KU captures 63-54 victory over Redmen

By Chuck Woodling     Dec 6, 1987

Kansas hit the half-century mark because Danny Manning, Kevin Pritchard and Archie Marshall did, too.

Manning, Pritchard and Marshall combined for 50 points as the Jayhawks won their 50th straight in Allen Fieldhouse with a 63-54 victory over St. John’s on Saturday night.

Manning scored 21, Pritchard 17 and Marshall 12 to provide most of KU’s offense, but it was actually defense – yes, the Jayhawks’ Achilles heel last week in Hawaii – that won this one.

“If we’d have rebounded,” KU coach Larry Brown said afterward, “they’d have been in the 40s, the low 40s. If you take away their offensive boards (14), we had a great defensive night.”

St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca summed it up the same way.

“They had us out of our offense,” Carnesecca said. “They have an excellent defense. It’s the best we’ve seen this year. They had so many fast breaks. It was like we were wearing galoshes.”

Still, Kansas did need some offense and that usually means Manning, and once the 6-10 All-American finally erupted late in the first half the Jayhawks were on their way.

Manning was blanked for the first 11 1/2 minutes. In fact, Brown even took him out of the game at the 12:37 mark for a little sideline talk.

“I thought he took some quick shots,” Brown explained about the unusual benching. “We’ve been having trouble with kids not making extra passes, and I told him he needs to set an example. He came back and was phenomenal the rest of the half.”

That he was. Kansas outscored the Redmen, 12-5, during the last 7:48 of teh first half and manning scored 10 of those dozen points. Kansas led, 33-24, at intermission.

Less than five minutes into the second half, the Jayhawks’ lead skyrocketed to 14, thanks to a seven-point blitz in just 37 seconds.

It started with a Manning three-point play, and also included a steal and jam by Pritchard and a Marshall basket off a Marvin Branch theft.

With 15:44 showing, Kansas was in command at 42-28 and, five minutes later, that lead had grown to 16 at 50-34 after a Manning stuff off a fast break.

Stick a fork in the Redmen? Huh, uh. Suddenly, the visitors from New York City sucked up their second wind and, shades of Thursday night’s late woes at Western Carolina, the Jayhawks stumbled.

At the 4:18 mark, St. John’s was within six at 54-48. Then buckets by Manning (2:46) and Lincoln Minor (1:40) braked the skid and the Kansas lead was back up to a safe 10.

Down the stretch, guard Otis Livingston made three of four charities – remember the shaky KU free throw shooting at Western Carolina? – and the Redmen were repulsed.

“The nicest thing,” said Brown, “is we didn’t crack. When it got to six, we responded.”

Minor and Livingston, the two juco transfers who have been thrown into the breech at point guard, may have come of age in this one. Brown was pleased, that’s for sure.

“Tonight the reason we won was the play of our backcourt,” he pointed out. “I didn’t think the tried to be great. That was the biggest thing. When St. John’s made a run, they were trying to make good passes.”

“I told ’em I’d rather have them be good than great,” Brown added, then smiled. “I think they’ll find out after awhile that I’m pretty easy to get along with.”

While alternating at the point, Livingston and Minor combined for seven points and seven assists.

Meanwhile, off-guard Pritchard had 17 points – nine in teh first half (all in the first 9 1/2 minutes, incidentally) and eight in the second.

“I was more excited about what he did defensively,” Brown said of the 6-3 sophomore. “He played basically error-free and he penetrated.”

Shelton Jones, who led St. John’s with 17 points and 10 boards, was also impressed by Pritchard’s overall performance.

“I was surprised,” Jones stated. “He did more than I was expecting him to.”

Jones, however, wasn’t surprised by Manning.

“You can shut him down for awhile,” said the 6-9 senior, “but eventually he’s going to have his game. Once he gets it, there’s no player in the country that can stop him.”

St. John’s lost for the first time in four starts while Kansas boosted its record to 4-2. The Jayhawks will entertain Appalachian State at 7:35 p.m. Monday.

Notes

KU sophomore Keith Harris made his first appearance of the season, logging two minutes in the first half. Brown said he’d held Harris out until now because of academics. “He’s back in good graces,” Brown said, adding with a smile, “Now he’s doing well in school and failing basketball.”…Kansas went into Saturday’s game shooting 58.1 percent as a team. Against the Redmen, KU shot 58.3 percent (28 of 48)…St. John’s guard Greg “Boo” Harvey, a juco transfer, had a tough night, making just three of 14 shots and committing six turnovers…

Box Score

SJU2430-54

KU3330-63

St. John’s: Shelton Jones 7-14 3-5 17, Matt Brust 0-3 2-2 2, Marco Baldi 3-4 0-0 6, Greg Harvey 3-14 0-0 6, Michael Porter 4-8 0-0 8, Jayson Williams 5-9 1-2 11, Elander Lewis 1-3 0-0 2, Sean Muto 1-1 0-0 2, Team 24-56 6-9 54.

Three-point goals: 0-4 (Jones 0-1, Brust 0-1, Harvey 0-1, Lewis 0-1). Assists: 8 (Jones 3, Harvey 3, Baldi 3, Porter). Turnovers: 14 (Harvey 6, Jones 4, Brust 2, Porter, Williams). Blocked shots: 1 (Williams). Steals: 5 (Jones, Baldi, Harvey, Porter, Lewis).

Kansas: Danny Manning 9-15 3-3 21, Archie Marshall 6-11 0-0 12, Marvin Branch 1-3 0-0 2, Kevin Pritchard 8-11 1-2 17, Lincoln Minor 2-6 0-0 4, Otis Livingston 0-0 3-4 3, Chris Piper 1-1 0-0 2, Keith Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Scooter Barry 1-1 0-0 2, Team 28-48 7-9 63.

Three-point goals: 0-1 (Marshall 0-1). Assists: 15 (Livingston 5, Manning 2, Branch 2, Minor 2, Pritchard 2, Barry 2). Turnovers: 13 (Manning 4, Branch 3, Livingston 3, Minor 2, Pritchard). Blocked shots: 1 (Manning). Steals: 11 (Minor 2, Livingston 2, Piper 2, Manning, Marshall, Branch, Pritchard, Barry).

Technical fouls: Pritchard (hanging on rim).

Officials: Verl Sell, Mike Tanco, Woody Mayfield.

Attendance: 15,800.

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