Hilton Coliseum is hardly as accommodating as a Hilton hotel. Iowa State’s basketball arena, in fact, suffers visiting teams ungladly.
Certainly, it’s been no haven for Larry Brown. Hilton Coliseum is the only Big Eight arena the fifth-year Kansas coach has never won a game in.
Yet, despite his 0-4 record in Ames, Brown says he doesn’t consider the ISU ballyard any different than any other unfriendly arena the Jayhawks have to play in.
“I don’t think it’s that difficult a place to play,” Brown noted. “I just think they’ve played well against us there. We’ve had opportunities…we just haven’t pulled it off.”
Opportunity No. 5 for Brown comes up on Wednesday night. Tipoff is 7:10 p.m. for the Jayhawks’ first conference road game. It’ll be telecast live on channels 13 and 41 in the Lawrence area.
In retrospect, Kansas had its chances the first three times Brown took KU teams to Ames. Those were close games – notably the Cyclones’ 77-74 victory in 1986 that turned out to be the Jayhawks’ only conference defeat on the way to the NCAA Final Four.
Last year, however, the Cyclones raced to a 95-86 triumph.
“Of all the games we played in the conference last year,” said Brown, “that was our worst defeat. It was only nine points, but I never really felt like we were in it.”
That wasn’t a particularly great Iowa State team, either. It finished with a 13-15 overall record, 5-9 in the Big Eight.
This year’s edition is another story, though. The Cyclones have already matched last year’s win total – they’re 13-2 – and have started using a running game that would be the talk of the conference if Oklahoma hadn’t been running and shooting at an even more prolific pace.
While Oklahoma scores at an astonishing 115.5 points-per-game clip, the Cyclones are at 92.8. All last year Johnny Orr’s team averaged about 75 points a game.
“He (Orr) has always tried to run,” Brown pointed out. “It may be that they’ve just been more successful at it so far.”
For certain, Jeff Grayer and Lafester Rhodes, both seniors, are the most potent 1-2 punch in the Big Eight, and perhaps in the country.
Grayer, a returning All-Big Eight selection, leads the league with a 25.5 scoring average. Second is the surprising Rhodes with a 23.9 average. By way of contrast, Danny Manning leads the Jayhawks wtih a 23.2 average while KU’s No. 2 scorer, Kevin Pritchard, is averaging 11.0 a game.
The 6-8 Rhodes, who scored a school record 54 points against Iowa, would be a lock for the league’s comeback player of the year award except he had nowhere to come back from. Until this season, the Memphis, Tenn, product had been a little-used reserve.
Iowa State lacks size – rebounding isn’t a strength – but makes up for it in speed and shooting. Orr, for instance, has taken off the three-point tethers. Only Oklahoma has taken more three-pointers this season.
Notes
After Wednesday night, the Jayhawks take a two-week break from Big Eight action to meet Hampton University this Saturday and Notre Dame the following Saturday…the Jayhawks have won 10 of their last 11 since dropping two of three at the Maui Classic…KU is last in the Big Eight in free throw and three-point shooting, but the Jayhawks are second in field goal percentage (53.5). Kansas also leads the league in defense, giving just 66.5 points a game…
Brown mum on academics
Kansas basketball coach Larry Brown said Monday he would not comment about the academic situation surrounding the Jayhawks.
Five players on the KU roster – three juco transfers and two freshmen – had to pass at least eight hours during the fall semester in order to be eligible for the spring semester.
All of teh otehr players on the KU roster have been certified for both semesters.
The spring semester officially begins on Wednesday, meaning the Iowa State game that night in Ames would be the first affecting an ineligible player.
Last week, when asked about the academic situation, Brown said “only one kid” was involved and “it’s still up in the air.” At the same time, starting center Marvin Branch said he didn’t want to comment about his stats, but added he hoped “everything turns out all right.”
Big Eight honors Manning
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Danny Manning of Kansas was named the Big Eight’s Player of the Week Monday for averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds in three Jayhawk victories last week.
The 6-foot-10 All-America forward scored 17 points in Kansas’ 67-57 victory over Washington and had 18 points and 14 rebounds in a 90-69 win over American University.
Manning scored 28 points in Saturday’s 78-74 triumph over Missouri in the conference opener for both teams, extending Kansas’ home-court winning streak to 54 games. The game was the 117th consecutive start by Manning, a league record.
He won the weekly award in a split vote over Oklahoma’s Dave Sieger, who tied his own conference record by drilling eight 3-pointers in the Sooners’ 108-80 victory over Oklahoma State.
