As many crucial and as many important basketball games as Danny Manning has played in during his college career, who could fault the Kansas All-American if he took a nap on Saturday night?
After all, the Jayhawks were playing Hampton University, an NCAA Div. II school that came here with no hope against the nation’s No. 16-ranked team.
Yet Manning’s 124th game – and 123rd start – as a Jayhawk was vintage stuff. The 6-10 senior scored 22 points, grabbed seven boards, dished out four assists and blocked three shots in the 95-69 triumph.
“Everybody got an opportunity to play,” Manning said afterward, “and that makes the game more fun.”
Manning logged just 26 minutes against the outmanned Pirates. Coach Larry Brown sat Manning down for good with 12:33 remaining and the Jayhawks cruising, 68-40.
Why did Manning turn it on instead of just go through the motions?
“We need to get some more confidence,” he pointed out, “and this was a good game to do that.”
Manning was referring, of course, to the Jayhawks losing two starters – Marvin Branch and Archie Marshall – over a two-week span, one to academics, the other to injury.
Not that Manning and his teammates warmed to the task quickly, though.
“We had a real hard time getting up,” said freshman Mike Masucci, one of several reserves who logged double-digit minutes, “but once we started going…”
“We came out and we got some things going,” Manning stated. “We got the crowd excited and then we started playing.”
Even the fans were unfazed by the prospect of the sub-normal competition. Only 350 fewer than capacity showed up to cheer the Jayhawks as they matched the national two-lane road speed limit for consecutive home victories.
What they saw, in effect, was Kansas coach Larry Brown orchestrating on-the-job training.
“I think this game was really good for us because we’ve had so much happen to us,” said senior CHris Piper who matched his season high with nine points. “This was really a good practice game. This gave us a chance to prepare for other teams, and that’s what we need now.”
In one sense, it wasn’t a practice game for Piper. It WAS practice because the 6-8 forward does not drill during regular practice sessions because of a groin injury.
Many of the KU players called this one a confidence-builder and, for the most part, it was…but not necessarily to Piper.
“I don’t take it as a confidence-builder,” he said, “because it was against a Division II team and it was at home, but it was good, like I said, because it gave us a chance to prepare.”
Hampton coach Zeke Avery also felt the game was good for his team.
“This is my first year as a coach here,” Avery said, “and I hope we play more Division I teams in the future. Games like that have to be a plus. It will help our program and help us learn.
“We have a very young team and we have nothing to be ashamed of. We outrebounded KU (32 to 31) and we did some good things that we haven’t done all year. Obviously, playing a team the caliber of KU, it’s a very good experience.”
Stacy Clark, a 6-5 sophomore guard, paced the Pirates, 6-6, with 25 points and eight rebounds.
“We just went ahead and played our normal game,” said Clark, a native of Martinsville, Va. “We didn’t play Kansas any different than any other team. This was our first game against a Division I team, so it was an exciting experience for all of us.”
Now Kansas, which doesn’t play again until Saturday at Notre Dame, will expereince a full week of…you guessed it.
“Nobody likes to see a week of practice on the schedule,” Piper said, “but right now we need time to see how we’re gonna play, so it’s good for us.”
