MANHATTAN – Go figure the Kansas-Kansas State basketball series during Larry Brown’s five seasons on Mount Oread.
Kansas has won 11 of the 12 games under Brown in the Sunflower Showdown – including Thursday night’s 64-63 triumph in Ahearn Fieldhouse – but the lone K-State win was the one that snapped the Jayhawks’ Big Eight-record 55-game homecourt win streak on Jan. 30.
“I don’t know why we’ve been so successful against them – except for that game last month, that is,” fifth-year senior Chris Piper said. “Except for Danny Manning.”
All-American Manning didn’t exactly carry the Jayhawks on Thursday night, even though he was the team’s leading scorer with 18 points, but he may have to shoulder the burden on Saturday.
Kansas has to bounce back quickly and play No. 6-ranked Duke in a national TV game on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is 3:10 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse with a live telecast available on channels 5 and 13.
Kansas certainly didn’t know off the WIldcats on Thursday night and avenge that streak-breaking 72-61 loss to KSU in Allen Fieldhouse because of Manning.
The Jayhawks won because they adapted to the sagging 3-2 zone defense the ‘Cats used against Manning.
They passed the ball patiently around the perimeter, looking for a seam to feed Manning. If no opening was there, they took an outside shot – and they weren’t bashful about the three-pointer, either.
Kansas launched 18 three-point tries and made eight, both season-highs.
“If they’re gonna play Danny the way they’re playing him, that’s the way we’re gonna have to play,” Brown said. “I don’t like it, but that’s the way we have to do it.”
One of those eight treys was the game-winner. It was guard Kevin Pritchard’s aerial from just beyond the top of the circle with :29 left. It broke a 61-61 deadlock.
Still, Pritchard wouldn’t have had the opportunity if it weren’t for Jeff Gueldner.
Here’s what Gueldner, an unsung sophomore guard from Charleston, Ill., whose only starts have come in the last four games, did down the stretch.
-Horsed up a left-handed stickback with 1:59 showing to give Kansas a 61-59 lead.
-Somehow tipped Milt Newton’s errant shot back out to Pritchard with about a minute left to set the stage for what proved to be Pritchard’s game-winner.
-Ruined the Wildcats’ last chance by stealing the ball from Fred McCoy with about one tick remaining.
“Luckily, he lost control of the ball,” Gueldner smiled afterward, recalling that tense moment when the ‘Cats in-bounded with :03 showing, “but looking back it may have been a closer call than it was.”
In other words, if one of the officials had determined Gueldner fouled McCoy at that point, then the K-State center would have stepped to the foul line in a bonus free throw situation with an opportunity to win the game.
Instead, Gueldner pranced away with the ball and the Jayhawks celebrated their fifth straight victory in the last game a Kansas team will ever play in Ahearn Fieldhouse. K-State’s 38-year-old barn will be replaced by Bramlage Coliseum next season.
Also prancing around several minutes after the game was Brown who, while hustling to the shower, smiled and hollered to Milt Newton: “Four of 17…four of 17.”
Four of 17…??? Brown was congratulating Newton for his defensive job on Mitch Richmond because when the two teams played in Allen Fieldhouse, Richmond had been unstoppable, scoring 35 points and collecting a dozen boards.
This time, Richmond was more like Poormond, making only four of 17 shots. The 6-5 senior finished with only 11 points and one rebound. Yes, one board. He spent 39 minutes on the court, too.
“I figured if I messed up when I was guarding him, that’s it,” Newton said afterward. “I just tried to make him take bad shots.”
Echoed teammate Keith Harris, who spelled Newton from time to time: “We knew we couldn’t completely shut him out, so we wanted him to take bad shots.”
Said Brown: “I didn’t think anybody could stop him, but it’s hard to make every jump shot.”
Yet Richmond’s bricks often turned into points for the ‘Cats anyhow because, as Brown noted: “One of their best offenses was to have him shoot and then pound the offensive boards.”
Once 1-4 in the Big Eight, the Jayhawks are now 6-4. And 17-8 overall. But the Jayhawks’ next three games are against ranked teams – Duke (No. 6), Oklahoma (No. 4) and Missouri (No. 15).
Notes
Manning played in his 134th game, more than any Kansas basketball player in history…Kansas finished with an all-time record of 18-22 in Ahearn (Phog Allen was 5-2, Dick Harp 2-6, Ted Owens 6-14 and Brown, of course, was 5-0)…Manning is 57 points away from Wayman Tisdale’s Big Eight career scoring record…Gueldner’s 10 points matched his career high. He also had five boards and five assists…
Box Score
KU3826-64
KSU3429-63
Kansas: Milt Newton 6-13 1-2 14, Chris Piper 1-2 0-0 2, Danny Manning 8-15 0-0 18, Kevin Pritchard 4-10 1-1 12, Jeff Gueldner 4-5 1-1 10, Keith Harris 2-5 1-3 5, Mike Masucci 0-1 0-0 0, Lincoln Minor 0-2 0-0 0, Otis Livingston 0-0 0-0 0, Clint Normore 1-1 0-0 3, Team 26-54 4-7 64.
Three-point goals: 8-18 (Pritchard 3-8, Manning 2-4, Newton 1-3, Gueldner 1-1, Normore 1-1, Minor 0-1). Assists: 17 (Pritchard 6, Gueldner 5, Normore 2, Newton, Piper, Manning, Harris). Turnovers: 12 (Manning 3, Piper 3, Pritchard 3, Gueldner, Minor, Livingston). Blocked shots: 0. Steals: 5 (Newton 2, Manning, Pritchard, Harris).
Kansas State: Mitch Richmond 4-17 2-2 11, Charles Bledsoe 3-10 0-1 6, Ron Meyer 4-6 3-3 11, William Scott 2-3 0-0 6, Steve Henson 4-6 2-2 13, Fred McCoy 5-10 2-4 12, Mark Dobbins 1-1 0-0 2, Buster Glover 1-2 0-0 2, Carlos Diggins 0-0 0-0 0, Team 24-55 9-12 63.
Three-point goals: 6-9 (Henson 3-3, Scott 2-2, Richmond 1-4). Assists: 14 (Richmond 7, Henson 5, Glover 2). Turnovers: 9 (Meyer 2, Henson 2, McCoy 2, Richmond, Bledsoe, Scott). Blocked shots: 0. Steals: 2 (Scott, Dobbins).
