LAHAINA, Maui – Five technical fouls and 52 – count ’em – personal fouls, including one flagrant and one intentional.
It wasn’t so much a basketball game as it was a war as Iowa blitzkrieged Kansas, 100-81, in the semifinals of the Maui Classic on Saturday afternoon at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Gen. Patton would have loved this one, but Larry Brown didn’t. KU’s coach spent about 15 minutes blistering his players in the locker room after the battle was over.
Later, however, Brown mellowed when he met the media, praising the Hawkeyes instead of ripping his players…or the officials.
“I told a couple of the (assistant) coaches before the game that I didn’t think we were ready to play a team like that at this time,” Brown said.
“They’re a great team,” he continued. “Iowa got us into the game they wanted to play and we didn’t stop them. I just thought they were great. I love their team.”
In this battle of the only two ranked teams in the tournament – Kansas is 7th in the AP; Iowa 11th – the Hawkeyes exhibited a lot of love.
Iowa’s fullcourt press gave the Jayhawks trouble, if not fits; the Hakweyes’ baseline passing game was frustrating; and senior guard Jeff Moe dished out more than enough woe.
Moe and forward Roy Marble scored 22 points apiece, but it was Moe’s three-point shooting (5 for 7) that really deflated the Jayhawks.
Curiously, it was Moe’s first non-start of the season. Coach Tom Davis decided to bring him off the bench after he’d made only nine of 30 shots as a starter in the Hawkeyes’ first two games.
“He’s a terrific sixth man,” Davis said afterward. “I don’t know anybody who can come off the bench like he can.”
As important as his artillery was, though, three free throws Moe made with 7:43 showing in the first half that may have turned the game around.
Two were bonus charities after Danny Manning fouled him. Then he made one of two extra shots after Brown was whistled for a technical.
At the time, Kansas trailed by one, 29-28. After Moe was done at the line, the deficit was four. Then the roof caved in when the Hawkeyes cashed three unanswered buckets, two on follow shots by guard Bill Jones.
Suddenly, Kansas was lagging by 10 at 38-28 and only once the rest of the way would the Jayhawks come within a single digit. Iowa would lead by as many as 23 in the second half.
Why was Brown whistled for the T? Because, he said, he was furious about what he felt was one-sided whistle-blowing.
Brown, for instance, sat starting center Marvin Branch down the last 15 1/2 minutes of the first half after he’d picked up two personals.
By the time the first half had ended and the Jayhawks, who had led by as many as seven points early, were in a 54-39 hole, the foul count showed 16 against Kansas and 10 against Iowa.
And when it was finally over, the Jayhawks had been whistled 30 times, the Hawkeyes 22.
That doesn’t count the five technicals – against Brown, KU’s Manning, Iowa’s Al Lorenzen and against both benches when a near free-for-all broke out on the floor with 5:26 remaining.
Both benches emptied after Branch swung (and missed) at Iowa guard Michael Reaves. No other blows were thrown, probably because Branch backed off when the Hawkeyes leaped off their bench and headed his way.
Nevertheless, Branch was ejected for the flagrant foul. Reaves wasn’t, but Branch thought the 6-3 guard should have been.
“He threw a cheap shot,” Branch vowed after the game. “He elbowed me in the throat. I just retaliated. I don’t think it was fair, but I guess the ref didn’t see it when he cheap-shotted me.”
Not that the incident had anything to do with the outcome – Iowa led 87-70 at the time – but it certainly typified the Final Four-type approach to this very early season game by both teams.
“It’s gonna happen more early in the season as you try to train and develop,” Iowa coach Davis said about the near brawl. “Guys rush off the bench…they need to learn not to do that. The intensity, too. Both teams wanted this game.”
The victory sends Iowa into tonight’s championship game at midnight, Lawrence time, tonight.
“We’re a lot like Kansas,” Davis said. “We’re both trying to replace some starters. SOme days we’re gonna play well and some days we aren’t.
“If we played tomorrow, Kansas might beat us by 20, so I don’t see any trend out of this game.”
Kansas will play Illinois for third place at 6:30 p.m., Lawrence time, tonight and then head for the airport for the long overnight flight back to the mainland. Villanova defeated Illinois, 78-76, in Saturday’s other semifinal.
Notes
Iowa made 36 of 43 charities; Kansas 10 of 21. That’s a 26-point swing…KU’s Otis Livingston had eight assists in just 18 minutes of duty…Milt Newton made his first appearance of the season, playing nine minutes and scoring six points…
Box Score
Kansas: Archie Marshall 6-13 1-2 16, Danny Manning 10-16 3-6 23, Marvin Branch 2-3 2-3 6, Kevin Pritchard 5-13 0-3 10, Lincoln Minor 4-9 1-2 9, Otis Livingston 2-3 0-0 6, Milt Newton 2-5 2-4 6, Mike Maddox 0-1 0-0 0, Jeff Gueldner 1-3 0-0 2, Mike Masucci 2-5 1-2 5, Team 34-71 10-21 81.
Three-point guals: 3-9 (Marshall 3-5, Gueldner 0-2, Maddox 0-1, Pritchard 0-1). Assists: 23 (Livingston 8, Minor 5, Pritchard 4, Manning 3, Marshall 2, Branch). Turnovers: 21 (Manning 5, Livingston 3, Masucci 3, Minor 2, Newton 2, Gueldner 2, Branch 2, Pritchard, Marshall). Blocked shots: 5 (Manning 2, Pritchard, Maddox, Branch). Steals: 8 (Minor 3, Livingston 2, Manning 2, Masucci).
Iowa: Roy Marble 7-10 8-10 22, Kent Hill 4-6 6-6 14, Al Lorenzen 2-4 7-7 11, Bill Jones 5-7 5-7 15, B.J. Armstrong 2-6 0-0 5, Michael Reaves 1-2 6-6 8, Jeff Moe 7-11 3-5 22, Ed Horton 1-5 1-2 4, Mark Jewell 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Les Jepsen 0-0 0-0 0, Team 29-52 36-43 100.
Three-point goals: 6-10 (Moe 5-7, Armstrong 1-2, Lorenzen 0-1). Assists: 19 (Moe 5, Armstrong 4, Jones 3, Marble 2, Jewell 2, Lorenzen 2, Reaves). Turnovers: 27 (Lorenzen 7, Marble 6, Moe 4, Horton 3, Hill 3, Armstrong, Jones, Morgan, Jewell). Blocked shots: 0. Steals: 7 (Hill 2, Armstrong, Reaves, Moe, Marble, Lorenzen).
Technical fouls: Lorenzen, Kansas coach Brown, Manning, Kansas bench, Iowa bench. Officials: Jim McDaniels, Joe Shosid, Ryan Suroka. Attendance: 1,500.
