KJ’s
Basketball Newsletter
November 13, 2000
Early
Season Results
JAYHAWKS
TAKE NEW YORK!!
Boy,
it just doesn’t get any better than this! At the conclusion of the Coaches vs.
Cancer Classic in Madison Square Garden, KU now stands 2-0 and is fourth in the
polls after first knocking off UCLA and then home town favorite St. John’s in
front of a national audience on ESPN Friday night. Better yet, Kentucky is 0-2.
In
the immortal words of Jim Zabel.….I love it!
I love it!
After
building double-digit leads, both games were too close for comfort in the waning
minutes. KU showed toughness in the
clutch, though, holding off both foes. And
they were able to do it without Luke Axtell, who stayed at home with an ankle
sprain.
Kenny
Gregory won tourney MVP honors with 41 points and 17 rebounds, closely followed
by Drew Gooden who poured in 40 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
The surprise of the tournament was Mario Kinsey, the redshirt football
quarterback. I was really impressed
with his quickness and ability to handle the ball at Late Night, and he didn’t
disappoint in the Big Apple, with 7 assists, 3 steals and only 2 turnovers in 36
minutes. It looks like he’s
captured himself a place in the regular rotation as the first backup for both
Hinrich and Boshee. This extra
depth is good, because it’s real clear that Coach Williams doesn’t want
Kenny Gregory in the backcourt.
Look
for the Jayhawks to finish November 7-0, as the remainder of the month looks
easy as they take on North Dakota on the 17th, Boise State on the 20th,
Washburn the 25th, Middle Tennessee State on the 27th and
Illinois State the 30th … all at home, before they travel to Wake
Forest to take on the Deacons on December 7.
By then, Axtell should be back to add more firepower to the Jayhawks who
have averaged 100 PPG in their four outings.
Transfer
Luke Recker went crazy during last Friday’s exhibition game against Athletes
in Action, scoring 32 points on 12 of 18 shooting (7 for 11 from 3 point range).
Junior power forward Reggie Evans, also playing his first game for Iowa,
scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Evans
and Recker were joined in the starting lineup by senior point guard Dean Oliver
and freshman Jared Reiner at center. Three
other Hawkeye newcomers, junior transfer Ryan Hogan, and freshmen Glen Worley
and Brady Boyd all scored nine points each.
Iowa
finishes its exhibition schedule Tuesday night at 7:05pm against the Hungarian
National Team and their home opener is Nov. 19 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The
Drake Bulldogs started their season with an exhibition game against Denmark with
an impressive 81-66 win. Their
final exhibition game will be with the Dream Builders at 7:00pm Tuesday night at
the Knapp Center.
Their
opener will be against Iowa on November 21, at Knapp Center.
ISU
opened its season Wednesday night with an 85-72 exhibition win over Global
Sports. The 25th ranked Cyclones used a balanced attack led by senior
Martin Rancik with 16 points on 6 for 10 shooting.
The backcourt of first-team All-American Jamaal Tinsley, Kantrail Horton
and Brandon Hawkins all chipped in with 12 points each, and freshman Jake
Sullivan contributing 10. Senior
Richard Evans grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
The
Clones play their next exhibition Wednesday night, November 15 at 7pm against a
different Global Sports team, and start their regular season against Morningside
Tuesday November 21 in Hilton Coliseum at 8:00pm.
Unfortunately,
tickets for the ISU-Kansas game on Saturday, February 17 in Hilton are already
sold out.