That was Rider College, all right. Not Radar College.
Rider launched 29 three-point bombs, missed 24 of ’em and Kansas rode the Broncs right out of Allen Fieldhouse, 110-72, on Saturday night.
“I din’t think there was any way we could score 100 points,” KU coach Larry Brown said after the crowd-pleasing rout in front of a full house of 15,800. “But wehn you play that quick a tempo…it was obvious they were gonna run no matter what the results were.”
Run…and shoot. In fact, it’s a wonder the Broncs didn’t unload some of their shots as soon as they stepped out of their locker room.
They weren’t bashful,” Brown smiled. “Those kids came in here and had a good time.”
Maybe so, but John Carpenter, veteran coach of the suburban New York City school, didn’t enjoy himself too much.
“They intimidated us,” Carpenter said. “They kept us out of our offense and they played very well on the boards.”
Kansas, in fact, collected a whopping 54 boards which didn’t surprise Brown even though rebounding hasn’t been one of the Jayhawks’ greatest strengths.
“When you shoot 40-footers,” the KU coach said, “you’re gonna have a lot of rebounds.”
Most of those rebounds turned into fast breaks because if there was something the Broncs did worse than shoot it was get back on defense.
Otherwise, Rider couldn’t stop Danny Manning…although that’s no disgrace. Not many teams have.
Manning, posting upalmost at will, made 14 of 16 shots – many of them his patented baby hook – and finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds, both season highs. And he played only 26 minutes.
At the same time, Manning also shackled Rider gunner Ron Simpson who had scored 48 points in his team’s opener. With Manning hounding him, the 6-6 Simpson settled for 17 points. Center Jim Cleveland, a 6-6 freshman, led Rider with 22 points.
Brown used all 13 of his active players and all of them scored. Noteworthy totals included 10 points and six boards from freshman Mike Masucci and 12 points from juco transfer Lincoln Minor who came off the bench for the first time this season.
Brown started junior Scooter Barry at point guard, announcing afterward that Minor has been shifted to off guard permanently.
“I think he’s more comfortable there,” Brown said. “I think it’s gonna take the pressure off him. He’s gonna stay there.”
Meanwhile, Barry did not lock up the point guard job. Barry did collect five assists – Kansas had a season-high 30 – but his turnover total, four, matched his point output.
“No, I haven’t decided,” Brown sadi when asked if he’s made up his mind who’ll be the point guard. “This is waht the early season games are for.”
Reserve point guard Otis Livingston, who was banished by Brown during Monday’s game with Appalachian State for talking back, came back, and impressively at that. Livingston had nine points, four assists and a couple of steals in 17 minutes of work.
Saturday aslo marked only the second appearance of the season by the longest resident of Brown’s doghouse, Keith Harris. the sophomore forward saw less court time than any of his teammates, but played for nine minutes.
Rider, a Division I school located in Lawrenceville, N.J., actually led once early at 11-10, but the Jayhawks outscored the Broncs, 21-8, during the last 6 1/2 minutes of the first half to snatch a 52-36 halftime lead.
That first half, incidentally, took forever to play because the officials, all from the Big Eight, whistled 32 fouls and the two teams made 40 trips to the free throw line.
The tooting toned down, comparatively speaking, in the second half, but there were still 52 fouls and 63 free throw attempts overall.
“They were overmatched,” Brown said. “They were small, and when the refs called it so tight, I think it hurt them.”
The lopsided win – the 110 points were the most ever scored by a Larry Brown-coached team at Kansas – sure didn’t hurt the Jayhawks.
“I was glad to have a laugher,” Brown said. “It was a good situation to look down the bench and see everybody played (at least) 10 minutes. Wehn you do that, you become a team.”
Kansas, now 6-2, won’t play again until next Saturday at North Carolina State. Rider is 1-1.
Notes
Chris Piper, still nagged by groin and knee woes, came off the bench to lead the Jayhawks with six assists…KU missed 16 of 40 charities…Kevin Pritchard has already missed as many free throws, 13, as he missed all last season…Rider’s 29 three-point attempts were the most ever against KU. Oklahoma took 19 last season for the previous high…Milt Newton is wearing a black band on his jersey in memory of his high school coach who died last summer…KU had 30 points off the fast break…Kansas shot 70.5 percent; Rider 29.6 percent…Manning made his 116th start, more than any KU player in history, and moved into third place on the Big Eight’s all-time scoring list…
Box Score
Rider3636-72
Kansas5258-110
Rider: Ed Titus 2-10 3-3 7, Ron Simpson 7-14 2-2 17, Jim Cleveland 7-16 7-10 22, Lee Nesmith 1-6 2-2 4, Ramon Rosado 5-10 0-0 10, Bill Vogt 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Zaleski 1-10 0-0 3, Chris Carothers 1-5 0-0 2, Bob Urbanik 0-4 2-2 2, John Jordan 0-5 3-4 3, Team 24-81 19-23 72.
Three-point goals: 5-29 (Titus 0-5, Simpson 1-4, Cleveland 1-4, Rosado 2-5, Zaleski 1-9, Urbanik 0-1, Jordan 0-1). Assists: 15 (Simpson 4, Titus 3, Carothers 3, Nesmith 2, Rosado, Zaleski, Jordan). Turnovers: 16 (Rosado 6, Zaleski 4, Carothers 3, Titus 2, Jordan). Blocked Shots: None. Steals: 10 (Zaleski 3, Carothers 2, Cleveland 2, Nesmith 2, Simpson).
Kansas: Archie Marshall 3-6 1-2 7, Danny Manning 14-16 2-4 30, Marvin Branch 2-2 2-2 6, Scooter Barry 1-2 2-2 4, Kevin Pritchard 4-5 3-6 11, Chris Piper 1-1 2-2 4, Otis Livingston 4-5 1-3 9, Lincoln Minor 3-4 6-8 12, Mike Maddox 4-4 0-0 2, Jeff Gueldner 0-1 1-2 1, Milt Newton 3-8 0-0 6, Mike Masucci 4-5 2-3 10, Keith Harris 0-2 2-4 2, Team 43-61 24-40 110.
Three-point goals: 0-0. Assists: 30 (Piper 6, Barry 5, Marshall 4, Livingston 4, Minor 2, Gueldner 2, Manning 2, Pritchard 2, Branch, Newton, Harris). Turnovers: 25 (Barry 4, Minor 3, Branch 3, Pritchard 2, Newton 2, Masucci 2, Piper 2, Livingston 2, Maddox 2, Manning, Gueldner, Harris). Blocked Shots: 5 (Manning 3, Minor 2). Steals: 8 (Pritchard 2, Livingston 2, Minor 2, Newton, Barry).
