LINCOLN, Neb. – Maybe, many a coach has uttered throughout the ages, we’re no better than that.
Larry Brown didn’t use those exact words, but that’s clearly how the Kansas coach felt after the Jayhawks suffered a deflating 70-68 loss to Nebraska here Wednesday night.
“We’re not that good,” Brown remarked after his team blew a 16-point lead in the last 12 minutes. “We’re not a very good basketball team. Good basketball teams don’t let that happen.”
This Big Eight game, played in front of a near sellout crowd of 14,015 in the Devaney Center, contained some oddities.
For instance:
-On a night when Kansas made an impressive 24 of 31 free throws, poor free throw shooting cost the Jayhawks dearly.
-Danny Manning’s lone turnover during 39 minutes of duty was the turning point.
-And the only basket of the night by Nebraska reserve Beau Reid proved decisive.
First the free throws. Kansas missed only seven charities all night, but four of them came in the last 2:43 and three were the front end of bonus chances.
“We played like we were scared to death,” Brown said. “We didn’t make any free throws down the stretch.”
Actually, the Jayhawks made three – two by Milt Newton and one by Otis Livingston. But Newton, Livingston and Kevin Pritchard all missed the front end of one-and-ones in the last 2 1/2 minutes.
Five times in that stretch Kansas players went to the foul line and not once was it Manning. In fact, Manning’s 20th and 21st points, his last, came at the 6:39 mark.
Thus after Derrick Vick’s two charities tied it at 68-all with :24 showing, there was Manning bringing the ball downcourt, ostensibly determined to take charge like the senior All-American he is and waken the Jayhawks from their worsening nightmare.
“I’m not faulting him for bringing the ball up,” Brown said afterward. “The sad thing is you gotta have a 6-11 guy bring it up. That’s scary.”
Manning, arguably as good a ball-handling big man as there is, unaccountably bounced the ball off his knee and right into the hands of NU guard Henry T. Buchanan.
“I lost the ball,” Manning said after the game. “I wanted to bring it up and I lost it. I just lost it, that’s all.”
It was the only time Manning lost it all night. It was his only turnover.
Moments later, after an NU timeout, Reid, a reserve who had committed four turnovers in just 16 minutes and was playing only because starter Jeff Rekeweg had fouled out, picked up a loose ball and jacked a 16-footer from the left side that swished with :01 on the clock.
It was Nebraska’s only lead of the second half.
“You always know Nebraska is going to make a run,” KU senior Chris Piper said, “but even when they had the ball for the last shot I thought we were gonna win.
“The ball went on the floor and Milt (Newton) and Kevin (Pritchard) went after it. Somehow No. 40 (Reid) comes up with it. I made a run at him…and it went in.”
Nebraska, which led only once in the first half and lagged 40-28 at halftime, began making its run after Piper’s jumper at the 11:52 mark gave Kansas a 54-38 bulge.
Three minutes later, that 16-point lead had been halved, but Kansas regained its poise and led 67-61 with 2:07 left after Newton connected on a pair of bonus charities.
Moments later, Buchanan’s three-point jumper cut the Jayhawks’ lead to three and, after Pritchard missed a bonus charity at 1:12, Buchanan brought Nebraska within one, 67-66, with an 18-foot jumper.
At :54, Livingston was fouled, stepped to the line and, despite chiding from Nebraska players and vocal fans waving their arms behind the basket, the junior guard made the pressure-packed first shot. But the second attempt bounced off.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Livingston said of the harassment from the NU players and fans. “I just missed the second one. I didn’t concentrate.”
Thirty seconds later, Vick cashed the two charities that knotted the count at 68-all, and set the stage for the dramatic conclusion.
Kansas, which dropped its sixth straight Big Eight road game over the last two seasons, fell to 1-2 in the Big Eight and 12-6 overall.
However, the Jayhawks will play five of their next six games in Allen Fieldhouse, starting with Saturday’s 3:10 p.m. clash with Kansas State.
“It was a loss, a tough loss,” Manning reflected after Wednesday’s heart-breaker, “but I’m not ready to pack it in.”
Box Score
KU4028-68
NU2842-70
Kansas: Milt Newton 4-8 3-5 11, Chris Piper 3-3 4-5 10, Danny Manning 5-13 11-11 21, Otis Livingston 1-2 1-3 3, Kevin Pritchard 4-6 1-3 9, Mike Masucci 1-2 0-0 2, Scooter Barry 1-1 2-2 4, Clint Normore 0-1 0-0 0, Lincoln Minor 2-2 0-0 4, Jeff Gueldner 1-4 2-2 4, Keith Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Team 22-42 24-31 68.
Three-point goals: 0-3 (Pritchard 0-2, Normore 0-1). Assists: 13 (Barry 3, Livingston 2, Pritchard 2, Gueldner 2, Masucci 2, Manning, Minor). Turnovers: 16 (Livingston 5, Minor 3, Newton, Manning, Barry, Gueldner, Harris). Blocked shots: 5 (Manning 3, Piper, Masucci). Steals: 5 (Piper 2, Manning 2, Masucci).
Nebraska: Jeff Rekeweg 6-9 3-5 15, Derrick Vick 5-7 6-9 16, Pete Manning 4-6 2-2 10, H. Buchanan 7-11 4-4 21, Eric Johnson 1-6 3-4 5, Rich King 0-1 1-4 1, Clifford Scales 0-1 0-0 0, R. van Poelgeest 0-0 0-0 0, Beau Reid 1-2 0-0 2, Team 24-43 19-28 70.
Three-point goals: 3-4 (Buchanan 3-4). Assists: 13 (Johnson 6, Reid 2, Rekeweg, Manning, Buchanan, King, Scales). Turnovers: 17 (Rekeweg 5, Reid 4, Vick 3, Buchanan 2, Johnson 2, Manning). Blocked shots: 2 (Vick 2). Steals: 8 (Buchanan 3, Johnson 2, Rekeweg, Vick, Reid).
