It’s not polite to kick ’em when they’re down, but Ricky Grace had no sympathy for Kansas’ staggering basketball team.
“Maybe they can start a 58-game losing streak at home now,” the Oklahoma guard said following the Sooners’ 73-65 Wednesday night victory in Allen Fieldhouse.
Informed that Kansas had a 55-game homecourt winning skein, not a 58-gamer, halted by Kansas State last weekend, Grace amended his statement.
“OK,” Grace said, “maybe they can start a 55-game losing streak at home.”
Grace and many Sooners have, of course, no love lost for Kansas and could only with the schedule makers had sent them into Allen Fieldhouse before Kansas State arrived.
“Yeah, I was disappointed,” Grace said when asked if he was sorry the Sooners weren’t the ones who ended the Jayhawks’ Big Eight-record home dominance, “because they broke our home winning streak a couple of years ago.”
Indeed, KU’s Final Four team of two seasons back did snap an Oklahoma homecourt streak that was approaching 50. But this Kansas team isn’t near the caliber of that one.
“Right now they’re struggling,” said OU center Stacey King who then added graciously: “But when they get their confidence back they’ll do all right in the Big Eight tournament and the NCAAs.”
King played a role in Wednesday night’s victory, although mainly in the first 20 minutes.
In the first half, the 6-10 junior carried the Sooners, scoring 15 points and snatching six boards. But when he was forced to sit down after picking up his third foul just 4 1/2 minutes into the second half, the Sooners figured to be in deep trouble.
Some trouble. Seven minutes later – with King sitting all the while – Oklahoma’s lead had ballooned to a dozen. Finally, when Kansas made a run, OU coach Billy Tubbs reinserted the big southpaw.
In all, King ahd spent 9 1/2 straight minutes on the bench, and Oklahoma hadn’t suffered a bit. In fact, the Sooners flourished.
“I didn’t realize he was on the bench that long,” said Grace who scored seven of his 19 points while King sat. “But that’s the mark of a good team. One man’s down and another comes in and takes up the slack.”
In this case, it was Anthony Martin, a 6-7 sophomore who didn’t score much – three points – but did collect five boards in 16 minutes of duty as King’s caddy.
It doesn’t figure, though, that King could sit that long and the Sooners could pull away…especially on the road. Oklahoma isn’t an easy team to figure, though. Even Tubbs has to shake his head sometimes.
“It amazes me we can shoot 38 percent and beat anybody,” he said afterward, “but I’ll take it.”
Notably, OU shot 38.4 percent 928-73), was outrebounded by one (40-39) and had one less free throw (11-10).
On the other hand, Oklahoma also had seven three-point goals – Kansas had none – and, noted Tubbs, “We hit a couple of three-pointers that put us in command.”
Tubbs was referring to treys by Dave Sieger at 16:46 and Grace at 16:33. Those artillery shots wiped out a 35-33 deficit and the Jayhawks’ last, it turned out, lead.
All in all, Tubbs had no complaints. Well, maybe one.
“I thought we did a good job on Danny Manning until I saw the stats,” Tubbs said. “Twenty-eight points and 16 rebounds…he’s a great player.”
Manning wasn’t enough, however, to prevent the No. 7-ranked Sooners from boosting their Big Eight record to 5-1 and their overall mark to 19-2.
