KANSAS CITY – Kansas saw the real Mitch Richmond again and once again the real thing was too much.
Richmond scored 21 points – nine of ’em during an early blitz – to lead Kansas State to a 69-54 triumph over the Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Big Eight Tournament.
“We didn’t have an answer for Richmond until Danny (Manning) started guarding him with eight minutes left,” said KU coach Larry Brown.
Kansas didn’t have an answer for the 6-5 senior back on Jan. 30, either. That’s when Richmond scored 35 points as KSU snapped the Jayhawks’ 55-game homecourt winning streak.
Yet three weeks later in Ahearn Fieldhouse, Richmond turned into Mr. Hyde with a sub-par 11-point effort – he missed 13 of 17 shots – and Kansas eked out a 64-63 victory.
“We remembered the loss in Manhattan,” Richmond remarked, “and we felt really bad about it. I felt really really bad because I didn’t have a good game, and I wanted to get that taste out of my mouth.”
The ‘Cats wasted little time freshening Richmond’s breath in this one, bolting to a 10-0 lead almost before the sellout crowd of 16,904 in Kemper Arena had settled in. With 13:49 showing, K-State owned a 17-4 bulge with Richmond accounting for nine of those 17 points.
Kansas’ miserable start – the Jayhawks didn’t score until Manning popped in a bucket at the 15:37 mark – wasn’t helped by a technical foul called on Brown, his first since the St. John’s game back on Dec. 30.
Brown smoldered after official Bill Westbrooks tooted Manning for a charge that appeared to be so blatantly a block on K-State’s Henson that the Jayhawks were huddling as they do prior to free throw attempts before they realized what had happened.
K-State took over and, eight seconds after Richmond scored to give the ‘Cats a 6-0 lead at 16:47, Brown said something that prompted official Rick Wulkow to blow his whistle and call a T on Brown.
K-State guard Steve Henson – the nation’s leading free throw shooter would go nine-for-nine at the line – made ’em both, the ‘Cats retained possession and Richmond popped in another jumper at 16:05 for a 10-0 lead.
“I knew we were in trouble when I saw the start of the game,” Brown said afterward.
Asked what he meant by that statement, Brown replied: “Danny’s invisible and a couple of guys out there realize it.” Then he mentioned that the officials for the game were the same ones who worked the Kansas State-Nebraska first-rounder on Friday evening.
“They’re supposed to evaluate the officials,” Brown said, noting that KSU shot 50 free throws against the Huskers, “…and that’s a helluva evaluation.”
Although Westbrooks made the call that precipitated Brown’s technical and Wulkow tooted him for it, the third official – J.C. Leimbach – seemed to be Brown’s primary verbal target. In fact, after the game ended, Brown jawed at Leimbach all the way up the ramp.
Still, Brown emphasized the officiating was “not an excuse.”
Fact is, the Jayhakws couldn’t hit a lick. They made only a third of their shots (9 of 27) in the first half and 41.5 percent (22 of 53) for the game.
That 41.5 percent is awfully close to the 41.2 percent opponents had been shooting against the Jayhawks this season. However, the ‘Cats shot 56.1 percent (23 of 41) – including 7 of 13 from three-point range – and that ended Kansas’ 13-game streak of holding foes under 50 percent field goal shooting.
Kansas played without starting point guard Kevin Pritchard who had injured a knee in Friday’s 74-58 win over Oklahoma State. Replacement Scooter Barry did not have a career game filling in with two points and two assists.
“He struggled…he was scared to death,” Brown said about Barry, “but it wouldn’t have been so bad if we could have made some outside shots to take the pressure off him.”
Milt Newton, coming off his 29-point performance against Okie State, missed five of seven shots and settled for nine points. Jeff Gueldner, the other guard, was 0 for 4, all from three-point range.
“Between Scooter, Milt and Jeff, we made one field goal in the first half and that was the key,” Brown said. “Scooter struggled, but he was not alone.”
Even Manning wasn’t immune. He was 8 of 16 from the floor, winding up with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Freshman Mike Maddox was a bright spot, though, coming off the bench for 12 points and five rebounds, both career highs, in 14 minutes of work.
“He was great…it was his best performance by far,” Brown said of the 6-7 forward who was the leading prep scorer in Oklahoma last year. “He kept it reasonably close. It could have been 30 points if he didn’t get in the game.”
As it was, Kansas lost by 15 – only that 100-81 loss to Iowa in Hawaii was by a wider margin this season – and sank to its lowest point total of the season. The previous low was 56 against St. John’s in the ECAC Holiday Festival title game.
Kansas, now 21-11, has the day off today while awaiting the announcement of the NCAA Tournament pairings this afternoon. Kansas State, 22-7, will play Oklahoma at 3:10 p.m. today for the essentially meaningless league tourney title.
Both Oklahoma and Kansas State are, like Kansas, assured of NCAA berths and the outcome of today’s title clash doesn’t figure to have any effect on the seedings.
Notes
Manning became the all-time leading scorer in Big Eight Tournament history with 203 points. His career point total, already a league record, now stands at 2,788…Curiously, Manning was outscored by teammate Newton, 36-30, in the two tourney games…KSU’s Henson has missed only seven of 112 charities this season…
Box Score
KU2331-54
KSU3435-69
Kansas (21-11): Milt Newton 2-7 2-3 7, Chris Piper 2-3 0-0 4, Danny Manning 8-16 2-2 18, Scooter Barry 0-2 2-2 2, Jeff Gueldner 0-4 0-0 0, Clint Normore 1-4 0-0 2, Lincoln Minor 3-6 0-0 6, Keith harris 1-5 1-1 3, Mike Maddox 5-6 0-0 12, Mike Masucci 0-0 0-0 0, Team 22-53 7-8 54.
Three-point goals: 3-13 (Maddox 2-2, Newton 1-4, Harris 0-1, Normore 0-2, Gueldner 0-4). Assists: 12 (Normore 3, Harris 3, Barry 2, Piper, Manning, Gueldner, Minor). Turnovers: 11 (Newton 2, Manning 2, Minor 2, Harris 2, Piper, Barry, Normore). Blocked shots: 2 (Normore, Harris). Steals: 4 (Manning 2, Barry, Harris).
Kansas State (22-7): Mitch Richmond 8-11 2-2 21, Charles Bledsoe 2-5 1-2 5, Ron Meyer 3-4 0-1 6, Steve Henson 4-7 9-9 18, Will Scott 5-11 4-4 17, Carlos Diggins 1-1 0-0 2, Fred McCoy 0-0 0-0 0, Buster Glover 0-1 0-0 0, Mark Dobbins 0-1 0-0 0, Team 23-41 16-18 69.
Three-point goals: 7-13 (Richmond 3-5, Scott 3-5, Henson 1-3). Assists: 10 (Henson 4, Richmond 2, Scott 2, Meyer, Glover). Turnovers: 10 (Henson 4, McCoy 2, Richmond, Bledsoe, Meyer, Dobbins). Blocked shots: 1 (Richmond). Steals: 9 (Scott 3, Meyer 2, Richmond, Bledsoe, Henson, Dobbins).
