Kansas guns down eagles

By Gary Bedore     Dec 6, 1994

Kansas canned a school-record dozen three-pointers on Monday night against Coppin State.

Impressive? Certainly. But according to senior guard Greg Gurley, that new standard may be in jeopardy many nights this season.

“We’d like to break that record,” said Gurley, who buried three threes in as many attempts, including school record No. 12 with 2:44 left in the Jayhawks’ 91-69 victory before 13,000 fans at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Coach wants us to take it. There’s no hesitation in his mind. One time I hesitated and coach got on me about it,” added Gurley, who finished with 11 points on four-of-five shooting, while playing 15 minutes.

Kansas hit 12 of 21 threes, while Coppin State banged in 13 of 27 bonus shots.

Senior guard Keith Carmichael hit 10 threes. Had he hit one more, he’d have tied Jackson State’s Lindsay Hunter and Kentucky’s Derrick Miller for the most threes against KU in a single game.

KU’s dozen three-pointers surpassed the old mark of 11, attained seven different times.

“We think we’ve got good shooters,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “Greg Gurley, Jerod (Haase), Billy (Thomas), Sean (Pearson)…those guys can shoot the ball. If we get the ball inside and out, then we’re pretty doggone good.”

The Jayhawks, 3-0, had eight threes in their first two games.

Raef LaFrentz scored 16 points on six-of-seven shooting, while Greg Ostertag had 11 on five-of-eight shooting.

When KU’s big men weren’t scoring, they and point guard Jacque Vaughn (nine assists, 28 minutes) kicked it out. Haase, who buried six of 10 threes, scored a career-high 22 points.

KU’s first nine points came on Haase treys. He scored KU’s first six points of the second half, on a pair of threes.

“We got off to a great start when Jerod made three in a row,” Williams said. “But we were behind at one time, 15-14, so it didn’t exactly make the game right there. I told the kids at the first TV timeout, it’s got to be a 40-minute performance. Just because we got off to a good start doesn’t mean the game is over.”

Coppin State, 0-3, trailed 41-32 at halftime, mainly because Carmichael had hit six of 10 threes the first half, good for 18 points.

The Jayhawks opened the second half with a back-breaking 12-2 spurt fueled by Haase’s eight points. Carmichael had none in that span.

“We changed our defense in the second half. Probably for the first time in seven years, we stopped helping in the post,” Williams said.

KU’s perimeter players didn’t go help on the boards, merely stayed out to guard against further three-point tries.

“The young man shot it well,” Williams said. “But we were better defensively (second half). This was probably our best defensive game of the year.”

KU hit 57.1 percent to the Eagles’ 38.7.

The Jayhawks will face a test Wednesday when 3-0 Florida invades for an 8:35 p.m. tipoff. The Gators are known as one of the top defensive teams in the country.

“They’re one of the top basketball teams in the country. It wouldn’t shock me if they’re the best team we’ve played. UMass was No. 1 Saturday, but Florida is really good and I think they’ll show it through the course of the season,” Williams said.

The Gators, who return four starters from last year’s Final Four team, are coached by former Kansas State player and coach Lon Kruger.

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