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May 22, 2009
This week's Jayhawk Flashback surely has to be one of the highest-ranked on Kansas coach Bill Self's victory list.
Just listen to his comments after his seventh-ranked Jayhawks took down fourth-ranked Oklahoma State on Feb. 27, 2005.
"I don't think I've ever been a part of a better basketball game. ... This will go down as one of the great ones ever (to have been) played in this building."
The highlights of this "instant classic" are below.
Some thoughts:
• What I remember most about this game is that it was the closest to an NBA shooting performance that I've ever seen at Allen Fieldhouse. No one was missing shots. Consider this: KU shot a higher percentage from the floor than from the free-throw line. And KU made 65.2 percent of its free throws, which isn't too bad.
The Jayhawks were 31-for-47 from the field (66.0 percent). OSU was almost as hot, making 31 of 53 shots (58.5 percent). Combined, the two teams made 62 of 100 field-goal attempts.
Afterwards, Self said it was more a product of good offense than bad defense. I'll agree. Any shot that was even semi-open was swishing through that day.
• It also was one of the best performances for Wayne Simien, who will best be remembered in this game for his reaction to the victory afterwards. Big Dub had a career-high 32 points on 11-for-17 shooting. He also seemed to answer OSU's John Lucas shot for shot, putting up some attempts before it looked like he even had a grip on the ball (see the 2:02 mark).
Our own Chuck Woodling even wondered which performance was better: Simien's against OSU, or Nick Collison's 24-point, 23-rebound performance in 2003 against Texas.
• Speaking of Lucas, he was unbelievable this game. He started 9-for-9 and was taking (and making) tough shots, too. Don't know about you, but when he fired up that open shot just before the buzzer, I was sure it was going in.
"I can't believe I missed that," Lucas said after the game. "I shoot that shot at least a thousand times a day."
Some other quick-hit notes, which might only interest me:
•The game ended a three-game losing streak for KU. Previously, the Jayhawks had lost at Texas Tech, at home to Iowa State and at Oklahoma. Interestingly, after the OSU win, KU still had a one-game lead in the conference standings.
• The win also ended the silly media boycott of 2005. The Jayhawks went without cell phones and media one-on-one interviews for four days in an attempt to focus on the Cowboys.
It led to an interesting quote from Keith Langford afterwards:
"We hear what everybody says. A lot of times you try to not take it personally, but guys do. You put in blood and sweat, and somebody writes up something negative, it's human instinct to get riled up about it.
"It's part of the reason we didn't want to talk to the media. It feels good to get the monkey off our back. We can't put any blame on media guys or anyone else. It's the guys on the floor."
• Was Sasha Kaun really on that team? That guy really was at KU for a long, long time.
• Christian Moody returned to this game after suffering an infected floor burn against Texas Tech. meaning he sat out KU's previous two losses. Moody tied a career-high against OSU with 11 points. So was it a coincidence that KU won in the game he returned?
• Simien had a streak of 34 free throws in a row snapped in the OSU game. That record was broken by Sherron Collins this year.
• KU had a pair of interesting recruits show up that day. One was Burlington sophomore Tyrel Reed.
Another was a senior standout by the name of C.J. Henry.
Bet he never would have guessed that his career at KU would start 4 1/2 years later.
Comments
sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...
I was at that 2005 home OT loss to Iowa State ... it was UGLY!
I had to break up a fight between a Jayhawk and a Cyclone - and the Hawk was the instigator.
I was also at the 2006 home loss to Texas A&M.
Needless to say, I skipped the 2007 season ...
The next time I was in AFH for a men's game was March of this year versus Mizzou!
May 22, 2009 at 9:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
fabio (anonymous) says...
Hey Jesse, around July 1st you oughta start doing these flashbacks on the football side to help get everyone in the right frame of mind.
May 22, 2009 at 9:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KoolKeithFreeze (anonymous) says...
Love the flashbacks Jesse.
May 22, 2009 at 9:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jnewell (Jesse Newell) says...
fabio — We'll mix in some football ones for sure. Any suggestions? I'm thinking '04 Kansas State and '05 Nebraska would be two good ones.
May 22, 2009 at 9:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
plasticJHawk (anonymous) says...
'05 Iowa State was the game that propelled us into the Fort Worth Bowl, and ISU was Ranked #25 at the time if I remember correctly.
That 2005 home OT loss to ISU ranks right up there with the 2006 home loss to KSU in my short list of worst Allen Fieldhouse experiences.
May 22, 2009 at 9:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Appoggiatura (anonymous) says...
This was my favorite game as a student (graduated 2006). I was lucky enough to cover the game. Funny you compared it to an NBA game Jesse. I also said that evening that it was up there with the many NBA Playoff games I attended as a kid. It had everything. Bill's reaction at the end of the game was priceless. Sidenote: Can we also get some football flashbacks? I love these flashbacks and between football and basketball, we'll get some good stuff to tie us over til football starts. Great stuff Jess, thanks!
