Richmond stuns Kansas, 69-68

By Liz Heuben     Jan 22, 2004

The Jayhawks took a break from Big 12 Conference foes, but the Richmond Spiders played as tough as any league opponent, defeating the Jayhawks, 69-68, Thursday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Tony Dobbins hit a jumper in the lane with 1.3 seconds left, and Wayne Simien was called for an pushing foul on the inbounds pass for KU’s last possession. The loss ended KU’s 52-game home winning streak against unranked opponents.

Jeff Graves dunked off an assist from Keith Langford on the game’s opening possession, and scored the second basket of the game a couple moments later. Richmond drew to within a point, 6-5, before KU went on a 6-0 spurt.

Richmond cut the deficit to four points, 14-10, three minutes later, and down to two points, 20-18, on back-to-back baskets by Daon Merritt nine minutes in. A minute later, Reggie Brown gave the Spiders their first lead of the game with a three-pointer from the left side.

Langford gave KU the lead again with a 6-0 run, scoring twice and feeding J.R. Giddens on an alley-oop. Richmond stayed close over the next few moments, closing within a point, 30-29, with just less than a minute remaining.

Two free throws by Michael Lee and an alley-oop by Langford from Aaron Miles gave KU a five-point halftime lead. The Jayhawks opened the second half with a 4-0 run, but the Spiders stayed within seven points after those first two baskets.

Richmond’s Mike Skrocki scored six straight points, tying the game at 41-41 on a free throw after Bill Self’s first technical foul as KU head coach. Self was called for the technical after becoming upset with a no-call on Aaron Miles getting bumped by a Richmond player.

KU regained the lead on a basket by Wayne Simien, but Patrick O’Malley gave Richmond the advantage with a three-pointer a few seconds later. The lead changed hands three more times until Simien scored again, giving KU a 47-46 lead, and starting a 13-3 KU run.

The Jayhawks extended their lead to nine points, 63-54, on an old-fashioned three-point play by Miles with just more than six minutes remaining. The Spiders countered with a 10-2 run, closing to within a point with just less than three minutes left. Skrocki scored eight points during that spurt.

Neither team scored for the next two and a half minutes, including two missed free throws by Langford, until Miles hit a three pointer. O’Malley answered 40 seconds later, again drawing Richmond within a point with less than a minute left. Miles missed two free throws with less than a minute remaining, and Dobbins hit the game-winning shot after KU committed a shot-clock violation on its next-to-last possession.

Langford had 18 points, six rebounds, and five assists, Simien had 14 points and 14 boards, and Aaron Miles had 10 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. Graves had six points and five rebounds.

Michael Lee had eight points, and Giddens scored seven points. David Padgett, who returned to action midway through the first half after missing two games with a stress fracture in his left foot, had five points and five boards.

Skrocki had a game-high 23 points for Richmond, and Brown scored seven points. Jermaine Bucknor had six points, and Gaston Moliva had nine points.

Merritt scored five points, Dobbins has seven points, and O’Malley had eight points. Jamaal Scott had two points, and Kevin Steenberge had a basket.

The Jayhawks were 24-of-53 shooting, 2-of-11 shooting from three-point range. KU was 18-of-28 shooting at the foul line.

The Spiders were 21-of-59 shooting, 10-of-26 shooting from long distance. Richmond was 17-of-20 shooting from the charity stripe.

KU turned the ball over 18 times, and Richmond committed 10 turnovers. KU won the rebounding battle, 45-32, and grabbed 12 offensive boards.

All stats are unofficial.

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