What Larry Brown did not want was overtime because, he said, “I knew what would happen.” He was right.
Sixth-ranked Duke used those five extra minutes to subdue Kansas, 74-70, in front of a loud and rambunctious sellout crowd on Saturday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse.
So intent was the Kansas basketball coach on ending this nationally televised nail-biter in regulation that he did something, he confided afterward, that he wouldn’t normally do. He called a timeout with :20 showing, the score deadlocked at 60 and Kansas in possession.
“I wanted us to run the clock down and get it inside,” Brown explained. “We’ve run that play before, but we didn’t run it that time. We took a horrible shot.”
It was horrible, all right – an off-balance 18-foot jumper by Danny Manning that hit glass and rim but no net with about :05 showing.
“That’s dumb for a coach to call a time out and get a jump shot,” Brown remarked. “I at least wanted it inside with a chance to get an offensive rebound.”
Don’t blame the Jayhawks, though. Credit Duke. The Blue Devils’ man-to-man defense, predicated on denying the ball to the guards, worked like a charm.
“I was supposed to pass the ball around,” explained KU guard Kevin Pritchard, “and with 12 seconds I was supposed to go to the right side and get it inside. but they denied me the ball, and I couldn’t get it back.”
Specifically, it was Duke’s Quin Snyder, who would be heard from later, who hounded Pritchard at that crucial juncture.
“We couldn’t get it back to Kevin because of Snyder,” noted KU forward Chris Piper, “and Danny was left to make it on his own.”
For his part, Manning admitted, “I shouldn’t have taken the shot I did. We were supposed to run a play at the time.”
Instead of having the ball down low with a chance to score or draw a foul, Manning had to launch the off-balance shot while dribbling to his left.
“I wanted to get fouled but you don’t do that by shooting a jump shot,” Manning conceded.
If Manning was emotionally deflated by that unstructured downer, it didn’t show when the overtime period began. As if to prove Brown’s fears about an extra period unfounded, Manning scored five points in the first 45 seconds to put Kansas on top, 65-60.
He would not score again, though. For some reason, Manning never took a shot from the 4:15 mark until he fouled out with :16 showing and Duke in command, 72-68.
Why did Manning disappear from the offense during that stretch?
“I don’t know…it wasn’t that we weren’t trying to get it to him,” Brown said.
Obviously, Duke had a lot to do with it. Manning, for instance, credited the Blue Devils’ defense, but also stressed, “I could have worked harder to get the ball.”
After Manning, who wound up with 31 points and a dozen boards, gave Kansas such an auspicious beginning to the overtime, Pritchard was the protagonist in the next five KU possessions.
First, the soph guard’s short jumper gave the Jayhawks their biggest lead, 67-61, with 3:14 showing.
Then on KU’s next trip downcourt – following a couple of Danny Ferry charities – Pritchard made the front end of a bonus free throw opportunity but missed the second.
Just 10 seconds later at 2:38, Snyder unloaded a three-point basket that brought the Devils within two at 68-66.
“Snyder hit the biggest shot of the game,” Brown reflected. “That three-pointer got ’em right back in it.”
Echoed Pritchard: “I missed a free throw and the next play was a three-pointer. That really hurt us.”
So, too, did the next three Kansas possessions – all involving Pritchard. First was an offensive foul. Snyder made a charity off that to bring the Devils within one.
Moments later, Pritchard had an apparent easy shot inside, but Ferry batted the ball away. That play was negated, however, when Duke’s Billy King was tooted for an offensive foul at 1:45.
Then, with a little more than a minute left, Pritchard was wide open on the baseline for a little six-foot jumper. It barely drew iron. No excuses.
“I didn’t shoot it,” Pritchard reflected. “I didn’t shoot it like I usually shoot a shot.”
At :52, Kevin Strickland’s stick-back gave Duke a 69-68 lead. Kansas never led or tied again. Snyder, who had half the Devils’ 14 points in the OT, made three of four charities and reserve center John Smith two of two down the stretch to clinch it.
“That’s a disappointment,” Brown stressed. “We had our chances. The effort was great, but we don’t have a lot to be thankful for.”
