Brown burns after romp

By Gary Bedore     Dec 2, 1987

This time, Larry Brown is more than annoyed at his Kansas basketball players.

“He’s upset, very upset. He’s mad,” senior forward Archie Marshall said after the Jayhawks’ 94-38 popping of NCAA Div. III Pomona-Pitzer on Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

Quit wiping your eyes. You read it right.

Brown WAS steamed Tuesday despite a Big Eight conference-record 49th consicutive home victory…despite the fact KU won by 56 points, the biggest spread in his five-year tenure here…despite the fact KU hit 75.9 percent of its shots, top single-game mark in KU history.

“I’m just not very happy,” said Brown, not ready to forget last weekend’s Maui Classic losses to Iowa (100-81) and Illinois (81-75).

“We’ve got such a long way to go. I don’t know if Pipe will make that much of a difference (when Chris Piper returns from injury, possibly Thursday at Western Carolina).

“It’s gut wrenching. It’s scary. It’s just not there…Some kids are trying. Kevin is an unbelievable example of that,” he noted, referring to sophomore Kevin Pritchard, who scored 17 points and had a career-best seven steals and six assists.

“We don’t have enough. It’s easy to come back by 21 and lose (to Illinois Sunday). That’s typical of bad teams. They can get back, but can’t get over the hump. Until this team changes and starts to care, we’ll struggle.

“The shooting percentage is fine,” continued Brown. “But we also had 13 turnovers in the first half. The shooting percentage came as a result of us playing against 6-4 Division III players. I feel bad for Pop (Pomona coach Gregg Popovich). He didn’t have anybody over 6-4. We’re going against 6-4 postmen.”

Brown also felt “bad” for his own coaching staff.

“I told Alvin (Gentry) this is the poorest of any team I’ve been around at this particular time in the season. The effort in Hawaii, in those two games, was the poorest of any team I’ve coached. It’s scary.”

It’s almost scary to note how upset Brown was after such a massacre. And that with Danny Manning (12 points) mercifully playing just five minutes in the final half.

“I look back and feel great for the other teams that contributed (to home win streak),” Brown said. “Right now, I don’t feel good about this team doing it. I tell the kids it’s hard coaching when you have to insist on them playing hard. It’s no fun.

“Everyobdy must care like Kevin and Archie (Marshall). We’ve gotta have everybody with that attitude. I look in the dressing room and don’t see that happening overnight. I want to have fun, to be a cheerleader on the bench. That’s what I hope will happen. When Alvin says, ‘Coach, this is no fun,’ you know it’s tough.”

Brown had hoped a pregame film session might bust his team out of its funk. He had the team view films of the Iowa disaster.

“I wish you coulda wached the film of Iowa with us. You’d be embarrassed,” Brown said.

Some players were embarrassed.

“Watching that motivated me,” said Pritchard, who snatched three steals during a 14-0 spurt that opened the second half and upped a 20-point halftime lead to an insumountable 59-25 tally.

“To be brutally honest, we got our butts kicked against Iowa. When I go out there, I’m not only representing myself, but my family and my school. That Iowa game embarrassed everybody.”

“When I saw that film, I understood why coach is upset with me. I was not defending,” said Marshall, who scored six points and grabbed four boards Tuesday.

Center Marvin Branch grabbed a game-high 12 boards to go with his 17 points. Decent effort, but not good enough.

“It gets to the point where you keep saying the same thing over and over and the guy is not changing,” Brown said. “How many times can we say, ‘Bring the ball to the chest.’ He keeps getting it slapped out. It happened seven to eight times tonight. He’ll hear he had 17 points and 12 rebounds and his friends will say, ‘What’s that little guy yelling at you for. You were great.’ We’re playing against 6-4 guys. He shoulda had 40 points and 17 rebounds. If he keeps trying, he’ll hear it and eventually it’ll sink in.”

Maybe Branch and Co. were tired after the trip to Maui. KU returned from the Islands Monday night.

“I think they’re a little tired, but hell, this is a game. How many do we play?” Brown said. “Hell, all our kids were lying on the beach. We didn’t get tired the way we played in Hawaii.”

KU will face Western Carolina at 7:07 p.m. Thursday in Cullowhee, N.C. Then the Jayhawks will return home to face St. John’s at 8:10 p.m. Saturday.

Box Score

Pitzer2513-38

Kansas4549-94

Pomona-Pitzer (38): David Todd 3-10 0-0 7, Rick Duque 8-17 2-4 18, James Johnson 2-6 1-2 5, Ethan Caldwell 1-4 0-0 2, Matt Weyer 0-1 0-0 0, Guy Hendricksen 0-3 0-0 0, Keith Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Ashanti Payne 2-6 0-0 4, Chris Buckholtz 1-1 0-1 2, John Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Ray Struck 0-0 0-0 0, Bernie Wharton 0-0 0-0 0, Team 17-50 3-8 38.

Three-point goals: 1-8 (Todd 1-4, Caldwell 0-2, Weyer 0-1, Payne 0-1). Assists: 10 (Payne 4, Caldwell 2, Weyer 2, Hendricksen, Davis). Turnovers: 27 (Caldwell 5, Payne 4, Duque 4, Todd 3, Johnson 3, Struck 2, Hendricksen 2, Davis 2, Weyer, Buckholtz). Blocked shots: 2 (Hendricksen). Steals: 4 (Hendricksen 2, Payne 2).

Kansas (94): Danny Manning 6-7 0-0 12, Archie Marshall 3-6 0-0 6, Marvin Branch 7-8 3-7 17, Lincoln Minor 2-2 0-0 4, Kevin Pritchard 7-9 3-4 17, Otis Livingston 3-3 1-2 7, Mike Masucci 2-5 0-0 4, Jeff Gueldner 3-4 2-2 8, Milt Newton 3-3 0-0 6, Scooter Barry 3-3 0-0 6, Mike Maddox 2-4 3-5 7, Team 41-54 12-20 94.

Three-point goals: 0-0. Assists: 24 (Pritchard 6, Newton 5, Marshall 3, Minor 3, Barry 2, Livingston 2, Masucci, Gueldner, Branch). Turnovers: 18 (Livingston 5, Barry 5, Branch 2, Masucci, Maddox, Newton, Pritchard, Manning, Marshall). Blocked shots: 5 (Manning 3, Marshall, Pritchard). Steals: 17 (Pritchard 7, Minor 2, Livingston 2, Barry 2, Manning 2, Newton, Branch).

Officials: Mike Kouri, Charles Green, Roger Baldwin.

Attendance: 15,100.

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