No luck of Irish for KU, 80-76

By Gary Bedore     Jan 24, 1988

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – No excuses.

“I missed it. I missed the free throw. Point blank I just missed it. That’s the bottom line,” said dejected Kansas All-America forward Danny manning, who bricked the front end of a one-and-one with 15 ticks left in Kansas’ 80-76 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday at Joyce Center.

The Jayhawks trailed 76-74 at the time of Manning’s errant shot, which bounded high off the back of the rim to teammate Chris Piper, who kicked the carom out of bounds.

Sensing the kill, Notre Dame phenom David Rivers responded with a pair of free throws at :12 and :03 and the Irish wrapped up a resounding, come-from-behind (the Irish trailed by as many as 11) non-conference win.

Manning’s miss – perhaps aided by members of Notre Dame’s raucous student body, who in unison, waved their hands frantically behind the goal – came immediately after ND’s Gary Voce missed a couple of tosses at :16. Manning was fouled on the offensive rebound and strolled to the line with the game on the line.

“When Danny Manning shot that free throw…our crowd was outrageous,” said a grinning Rivers, who scored 29 points compared to Manning’s 22 in their showdown of superstars on national TV.

“He just missed the shot, whether he didn’t focus on the basket or have absolute confidence, I don’t know.

“If I was to ever read Danny Manning lost the game for Kansas, I’d be very disappointed,” added Rivers. “One free throw doesn’t win or lose a game.”

Fourteen, however, can make a big difference. The 6-0 Rivers nailed 14 of 15 tosses. KU as a team, cashed nine of 14 to the Irish’s 25 of 32.

An all-Big Eight crew did the whistle-tooting.

“I feel bad for Danny,” said Kansas coach Larry Brown, whose team fell to 12-5, the irish are 11-4.

“You know, he gets on the line, misses the one and one, we get the rebound and turn it over and he’s sitting there thinking it’s his responsibility.”

The guy who fumbled the rebound out of bounds wasn’t feeling chipper in the land of the Gipper, either.

“I tried to dribble out,” said Piper. “It dribbled off my knee. The next thing I know it goes out of bounds.”

Piper’s bobble capped a tough afternoon for the senior, who’s had a tough, injury-plagued season. Left open as the Irish converged on Manning, who hit nine of 13 shots, Piper made just two of eight for four points.

“We double teamed Manning the whole game,” said ND forward Voce, who contributed 13 points. Fellow forward Mark Stevenson added 15 on hot seven-of-nine shooting. “We tried to make Piper be more of an offensive threat. Our percentage gamble worked.”

“They weren’t guarding me,” said Piper. “I was wide open. It was a good streategy by them. I couldn’t stick it in.”

Piper and Manning wouldn’t have been mourning a loss in a dreary locker room had KU not fallen apart during a pivotal five-minute second-half stretch.

The Jayhawks, who hit 56.3 percent of their first-half shots to ND’s 46.2 percent (KU finished 54.2 to the Irish’s 55.1), led 41-36 at halftime and upped their lead to a game-high 11 at 57-46 with 13:39 to play.

KU to that point had done everything well, including cashing three-point baskets (KU hit five of nine to ND’s one-of-six bonus shots). But the Irish outscored Kansas 16-4 and led 62-61 with 8:04 left.

“We had our chances,” Brown said. “We got prosperous, thought it’d be easy. The wrong people shot it and shot quick, When you get a lead, you’ve gotta remember what got you there.”

The 16-4 flurry, sparked by Stevenson’s six tallies, turned a relatively quiet sellout crowd of 11,418 into raving maniacs. You’d have thought the pope had walked into the arena.

“I think it was a shock when Kansas realized they didn’t have that 11 points,” said Irish coach Digger Phelps, who sprinted toward the crowd’s student section, thrust his fist skyward and basically went bananas at the final buzzer. “It was like, bang, that was it.”

“Defense helped us in that stretch,” said Rivers, who went on to score 11 of the Irish’s final 13 tallies. “It helps when the whole place is up screaming.”

There was a lot to cheer the final 8:04. ND upped its one-point lead to 72-69 on two Rivers free throws at 2:15. With the ball and a chance to score again, Rivers had a shot rejected by Manning.

KU’s Kevin Pritchard launched a three-pointer, suddenly tying the score with 1:09 left.

Voce cashed an eight-footer at :49, then came a steal by Rivers and a pair of free throws at :42.

Manning did lsice the 76-72 deficit to a bucket at :32. Then came Voce’s and Manning’s missed charities in the waning seconds.

“The last three minutes, after every time out, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do and that’s disappointing,” Brown said. “People we’re gonna foul, who to keep it away from. We had breakdowns every time. But you’ve gotta give Notre Dame credit.”

“They did what they were supposed to and we didn’t,” lamented Piper.

“We had our opportunities. Each team did,” said Manning, who scored 40 to Rivers’ 13 in KU’s 70-60 win over the Irish last season in Allen Fieldhouse. “They capitalized on theirs.”

KU will next face Nebraska on Wednesday night in Lincoln, then meet Kansas State next Saturday at Allen.

Notes

KU had missed 13 straight three-point attempts entering Saturday’s game, Milt Newton knocked in three of four and two of four…ND reserve Keith Robinson totaled 10 points and 10 boards. Rivers had seven assists and Manning three blocks…KU players wore black bands on their jerseys in memory of Roy Edwards, a longtime Jayhawk supporter who died in December.

Box Score

KU4135-76

ND3644-80

Kansas: Chris Piper 2-8 0-0 4, Milt Newton 6-9 0-1 15, Danny Manning 9-13 4-6 22, Otis Livingston 2-3 0-0 4, Kevin Pritchard 6-13 0-0 14, Scooter Barry 0-0 1-2 1, Lincoln Minor 2-6 2-2 6, Mike Masucci 1-1 1-1 3, Keith Harris 3-4 1-2 7, Team 31-57 9-14 76.

Three-point goals: 5-9 (Newton 3-4, Pritchard 2-4, Minor 0-1). Assists: 19 (Livingston 6, Minor 4, Newton 3, PRitchard 2, Barry 2, Piper, Manning). Turnovers: 10 (Minor 3, Piper 2, Newton 2, Livingston, Pritchard, Manning). Blocked shots: 4 (Manning 3, Pritchard). Steals: 7 (Minor 2, Manning, Livingston, Pritchard, Barry, Masucci).

Notre Dame: Mark Stevenson 7-9 1-2 15, Gary Voce 5-9 3-5 13, Scott Paddock 0-0 3-4 3, David Rivers 7-16 14-15 29, Jamere Jackson 3-8 2-3 8, Joe Fredrick 0-0 0-0 0, Tim Singleton 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Connor 1-1 0-0 2, Keith Robinson 4-6 2-3 10, Team 27-49 25-32 80.

Three-point goals: 1-6 (Rivers 1-4, Jackson 0-2). Assists: 12 (Rivers 7, Stevenson 2, Jackson 2, Paddock). Turnovers: 13 (Stevenson 6, Robinson 3, Rivers 2, Jackson, Voce). Blocked shots: None. Steals: 6 (Robinson 3, Rivers 2, Jackson).

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