AMES, Iowa – Please, says Chris Piper, no more sympathy. Sure, he’s hurt, but forget about it.
“It’s not fixable, as far as being able to play this season, so I’m just gonna play through it,” Piper stressed following Wednesday night’s 88-78 loss to Iowa State.
Piper, who started every game last season, hadn’t started a single game this season until Wednesday night, mainly because of knee and groin injuries.
Now the 6-8 fifth-year senior is the designated replacement for Marvin Branch who has been declared ineligible for the remainder of the season.
Against the Cyclones, Piper logged a season-high 28 minutes. If he looked rusty, he has an excuse. He hardly ever practices anymore because of teh groin injury.
“The most annoying thing is it limits my ability to practice,” Piper said of the injury. “But I’m gonna try and forget it from here on out.
“I figure if I’m gonna sit out in practice, I may as well go all out in the games.”
Piper contributed five points and six rebounds plus three steals in what was his last chance to win in Hilton Coliseum.
Piper and Danny Manning played in ISU’s arena four times and lost every time.
“It’s the only building we haven’t won in four years,” Piper said. “I know Danny wanted to go out with a win, but it didn’t work out.”
Manning didn’t shoot particularly well, but did collect 32 points and 14 rebounds.
“Everybody on Iowa State’s team plays goo when we come here,” Manning said. “It’s a lot tougher here, but it’s just as tough at our place, though.”
Kansas has now lost two starters – Branch and Archie Marshall (knee injury) – since the season started, but Manning wasn’t crying over spilled milk.
“No, you can’t do that,” the Jayhawks’ All-American remarked. “We love Marvin and we love Archie. We’ll miss ’em, but we’ve gotta make do with what we can. As lost as we have the effort, we’ll be OK.”
“A couple of times they got big leads, but we didn’t put our heads down,” Piper siad. “We got behind, we’re on the road and we didn’t put our heads down and quit.”
