Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks…
“I’ve gotten a lot of mail on my shot,” said Kansas guard Kevin Pritchard, who hit five of eight floor shots and seven of 10 free throws in Kansas’ 73-62 win over Colorado on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“I appreciate it. It’s constructive criticism, not even that, really. It’s people trying to help me out, give some advice.
“There’s a guy in Topeka, I wish I remembered his name, who’s sent three or four letters about my shot. It’s like a critique. It’ll say, ‘Point One’ then ‘Point Two’ and at the end there’s a summary.
“I look at the films and he’s been right every time. He said I’ve been using my left hand too much and I haven’t had enough rotation. Your left hand has nothing to do with your shot. You can’t have it too far out. Coach (Larry) Brown has told me that.
“Coach has worked with me in drills. It’s something I’ve been working on,” added Pritchard, who entered Saturday’s game as a 48.2 percent shooter – 42.5 in Big Eight games.
A popular notion of advice-givers is Pritchard’s been driving to the basket too much, instead of going straight up and shooting.
“I don’t know why, but in high school, most people regarded me as an outside shooter,” said Pritchard, whose 17-point effort tied a season-high. “To tell ya the truth, I’d explore for layups a lot.”
The Fieldhouse fans, who implore several KU players to “shoot” at games, believe the Jayhawks resemble Magellan and Marco Polo too much. Colorado, for example, hit seven of 18 three-pointers to Kansas’ – make that Pritchard’s – zero of one.
“It’s a concern,” Pritchard said of opponents tending to outshine Kansas from bonus range. “But the way we play, we explore to get the better shot. It’s so much better a percentage. We’ve got Danny Manning. When you get him the ball inside, it’s like an automatic score.”
Manning was on top of his inside and outside games Saturday. The 6-10 senior scored 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Manning’s effort helped the Jayhawks overcome a 15-0 Colorado salvo that helped the Buffs build an early 25-16 lead.
“I tell ya, that was a close game,” Pritchard said. “They hit a couple three-pointers and I looked up there and they were up by nine. We came back with our defense. WE can play good defense at times. We keyed a couple of steals and got layups off those. Our defense can create a lot of offense.”
Many believe sophomore Pritchard, who averaged 9.6 points on 45.6 shooting as a freshman, is potentially capable of a lot of offense. He hopes to build on the CU effort.
“I’ve been in a shooting slump, definitely, but I thought the rest of my game was coming along,” Pritchard said. “I’ve had more assists and rebounds.”
Indeed, he totaled eight assists in KU’s recent loss to Kansas State and had five rebounds in the loss to Oklahoma.
“My shot felt good today,” he said.
The victory snapped KU’s four-game losing skein.
“Teams can gain from losses,” Pritchard said. “Hopefully we’ll learn from ours and go from there. We needed a win bad. We needed a win to give us confidence. Most everybody could see that from the way we’ve looked on the court.
“Lately in close games we’ve packed it in. We would not do that tonight. In huddles, we’d say, ‘D ’em up. Get rebounds.’ Some lucky things went our way. We haven’t had much luck lately.”
Alvarado might be removed from red-shirt list
Sean Alvarado hasn’t stepped on the floor during any of Kansas’ 21 basketball games this season.
But that doesn’t mean the 6-10 senior might not be pulled off the red-shirt list somewhere along the line during the remainder of the season, KU coach Larry Brown said Saturday.
“With all our problems, he might have to play,” Brown said following the 73-62 victory over Colorado. “I still think that’s a strong possibility.”
kansas has already lost starters Archie Marshall and Marvin Branch. Another regular, Chris Piper, has been ailing all season with a groin injury. And on Saturday, Kansas was without Mike Masucci and Keith Harris.
Masucci, a 6-10 freshman, suffered a mild concussion in last Wednesday’s Oklahoma game and didn’t suit up. Harris did suit up Saturday, but wasn’t used because, said Brown, “Keith has personal problems; he missed two practices.”
Thus Brown not only had Alvarado put on a uniform, he elevated two junior varsity players – seniors Marvin Mattox and Brad Wahl – to varsity status.
“Looking down the bench, without Keith and Masucci, we’re pretty thin,” Brown said. “The purpose of our JV program is to give the student body a chance to play, not prepare for the Big Eight.”
Mattox, who was the starting strong safety on KU’s football team last fall, joins starting free safety Clint Normore on the basketball team.
“I want to be the only (basketball) coach in the country,” Brown quipped, “with two football players.”
Alvarado, who transferred to KU last season from Hutchinson CC and was used sparingly, said he wouldn’t complain if Brown was forced to use him down the stretch.
“I’m just here to help the team out in any possible way I can,” Alvarado said. “That’s my attitude about it.”
