LINCOLN, NEB. ? Maybe a magician like David Copperfield could pull off an illusion of turning Devaney Center into Allen Fieldhouse, but why bother?
It’s already been done.
Xavier’s basketball players did it with their mouths and a couple of Cincinnati sports writers did it with their pens.
Spurred on by a pro-Kansas and anti-Xavier crowd, the Jayhawks plunked the Musketeers, 85-72, in the first-round of the NCAA Midwest Regional here Friday night.
“The crowd was phenomenal,” Kansas coach lasrry Brown said afterward. “It was almost like playing at home. I’ve been in this building before and it hasn’t been a pleasant experience the last two year.”
Amen. When the Jayhawks played here in January, they blew a 16-point lead and dropped a two-point decision to Nebraska. Anbd they lost in overtime to the Huskers here last season.
There was no overtime Firday night, but oh was there a feeling of deja vu about blown leads.
Xavier, in fact, shaved 17 points off a 25-point Kansas bulge in the second half before finally running out of steam in the last minuite and a half.
“I almost had a heart attack the second hal,” Brown confessed.
Ah, but the first half was something else entirely – a half that Brown termed as good as any the Jayhawks have played this year.
Two factors enabled Kansas to blast awayt to a 48-29 intermission bulge.
One was the pro-KU crowd. Sure, Kansas had quite a few followers here, but it was obviously the Nebraska fans who made it seem like a home game for the Jayhawks.
It wasn’t because of the fact that both Kansas and Nebraska are in the Big Eight, either. It was published comments by XU players about how they shouldn’t have been sent to Lincoldn and some snide quips by Cincinnati sports writers that Lincoln was Siberia with 7-Elevens” and a “forlorn” place.
Factor No. 2 was the return of Kevin Pritchard after a week of semi-practice after suffering a knee injury exactly a week earlier in the Big Eight Tournament/
“Nobody thought he was gonna play,” Brown said of Pritchard. “I was proud of him. He was phenomenal.”
Pritchard, wearing a knee bandage, started the game and opened Kansas’ scoring with a breakaway dunk before 10 seconds had elapsed.
Pritchard played 33 minuted, posting eight points, four rebounds and three assists.
“I don’t know how much of an emotional lift it was for the team to have him back,” Brown smiled, “but it was an emotional lift for me, I’ll tell you that.”
The second half wasn’t, however. Three straight basketsby Milt Newton during the first two minutes of the second half boosted KU’s already sizable lead to 25 points (54-29).
But Xavier answered with 10 unanswered points and had sliced that huge Kansas lead to eight points (74-56) with 2:50 showing.
No close would the Muskies come, however. Kansas made six of nine charities in the last minute and a half while Xavier was missing 10 panic shots in a row.
Nevertheless, the Muskies were giving the Hayhawks fits for a while, particularly with their full court press. Kansas was guilty of 19 turnovers and a season-high 30 for the game.
“We had 30 turnovers and we didn’t have 30 turnovers against Oklahoma,” Brown pointed out, “and Oklahoma’s press is pretty intense.”
Danny Manning and Newton provided most of the firepower. Manning had 24 [pomts amd Mewtpm 21. Each snatched a dozen boards.
Friday night’s victory – Kansas’ fifth straight in an NCAA first-round game, send the Jayhawks against Murray State, a surprise 78-75 winner over North Carolina State in Friday night’s other game.
Kansas defeated NC State earlier this year in Raleigh and has, in fact, won four straight from the Wolfpack. But the Jayhawks will the Racers from the Ohio Valley Conference instead.
“Our kids know how good NC State is,” Brown said, “so it’s obvious they (the Racers) are a quality team.”
For sure, Brown feels a lot better about his team than he did on Thursday.
“Having Kevin back and knowing this is Danny’s time make me feel good,” he said. “I heard Danny say to the guys that he didn’t want this to be his last game.”
Kansas, 22-11, and Murray State, 22-8, will meet at about 4 p.m. Sunday for the right to advance to the third round next weekend in Pontiac, Mich.
