big Eight championship," Williams said. "A lot of times when there's such high expectations and people expect you to do this and expect you to do that, it's difficult to stand up to them."
But Kansas did, and in typical Jayhawk style. Four starters scored in double figures, led by junior guard Jacque Vaughn. He had a team-high 20 points, including four-five from behind the three-point line.
But will they bring out the scissors tonight? "Maybe," Kansas junior guard Jerod Haase said.
"I wouldn't do that to Tom," Kansas coach Roy Williams said, referring to Kansas State coach Tom Asburv.
The Jayhawks gave no thought to cutting down the nets in Bramlage Coliseum after Saturday's game.
Roy Williams Kansas men's basketball coach
Vaughn has a vote for Big Eight Player of the Year from teammate Jerod Haase.
"He's the leader on this team, and we're a championship team," Haase said. "I think that carries a lot of weight."
carried a lot of weight in the Jayhawks' victory.
After Kansas had opened up a 14-point lead, 43-29, in the second half, K-State sliced into the margin. A 16-footer from K-State freshman guard Ayome May with 6:02 remaining brought the Wildcats within three, 62-59.
Seven of Vaughn's second-half points also
Then Vaughn took over. In the next three possessions, he hit a three-pointer, hampered a field goal attempt from K-State's Elliot Hatcher and made the front end of a one-and-one. That extended Kansas' lead to 66-59.
Vaughn hit another three-pointer with 3:58 remaining, and the Javahys led 69-59.
"I wanted the ball. But you know I can't shoot the ball," Vaughn said, smiling. "You know I can't."
The grittiness of the Jayhawks' victory, which marked their
hawks were not in control of the game. "We never felt nervous or harried or anything like that, even when they were making the run," he said. "We knew it was not going to be easy. It was a grind-it-out kind of game."
13th consecutive in Manhattan, was apparent early in the second half.
"That little skirmish — I think we enjoyed that," Vaughn said.
Pierce and Young, who was called for a technical foul on the play, nearly got into a tussle of their own.
Kansas State junior center Gerald Eaker had fouled Haase when Kansas State sophomore guard Mark Young got involved. Young elbowed Haase, knocking him to the floor.
"I saw him knock down my man," Pierce said. "I ran over there to see if everything was OK. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt."
Just one more thing Kansas enjoyed Saturday.
Kansas State's Mark Young receives a technical foul for pushing Kansas junior guard Jerod Haase to the floor in Saturday's game. Haase made one of two free throws for the personal foul, and junior guard Jacque Vaughn made one of two technical shots.
Matt Flickner / KANSAN
Women defeat the Wildcats, win Big Eight title
By Evan Blackwell
Kansan sportswriter
Following her team's 66-56 victory over Kansas State yesterday, Kansas senior guard Charisse Sampson had some parting words as she addressed the Allen Field House fans.
"I just have three words to say," Sampson said. "We did it!"
I just have three words to say, "Campaign said." We didn't.
The Kansas women's basketball team did indeed club sole possession of the final Big Eight Conference title with the victory against the Wildcats. The Jayhawks finished the regular season with a record of 18-8 overall and 11-3 in the Big Eight
After trailing 38-31 at halftime, the Wildcats took charge of the game early in the second half, and slowly cut away at the Jayhawks' lead. After outscoring the Jayhawks 13-5 during the first eight and a half minutes of the half, Kansas State took a 44-43 lead on a free throw by freshman forward Allison Chonko.
Despite losing their lead, Sampson said the Jayhawks knew they still had plenty of time left.
"We started babbling at one another, and I just pulled us together and said 'We don't need to be arguing with each other.'" Sampson said. "There was 12 minutes left, and that's a lot of time to win a ball game."
With the Wildcats up 50-45 with just under eight minutes to play, Kansas made its move to win the game.
Sampson nailed a three-pointer, cutting the lead to two. 50-
48, and prompting Kansas State to call timeout with 6:36 left. The ensuing inbounds play changed the complexion of the rest of the game.
Kansas State junior forward Missy Decker tripped as the ball was thrown to her near mid court. Kansas junior guard Angie Halbleib picked up the ball and raced to the other end for a layup and was fouled by Decker. Halbleib hit the free throw to tie the game at 50-50.
"You need breaks like that sometimes," Halbleib said.
The Jayhawks took the lead for good, 54-52, with about four and a half minutes left on a driving layup by junior guard Tamecka Dixon.
While the Decker inbounds play helped change the moment, Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington said it wasn't the deciding factor.
"Heck, we had a lot of unforced turnovers that gave them scoring opportunities," Washington said.
Kansas fired out of the gate ready to play on its senior day. Sparked by senior Keshana Ledet, who started only her second game of the season, the Jayhawks raced out to a 10-2 lead just three and a half minutes into the game.
As they would continue to do the entire game, the Wildcats fought back and trailed by only seven points at halftime.
Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington cuts down the net after the Jayhawks 66-56 victory against K-STATE.
Washington said the Jayhawks perhaps entered the game a little too fired up.
10
"We were really pressing some things." Washington said. "we didn't want to share this with Colorado."