KANSAS CITY – He skies ever so high, then glides. Milt Newton, basketball in hand, hangs like a paper airplane suspended in midair.
“When I hang, as you call it, I’m not looking to get fouled,” said the Kansas forward who appeared to violate Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravity during the Jayhawks’ 74-58 first-round Big Eight tourney win over Oklahoma State on Friday night at Kemper Arena.
“I’m just trying to avoid the block. I’m trying to get off a shot,” he explained.
The 6-4 junior scored a career-high 29 points on 11 of 17 shooting. He also cashed five of six free throws and grabbed nine rebounds.
He’s pretty much the reason KU survived the Pokes and advanced to today’s 3:30 p.m. semifinal against Kansas State.
“Once I get one or two shots down, my confidence goes right up, so I shoot it more,” said Newton, who picked up the slack for foul plagued Danny Manning, who scored 12 points in 31 minutes.
“The career high doesn’t mean anything to me,” added Newton, who scored 21 versus both Missouri and Oklahoma earlier. “I just try to play consistently. It doesn’t matter how many points I score, just that the team wins.”
Actually, Newton’s career high remains 32 points. Playing for the Virgin Islands at last summer’s Pan American Games, Milt cashed seven of 11 three-pointers during a flurry against Brazil.
“That game against Brazil helped my confidence a lot,” said Newton, who has averaged 14 points in 20 games as a starter since replacing the injured Archie Marshall in the lineup in early January.
“It made me realize I could play against the better players. A lot of the guys on our team played in pro leagues. Some were in the CBA. It gave me a lot of confidence offensively. I didn’t’ do much there on defense. Tonight, I’m not at all that pleased. I just shot more, that’s all. I could have played defense and rebounded better.”
Coach Larry Brown has praised Newton for improved defense. Newton, you recall, held K-State’s Mitch Richmond to a dismal 11-point outing during KU’s 64-63 win over the Wildcats in Manhattan.
Today he gets to guard Mitch again.
“Don’t remind me,” said Newton. “It’ll be an intense matchup. Coach tells me to guard everyone like Richmond. It helps my intensity when I think of another player as Richmond. He’s great.”
Friday’s partisan (for KU) crowd of 16,900 figured Newton isn’t so bad himself.
“I appreciate the crowd,” said Newton, who received a big hand when he exited late. “It shows people support Kansas basketball and Milt Newton.”
Newton – not much of a force, averaging 3.2 points as a freshman and 3.7 as a sophomore – has never felt the need for public acclaim.
“The people that thought I could play are happy for me,” said Newton. “Those that thought I couldn’t are maybe changing their minds. I’m not worried about that. I’m just trying to please coach Brown and play the way I know I can.”
The Jayhawks, who led 27-25 at halftime, blew open a close game by outscoring Okie State 47-33 the final half.
KU will be without sophomore guard Kevin Pritchard, who went down with a knee sprain in the first half. He’s doubtful for the rest of the tourney, but could possibly return for the NCAAs.
“It’s been an amazing year. I’ve never been through anything like this,” said coach Larry Brown, who has lost several players to academics, injuries, red-shirts, you name it.
“I feel real fortunate we won considering they did such a good job on Danny. He gets 12 (trying a season low) and we lose Kevin early in the game. This team has been able to bounce back from problems all year. Milt, Scooter, Keith Harris, Lincoln Minor and Clint Normore, I felt all came through with positive contributions. I thought our defense was pretty outstanding.”
Box Score
OSU2533-58
KU2747-74
Oklahoma State (14-16): Richard Dumas 8-18 5-7 21, William Woods 2-6 2-4 6, Sylvester Kincheon 0-7 0-0 0, Derrick Davis 0-1 0-0 0, John Starks 3-10 2-2 9, Robert Smith 1-4 6-7 8, Todd Christian 3-10 2-2 8, Royce Jeffries 1-3 2-4 4, Chuck Davis 1-1 0-0 2, Chris Gafney 0-0 0-0 0, Bryan Fowler 0-0 0-0 0, Team 19-60 19-26 58.
Three-point goals: 1-8 (Starks 1-4, Christian 0-3, Woods 0-1). Assists: 6 (Woods 2, Starks 2, Christian, Dumas). Turnovers: 21 (Dumas 5, Woods 5, Christian 4, Starks 3, D. Davis 2, C. Davis, Jeffries). Blocked shots: 0. Steals: 8 (Christian 4, Dumas 3, Starks).
Kansas (21-10): Danny Manning 5-10 2-6 12, Milt Newton 11-17 5-6 29, Chris Piper 1-2 2-2 4, Kevin Pritchard 2-4 0-0 5, Jeff Gueldner 2-7 1-1 6, Scooter Barry 1-2 1-3 3, Mike Masucci 1-1 2-6 4, Keith Harris 2-3 0-0 4, Lincoln Minor 2-3 0-0 4, Clint Normore 1-3 1-1 3, Marvin Mattox 0-0 0-0 0, Team 28-52 14-26 74.
Three-point goals: 4-13 (Newton 2-4, Gueldner 1-3, Pritchard 1-2, Normore 0-2, Manning 0-1, Barry 0-1). Assists: 18 (Manning 4, Newton 3, Pritchard 3, Barry 3, Piper, Gueldner, Harris, Minor, Normore). Turnovers: 18 (Manning 5, Newton 5, Harris 3, Normore, Minor, Masucci, Barry, Gueldner). Steals: 14 (Manning 3, Piper 3, Harris 2, Pritchard, Gueldner, Barry, Minor, Maddox, Normore).
