NEW YORK – Larry Brown wept openly on the Kansas bench.
“He cried. I cried. It’s a terrible thing,” Kansas guard Otis Livingston said following the Jayhawks’ 70-56 loss to St. John’s in Wednesday night’s ECAC Holiday Festival championship game at Madison Square Garden.
But the loss wasn’t the reason KU’s dazed basketball players and coaches staggered out of the Garden in shock.
It was the news that senior Archie Marshall – who went down in a heap underneath the hoop with 11:34 left in the first half – had ripped apart his left knee and will miss the rest of the season with severe ligament damage.
Yes, Marshall tore his right knee at the Final Four in Dallas two years ago.
This year’s diagnosis? A tear of both the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments. The 6-6 senior for worced to red-shirt last year following a tear of just the anterior cruciate.
“I talk about emotion because you’ve got to understand what Archie went through,” said Brown. “I’ve never seen a kid work harder to get himself back, ready to play. He came back to the point where he had a future in the NBA.
“Now he’s back where he was. I don’t know the medical terms, but his knee was basically re-constructed. This is the same thing. I don’t care about how this affects the team right now. I care about how it affects Archie. You hear coaches say, ‘This kid is the greatest.’ With Archie you meant it.”
KU trainer Mark Cairns said Marshall would fly back to Lawrence with the team today, be examined by team surgeon Ken Wertzberger, then eventually undergo surgery.
How in the heck did the left knee blow? It appeared to buckle as Marshall and Manning attempted to catch a pass down low. Marshall was fouled by Jayson Williams on the play and could have been the culprit. Manning indicated there was no contact on his part.
“I thought it might have been twisted, but Archie told me he was hit on the outside of the knee,” said Cairns, who said Marshall was devastated by the news. Marshall would not speak with reporters.
“I don’t know what hit him,” Cairns added. “But I would say yes it is as bad as the other one. I tell you, it makes you wonder if this is pre-disposed to happen. There is no scientific reason (the left knee would go after the right). To go through work like he did and have this happen…”
It made KU’s players wish they’d seen an optical illusion, not their teammate lying on the floor in intense pain.
“I wanted to say, ‘Get up, get up,'” said Livingston.
But Marshall couldn’t. At the time of the injury, KU led, 21-20. The Jayahwks maintained a 31-29 advantage at halftime. But an 11-point surge helped the Redmen turn a 33-31 deficit into a 42-33 lead at 15:33.
KU would cut it to six at 54-48 with 7:28 left, but a seven-point Redmen surge put it away.
“I don’t want to take anything away from St. John’s. We tried, but it was hard without Archie,” said Brown.
Kansas was guilty of both bad field goal (32.7 percent to St. John’s equally bad 34.5) and bad free throw shooting. The Jayhawks hit 19 of 31 free throws to the Redmen’s 32 of 49.
“We didn’t make free throws. That’s plagued us all year,” said Brown. “Especially on the road, you have to make ’em.”
The physical play led to a first-half altercation. St. John’s Marco Baldi and KU’s Chris Piper flashed elbows and had to be separated. A persona fould and technical foul was called on Piper, while Baldi received a technical, as did both coaches.
KU converted one of four technicals (Lincoln Minor missed twice, while Milt Newton cashed one), while St. John’s hit all six free throws.
“I don’t think that hurt us. I thought we’d come back,” Livingston said.
“That’s just something unfortunate that happened,” said Brown.
Piper waived off reporters and had no comment.
The Jayhawks, now 8-3, received 24 points from Danny Manning. Nobody else finished in double figures. St. John’s, now 8-1, was paced by Shelton Jones, Matt Brust and Greg Harvey, who scored 17, 14 and 13, respectively.
The Jayhawks are idle until they meet Washington in Seattle next Monday night.
Box Score
Kansas3125-56
St. John’s2941-70
Kansas: Danny Manning 8-17 8-13 24, Archie Marshall 0-1 0-0 0, Marvin Branch 3-6 2-4 8, Otis Livingston 2-4 2-2 6, Kevin Pritchard 1-6 2-2 4, Chris Piper 0-1 0-0 0, Milt Newton 1-2 1-2 4, Lincoln Minor 0-3 0-2 0, Clint Normore 0-2 0-0 0, Mike Masucci 1-3 0-1 2, Jeff Gueldner 1-6 4-5 6, Keith Harris 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Maddox 1-3 0-0 2, Team 18-55 19-31 56.
Three-point goals: 1-5 (Newton 1-1, Manning 0-1, Normore 0-1, Gueldner 0-2). Assists: 13 (Livingston 3, Minor 3, Branch 2, Barry 2, Manning, Marshall, Piper). Turnovers: 21 (Livingston 5, Minor 4, Manning 3, Normore 3, Branch 2, Piper 2, Harris, Maddox). Blocked shots: 4 (Manning 2, Branch, Normore). Steals: 5 (Livingston, Minior, Gueldner, Harris, Maddox).
St. John’s: Matt Brust 5-10 4-7 14, Shelton Jones 5-13 7-11 17, Marco Baldi 3-4 2-4 8, Greg Harvey 1-7 11-12 13, Michael Porter 1-10 3-4 5, Jayson Williams 0-3 1-6 1, Terry Bross 1-2 0-0 2, Elander Lewis 3-6 2-3 8, Sean Muto 0-0 2-2 2, Team 19-155 32-49 70.
Three-point goals: 0. Assists: 8 (Jones 2, Porter 2, Brust, Baldi, Harvey, Lewis). Turnovers: 14 (Baldi 4, Brust 3, Jones 2, Harvey 2, Porter, Williams, Lewis). Blocked shots: 2 (Brust, Porter). Steals: 13 (Porter 3, Brust 2, Harvey 2, Jones, Baldi, Williams).