Kansas, buoyed by the crowd din and no doubt the memory of that 1986 NCAA Final Four loss to Duke, erupted early, hitting nine shots in a row during one span to grab a 23-8 lead with 7:14 left until intermission.
Strangely, though, the Jayhawks went dead cold later, missing 13 of their last 14 shots and settling for a 28-27 halftime lead.
“We were great early and then we got a little shaky,” Brown noted.
The road ahead looks shaky, too. The Jayhawks face back-to-back trips to ranked Big Eight teams – Oklahoma (No. 4) and Missouri (No. 15).
“It would have been a great game to win,” said KU’s Newton, trying to put the Duke loss in perspective, “but we have some big ones coming up.”
Kansas is now 17-9 overall; Duke is 20-3.
Notes
-The Kansas players and coaches donned red ribbons in support of local minority leaders who protested the scheduled appearance of two Ku Klux Klan members on the campus radio station…
-The three officials were assigned by Duke’s league, the Atlantic Coast Conference. A Big Eight crew will work next season’s return game in Durham, N.C….
-Danny Manning’s 31 points brought him to within 27 of the No. 1 spot on the all-time Big Eight scoring list. Manning has also scored in double figures in 42 straight games. It was his fifth 30-point plus performance of the season…
-Kansas was 4 for 11 from three-point range. The Jayhawks have shot 25 percent (18 of 72) from beyond the 19-foot, 9-inch arc during their nine losses season…
-Duke forward Robert Brickey played for KU coach Larry Brown on the U.S. Junior World team that played in Italy last summer…
-Kansas is 5-7 against teams ranked in the Top 2 when the Jayhawks played them…
-Duke won despite misfiring on 16 of its first 18 shots. For the game, the Devils shot 38.5 percent (25 of 65). Kansas made just 44.4 percent (28-63) of its shots…
-The Duke game was KU’s fourth consecutive Saturday home contest. All four, coincidentally, started at 3:10 p.m. The Jayhawks have only one home game left. It’s on a Saturday, too – against Oklahoma State on March 5 – but it’ll tip off at 8:05 p.m….
Box Score
Duke273314-74
KU283210-70
Duke: Robert Brickey 4-7 2-6 10, Billy King 0-4 2-4 2, Danny Ferry 6-16 7-7 20, Kevin Strickland 2-11 0-0 5, Quin Snyder 6-11 7-9 21, John Smith 4-6 2-2 10, Phil Henderson 3-6 0-0 6, Greg Koubek 0-2 0-0 0, Alaa Abdelnaby 0-2 0-0 0, Team 25-65 20-28 74.
Three-point goals: 4-11 (Snyder 2-2, Ferry 1-3, Strickland 1-5, Koubek 0-1). Assists: 10 (Snyder 5, Strickland 2, King 2, Brickey). Turnovers: 22 (Ferry 6, Snyder 4, Brickey 4, Henderson 3, King 2, Strickland 2, Smith). Blocked shots: 4 (Brickey, Ferry, Strickland, team). Steals: 9 (Snyder 3, Strickland 3, King, Ferry, Henderson).
Kansas: Milt Newton 7-12 0-0 15, Chris Piper 2-4 2-3 6, Danny Manning 11-21 9-11 31, Kevin Pritchard 4-11 1-2 9, Jeff Gueldner 1-3 0-0 2, Keith Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Clint Normore 0-1 1-2 1, Mike Masucci 0-3 0-0 0, Scooter Barry 0-1 0-0 0, Lincoln Minor 3-5 0-0 6, Team 28-63 13-18 70.
Three-point goals: 1-6 (Newton 1-2, Normore 0-1, Minor 0-1, Pritchard 0-2). Assists: 17 (Newton 5, Pritchard 5, Gueldner 3, Piper 2, Manning, Harris). Turnovers: 21 (Manning 5, Pritchard 5, Newton 3, Normore 2, Barry 2, Piper, Gueldner, Harris, team). Blocked shots: 6 (Manning 3, Newton, Harris, Minor). Steals: 13 (Manning 4, Normore 4, Pritchard 2, Newton, Gueldner, Barry).
