MANHATTAN – Mitch Richmond wasn’t quite ready for prime time on Thursday night.
Making his second-ever appearance on ESPN, Kansas State’s All-America candidate scored just 11 points in the Wildcats’ 64-63 loss to Kansas at Ahearn Fieldhouse.
His miserable four of 17 shooting effort made some wonder if TV’s bright lights threw off the senior’s shot. After all, KSU is no Notre Dame when it comes to national television appearances.
“I don’t think playing on ESPN affected me,” shrugged Richmond, who scored 35 points in K-State’s 72-61 win over KU earlier this season in Lawrence.
“I don’t look at it that way. I wasn’t forcing things or speeding up the tempo. I just missed my shots. I’ll have nights like that.”
“They did a good job on defense,” added Richmond, referring to KU’s Milt Newton and Keith Harris, who hounded the 6-5 senior. “I was pretty frustrated, but I tried to stay in the game and not let it bother me. I tried to get the ball to somebody else like Fred or Charles in the post.”
Richmond, who entered with a 24.0 scoring average, did total seven assists, feeding 6-7 Fred McCoy and 6-8 Charles Bledsoe, who scored 12 and six points respectively.
Still people look for points from Richmond and this time he failed to deliver. He was asked if it might have been his worst game ever.
“I had a more frustrating night last year against KU,” said Richmond. He canned four of 20 shots in last year’s double-overtime home loss to the Jayhawks, who close Ahearn Fieldhouse with five straight wins in the old barn.
“I think they worked awfully hard on him and did a good job,” said KSU coach Lonnie Kruger. “People were stepping at him to help on occasion. They didn’t give him anything easy.”
Richmond managed one basket the entire second half. He hit a five-footer with 14 seconds left, cutting KU’s three-point lead to 64-63.
Following a timeout, it took the Wildcats nine seconds – from :13 to :04 to foul a KU player, in this case Keith Harris. The sophomore clanged the front end of a one-and-one, Richmond rebounding and calling time out at :03. Time for a possible buzzer-beater and stunning victory.
The Wildcats’ Bledsoe, inbounding under KSU’s own goal, fired a pass to Richmond just past midcourt. The ball sailed over his head to McCoy, who was stripped by KU’s Jeff Gueldner, who then ran out the clock.
“I was out there but the ball was over my head,” said Richmond, referring to Bledsoe’s baseball pass. “I was going to get it, but when I was ready to jump, somebody bumped me.”
“It was intended for Mitch, but somebody bumped him and it came to me,” McCoy explained. “I was centerfielding it. I caught the ball clean, turned and thought there might have been some contact. He (Gueldner) caught my arm, I fumbled it, but got it back and he grabbed me again. The referee didn’t see it that way, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Bledsoe had a similar version.
“I threw a long pass to Mitch,” said Bledsoe, “but he said he was bumped. That’s why Fred got the ball. We was struck twice and that was the game.”
Kruger did not complain about the no-call.
“We didn’t go to the line, so I guess not,” he responded when asked if McCoy was fouled. “The play went pretty much as we hoped. With three seconds left, generally you first try to catch it. Three seconds is plenty of time to try to take it to the bucket. At the time, you throw (inbound pass) to an area. You break people to get to the area. Mitch was the No. 1 look.”
The play capped what will go down as one of the classic battles in the long KU-KSU series. It doesn’t figure to be forgotten with Ahearn being closed in favor of the new Bramlage Coliseum next year.
“For 40 minutes, it was an awfully good basketball game,” said Kruger. “It was right down to the wire. Kansas does what it has to do and that’s to their credit. Kansas shot the ball awfully well (48.1 percent to KSU’s 43.6). That was the obvious difference.”
“I suppose it all adds up to make it harder to accept, that it was KU,” said guard Steve Henson, who scored 13 points, two in the second half. Henson canned three of three three-pointers. In all the Wildcats hit six of nine to KU’s eight of 18.
“I’ll pray we play KU again,” said McCoy, referring to the Big Eight postseason tournament. “I always like playing KU. It was a joy to end their winning streak (55-game home). They came back and beat us at our place tonight. We just did things better in Lawrence and they did things better here.”