May 22, 2009 at 9:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mgolany (anonymous) says...
Sasha was here for 4 years just like Russell and Darnell! You want to talk about long time think Jeremy Case!
May 22, 2009 at 10:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
panalytic (anonymous) says...
These flashbacks are fun, nice job on Newell's part. Lots of interesting trivia in the game too. I forget the great players on other teams sometimes. Interesting how OSU had two players on that team that made it to the NBA. CJ Henry was at that game as a recruit, so long ago, that was pretty odd.
I used the link and read the old LJW article which described the players interaction with the local media. Self enforced a media blackout and Langford sounded like he thought the local media was a little too critical at times. Sounded like the players and the media were all ready to smooth things over after the big win. There is a lot of pressure on these kids. A tough balancing job for the media to report on a three game losing streak and keep in perspective they are reporting on kids playing a game too. We are going to experience this tension over and over.
May 22, 2009 at 11:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ChicagoJHawk (anonymous) says...
I always like reading about the Hawks, so since it's summer & there isn't much news to report I too think the flashbacks are great. Especially if its about a game I missed, like this one.
May 22, 2009 at 1:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HowMuchRice (anonymous) says...
My favorite part of that game was Lucas missing the three-pointer at the buzzer, picking up the ball after the KU players were celebrating and shooting it again.
Swish.
May 22, 2009 at 4:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rohdek (Kyle Rohde) says...
Jesse - great job on these, thank for doing. This one's special to me because it was at the end of my senior year and it was the first time my dad came to a game. He came down to Lawrence from WI for the weekend, camped with us and stood in the student section with us for the whole game. He could barely walk from his bad knees the next day but had the time of his life.
Football games - MU '03, KSU '04, Nebraska '05 would all be good.
May 23, 2009 at 7:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
fabio (anonymous) says...
Depending on how far back everyone likes to go, the 95 KU @ OU game was one of the greats that I've been around for. We were #7 and OU was #16. Primetime on ESPN. It was the first time me and my brother watched a KU football game together. Now, we go to almost all the games together.
If you guys remember, we fell behind early 14-0, but slowly wore down OU and came back to win.
May 23, 2009 at 10:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JHawk252 (anonymous) says...
I agree with Rohdek -- Great job with these Jesse, and keep them coming. Perfect fodder as we await the assault on the 2010 National Championship.
These last two Flashbacks remind me of two games I'd love to see recapped. The first is the Great Eight game against Cincinnatti (or however it's spelled) when Paul Pierce was a sophomore. Cincy was ranked #2 in the country, KU somewhere around #15, and the first half ended with the Jayhawks down 19 points. Then Pierce showed his ability to take over a game. Finished with a stat line that wasn't overwhelming, but his second half shooting earned us the win. Maybe Ole Roy's speech at halftime helped as well.
The other game I'd like to see recapped is the KU/OSU game from '95. Big Country Reeves ended his regular season college career with a goose egg, but Rutherford set a three-point record against KU en route to scoring 45. KU got the win, but OSU went on to either the national championship final or semifinal, losing to champion UCLA.
May 23, 2009 at 2:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Hawksboy88 (anonymous) says...
Jesse Newell = Best writer on the Lawrence Journal - World Staff and Kusports.com.
Keep up the good work.
May 23, 2009 at 6:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rxjayhawk (anonymous) says...
I would really like to see the footage of the game Vaughn hit the game winner against indiana. that was the last time the court was stormed at AFH.
May 24, 2009 at 9:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JJHAWK (anonymous) says...
Thanks Jesse!
Remember this game well - especially the part when OSU took the lead late and then threatened to run us out of our own gym.
Its hard to believe we are going for our 6th straight league title and have a final four potential team to do it with.
Thank you Coach Self.
May 25, 2009 at 9:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
InfiniteJ (anonymous) says...
Whatever happend to Randy Rutherford? I thought that dude had NBA written all over him.......
May 26, 2009 at 9:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JayhawkPurist (anonymous) says...
Nothing against KU football, but why are people asking for football flashbacks on the basketball page? Jesse, keep up the basketball flashbacks. They're just about the best content LJW is putting out in the offseason.
May 26, 2009 at 10:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
waywardJay (anonymous) says...
It's funny how much of these games i don't remember..... this game slipped my mind... the one thign i do know... that OKlahoma State team was NASTY that year.......Just play nasty.... beyond lucas, and graham.... Rutherford and Ivan McFarland.... that team was awesome.....
Turns out no one could top Wayne on that given day..... Wayne's going to go down as one of my favorite Jayhawks of all time.... it's still fun looking back at how good he was.... to bad his only ring came with the Heat....
May 26, 2009 at 10:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )