Baylor could be cure for KU’s Big 12 woes

By J-W Staff Reports     Oct 2, 2004

? Kansas University’s volleyball team will try to snap a two-match losing streak today against Baylor.

Game time will be 7 p.m. at BU’s Ferrell Center.

The 24th-ranked Jayhawks (10-3 overall, 1-3 Big 12 Conference) were swept Saturday at home by then-No. 22 Texas and again Wednesday by No. 7 Nebraska.

“Playing two of the best teams in the Big 12 in one week is tough,” KU freshman Emily Brown said, “and obviously going 0-2 against those teams is tough, but we play Baylor next and it will be a nice change of pace for us.”

The Bears (7-7, 1-4) stand near the bottom of the Big 12 standings, just one notch above winless Oklahoma. Baylor has been swept by Texas, Texas A&M and Colorado.

Tonight’s match is a golden opportunity for Kansas to try to get back on track.

KU won both meetings with Baylor last year, taking the first match 3-2 in Lawrence before a 3-0 sweep on the road.

“We’ve had some great moments as a team and we need to remember that,” KU coach Ray Bechard said. “Any time you go on the road in the Big 12 it’s going to be tough, but obviously it’s a pretty important match.”

Kansas will return home Wednesday to tangle with Kansas State.

Baylor could be cure for Kansas’ ills

By Gary Bedore     Feb 18, 2004

Losing, Kansas University junior guard Michael Lee has learned, is not fun.

“The bus ride back from Nebraska was just quiet,” Lee said. “A lot of people slept or had their headphones on. A couple did homework.”

Understandable, considering the ride followed Sunday’s 19-point loss to the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Neb.

“Nobody talked. No jokes, no laughing. Everybody had the game on their mind,” Lee said.

KU’s two-game losing streak in Big 12 Conference play is uncharted waters for Lee and fellow juniors Aaron Miles, Keith Langford and Wayne Simien, who are coming off a 20-point loss to Oklahoma State and the Nebraska rout entering tonight’s game against Baylor.

Tipoff is 7:05 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse, with a live telecast on Sunflower Broadband channels 13 and 15. A replay will air at 10:30 p.m. on channel 6.

“This is the biggest thing that’s happened to me in my basketball career as far as these back-to-back losses,” Lee said. “To put it in perspective, this season alone in conference I’ve lost more games than I have in the two previous years total.”

KU, which has lost to Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, lost two league games last year after going undefeated in 2001-02.

“We’ve kind of been spoiled the last few years playing under the blanket of Kirk (Hinrich) and Nick (Collison) and (Jeff) Boschee. Those guys showed us a lot,” Lee said, who indicated it was time the current juniors showed the same leadership.

Langford promised the Jayhawks would bounce back tonight with a vengeance.

“I hate to say this, but we won’t lose,” Langford said of the matchup between No. 21-ranked KU (15-6 overall, 7-3 Big 12) and unheralded BU (7-16, 2-8) — a game in which KU is 24 1/2 -point favorite.

Langford said his declaration wasn’t meant to knock Baylor, but more a sign of KU’s resolve to get back in the win column. After all, the Bears defeated Iowa State, a squad that knocked off KU, 68-61.

“I had worse stretches in high school,” Langford said, “but this is on a national stage with a little more riding on it. It’s tough, but I can’t let it break me. It’s been a tough stretch, but it’s not the end of the season. We live to play another day.”

As to what happened on the past two game days …

“Put the blame on me,” Miles said. “Oklahoma State pressured us out of our offense. We let them pressure us. I accept all the blame not having the offense run smooth.

“Same thing against Nebraska. Put it on me. We’ve got to get the ball moving. It’s sticking in our hands too long.”

Miles, KU’s point guard, said the ball would move tonight.

“After a week like that, you’ve got to bounce back,” Miles said. “The (junior) leaders … we’ve got to show it now by being vocal.”

KU is 4-4 in its last eight games. The Bears enter with five setbacks in their last six contests, including a 91-58 blowout loss Saturday at Oklahoma State.

Nonetheless, BU has two league wins — not bad considering first-year coach Scott Drew has just six scholarship players.

Several players transferred during a stormy offseason, one in which ex-coach Dave Bliss admitted NCAA violations and a BU player was shot and killed, allegedly by a teammate.

“Scott is doing a great job,” KU coach Bill Self said. “It is not surprising to me they have been able to hold it together and win some games. If we think Baylor will be easy … that is not the case at all.

“We have to approach Baylor like it’s the last game of the season and then we have to do the game thing on Saturday against Iowa State.”

Self is glad the Jayhawks are facing the Bears in Lawrence — KU’s last two losses came in enemy gyms.

“We will welcome coming home and I hope the fans will welcome our guys,” Self said. “They need a pick-me-up.”

Baylor realizes a frenzied fieldhouse could help the Jayhawks bust their skid.

“Talking to our staff yesterday, this is probably not the best time in world to be playing Kansas,” Drew said. “Hopefully, it will be a situation they are not really frustrated with us, because we’ve had nothing to do with their last two games.”

  • Bumps, bruises: Wayne Simien (groin strain, bruised hip), J.R. Giddens (sore left foot) and David Padgett (sore left foot) practiced Tuesday and are expected to play tonight.

In fact, Self said Giddens would return to the starting lineup. He didn’t start at Nebraska because he had missed a lot of practice time because of the foot.

“It feels great,” said Giddens, who is wearing a protective boot when not practicing.

Senior Jeff Graves, who didn’t suit up at Nebraska after having a bad week at practice, worked out Tuesday and will be available tonight if Self decides to use him.

  • More on tardiness: After the Nebraska game, Simien expressed displeasure that unnamed teammates had been late for classes and practices, but Lee said he wasn’t worried yet.

“I think it is something that could escalate into a big problem. I don’t think right now it’s a big problem. I don’t think it’s escalated into that big a deal,” KU’s Lee said. “(But) Wayne is one of our leaders. If he felt it’s important, everybody else should too.”

Commenting on Graves’ status with the team, Langford said: “He is my friend. I want him to be here. I know he wants to be here. I think he’ll get his act together.”

  • More on slump: Giddens said the Jayhawks were ready to snap their losing skid.

“We had a bad week. People are like, ‘Kansas is dying,'” Giddens said. “We know what we’ve got. We know we can do it. It’s a matter of competing hard and with energy and having fun.”

Of the reaction on campus, he said: “I’ve got some friends who are like, ‘What’s going on, J.R.?’ But they say, ‘We still love you.'”

  • About BU: Three players off last year’s Baylor team transferred and received immediate eligibility at other schools without having to sit out a year: John Lucas (Oklahoma State), Kenny Taylor (Texas) and Lawrence Roberts (Mississippi State).

Self said he had no problem with Lucas and Taylor gaining instant eligibility in the league.

“I am always for the players,” Self said. “Once you set precedence, you open yourself up for similar situations if something happens like that again. We kept some good players in the league which is good for our league. Another way to look at it … I wish everybody had the same chance to recruit those guys if it was going to be open, but I am not disappointed in that. This was such a unique situation I am not frustrated by that at all.”

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