SEATTLE – Here it was, his first starting assignment in over a year, and what does Milt Newton see when he looks up at the scoreboard?
Washington 29, Kansas 10. That’s right, a 19-point hole, a pit, a chasm. The Jayahwks were being buried.
“I wondered, ‘Did I do this?'” Newton reflected after Monday night’s game in Edmundson Pavilion. “But I knew they were hitting all their shots. Like coach said, even the Celtics wouldn’t beat ’em if they kept doing that.”
Well, Washington didn’t beat the Celtics or the Jayhawks, either. Kansas simply wore out the young and benchless Huskies in the second half on the way to a 67-57 victory.
Washington surged to that astonishing 19-point lead after the first 11 minutes, but Kansas outscored the Huskies, 57-28, during the last 29 minutes.
“It was scary,” KU coach Larry Brown conceded about those first 11 minutes, “but I told the kids I didn’t think they’d make every outside shot the whole game.
“And if they did, I told ’em not to worry because we wouldn’t win anyway.”
Kansas won this one because of a non-stop, often fullcourt defense that produced 16 steals and 24 Washington turnovers.
Typical was the flurry that wiped out a 44-38 Washington lead near the mid-point of the second half.
Otis Livingston stole a pass, then winged a pass to backcourt mate Lincoln Minor who stuffed it.
Seconds later, Livingston stole the ball again and once again fed Minor for an easy underneath basket.
Less than a half-minute after The Livingston-Minor Show II, Washington missed a shot, Kansas rebounded and Livingston popped in a 17-foot jumper.
Suddenly it was 44-44 at the 11:21 mark and, presto, that 19-point deficit was history.
Give credit to Minor and Livingston, the two juco transfers who are still trying to find a home in the Kansas backcourt.
“Whenever we’re in a game,” said Livingston who surrendered his starting job to Minor in this game, “we try to work hard together and make things happen.”
Livingston wound up with four steals and four assists, both team highs, while Minor merely put together his best game of the season – a 15-point, seven-rebound effort.
Minor hadn’t started in nearly a month, but Brown opened with the 6-3 junior on Monday night because several members of his family were in the crowd of 6,079.
“By far it was my best game,” confirmed Minor who said he had nine relatives watching – some from the Seattle area and others up from San Jose, Calif. “I was really concentrating on not turning the ball over.”
Minor was docked with three turnovers, but he balanced those with three assists.
“I was happy to (start),” Minor said, “but I’d play hard whether I started or not.”
Meanwhile, Newton was happy to start, too, and probably happier than Minor because the 6-4 fourth-year junior hadn’t answered a bell since the Hawaii trip. Not this season’s visit to the islands; last season’s.
“Coach told me two hours before the game,” Newton said, “and I wasn’t nervous. I knew what I had to do – rebound and play defense.”
Turned out Newton, who replaced the injured Archie Marshall, also scored a career-high 12 points.
“I know I can shoot the three-point shots,” Newton said. “I felt real confident even though I missed the first couple in the game.”
Minor’s 15 points and Newton’s dozen followed Danny Manning’s team-high 17 points. Those were a tough 17, too, because the 6-10 All-American was usually in the pincers of a Washington zone.
“They were really packing it in,” Brown affirmed.
Kansas, 9-3, will return to Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since Dec. 12 on Wednesday night against American U. of Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, Washington fell to 4-7.
Notes
The three officials were assigned by the Pac-10, but one of them, John Dabrow, formerly worked in the Big Eight…Kansas won its only NCAA championship in Edmundson Pavilion, defeating St. John’s in the 1952 finals here….KU’s Marshall, hurt against St. John’s last week in New York, was scheduled for knee surgery today in Lawrence…Red-shirt Mark Randall was slated for corrective jaw surgery on Monday in the Denver area…
Box Score
KU2839-67
UW3522-57
Kansas: Danny Manning 7-11 3-6 17, Milt Newton 5-12 0-2 12, Marvin Branch 1-3 2-2 4, Lincoln Minor 7-15 1-1 15, Kevin Pritchard 3-8 2-2 8, Chris Piper 2-2 3-3 7, Mike Maddox 1-3 0-0 2, Otis Livingston 1-1 0-0 2, Jeff Gueldner 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Masucci 0-1 0-0 0, Scooter Barry 0-0 0-0 0, Team 27-56 11-16 67.
Three-point goals: 2-8 (Newton 2-4, Minor 0-2, Manning 0-1, Pritchard 0-1). Assists: 17 (Livingston 4, Minor 3, Manning 2, Newton 2, Pritchard 2, Gueldner 2, Piper, Barry). Turnovers: 14 (Newton 3, Branch 3, Minor 3, Manning 2, Pritchard, Livingston, Barry). Blocked Shots: 1 (Maddox). Steals: 16 (Livingston 4, Manning 2, Minor 2, Barry 2, Newton, Branch, Pritchard, Maddox, Gueldner, Masucci).
Washington: Mike Hayward 6-8 0-0 14, Jeff Sanor 5-10 0-1 14, Mark West 5-11 0-0 10, Anthony Jenkins 2-7 1-1 5, Troy Morrell 6-11 0-1 14, David Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Tom Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Todd Lautenback 0-0 0-0 0, Team 24-47 1-3 57.
Three-point goals: 8-13 (Sanor 4-7, Hayward 2-3, Morrell 2-3). Assists: 16 (Morrell 6, Jenkins 4, Sanor 4, West, Hayward). Turnovers: 24 (West 7, Hayward 6, Morrell 5, Jenkins 3, Lautenbach 2, Sanor). Blocked Shots: 1 (West). Steals: 10 (Morrell 5, Jenkins 3, Hayward, Sanor).
