Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde.
I’ve never seen a crazier game. KU
was just absolutely brilliant for portions of the first and second halves.
They worked like a well-oiled machine during those periods, but then were
stopped in the latter part of both halves by a combination of fouls, turnovers
and inspired Buckeye play.
Ed Hightower, as usual, whistled the Jayhawks for
everything but the kitchen sink. Hell,
he even called a technical on hometown hero Kenny Gregory. Hightower and his crew allowed the Buckeyes to shoot 29 more
free throws than the Jayhawks. Their
disruptive whistles repeatedly took the Hawks out of their rhythm, and put four
Jayhawks on the bench with four fouls apiece with 10 minutes to play.
Coupled with those problems, the Jayhawks also contributed to their
difficulties by committing 22 turnovers, eight by Drew Gooden.
The Lawrence Journal-World quoted Coach Williams as saying he would have
expected “a 20 point loss. I
don’t know if I’ve ever won a game with that much disparity at the free
throw line and in turnovers.”
However, Kansas was able to prevail because of those two
offensive stretches, while holding the Buckeyes to 33.3 percent shooting (29.6%
in the second half). True, they
were helped by OSU missing 14 free throws and making 16 turnovers, and I thought
Williams did a brilliant job of keeping all of his players from fouling out.
It was great to see Kenny Gregory, Luke Axtell and Mario
Kinsey back. Although a little bit
rusty after a three-game layoff, Columbus-native Gregory had a game-high 17
points, with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and one block, sealing the win and grabbing
bragging rights over his Ohio friends.
Given their sloppy play, an unfriendly officiating crew and
a hostile crowd, the Jayhawks have to consider themselves lucky to walk away
with a win. Their next outing is
this Saturday against SW Missouri State in the Sprint Shootout in Kansas City.
Dontaie Smith and Greg Danielson led the Bulldogs to a win
over winless Western Illinois Saturday evening at the Knapp Center.
Smith scored a career-high 26 points while Danielson added 18 points and
a game-high of nine rebounds. The
hot-shooting Dogs poured in 60% (31 of 51) for the game, while outrebounding the
Leathernecks 37-30.
Point guard Lamont Evans added 11 points and 11 assists,
while Luke McDonald scored 11 for 4-5 Drake.
Drake won’t play again until January 2, when they open their conference
season on the road against Wichita State.
ISU 73, MISSISSIPPI 68
All-American guard Jamaal Tinsley led the Clones with 14
points in a win over No. 24 Mississippi in the championship game of the Yahoo
Sports Invitational in Hawaii. The
Cyclones trailed 48-34 in the second half when Tinsley took over, leading a 21-5
run to regain the lead for good. Jake
Sullivan led ISU with 18 points and Martin Rancik had 13 points and 8 rebounds.
The 10-1 Cyclones play this Saturday at home against Western Carolina.
IOWA 78 , KANSAS STATE 86
The No. 19 Hawkeyes were expected to win this one easily,
as the Wildcats (now 5-4) were projected to finish last in the Big Twelve.
However, Dean Oliver simply got torched by K-State’s Larry Reid, who scored 31
points and served 7 assists.
Iowa's Reggie Evans, the nation's leading rebounder, had
his 10th straight double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds. He was 12-of-19
from the foul line. Luke Recker had 25 points for Iowa.
Hopefully, the loss will be a wakeup call for the Hawks, as
they now head for a three-game tourney in Hawaii, where they open against
Detroit on Thursday.
BIG TWELVE 3, BIG TEN 0
In addition to KU slipping by OSU and K-State topping the
Hawkeyes, Texas also toppled a Big Ten opponent, upsetting the No. 5 Illini
72-64. The 8-2 Longhorns were led
by Darren Kelly, playing just his second game for Texas after sitting out an
academic suspension the first eight games.
Brian Cook, son of former KU All-American Norm Cook (’74-’76), led
the Illini with 18 points.
Thursday through Saturday, the Big 12 went 11-1, while the
hapless Big 11, er 10, went 5-4.