Lincoln, Neb. — Roy Williams desparately needed a can of hair spray after Kansas’ 88-73 Big Eight basketball victory over Nebraska on Sunday at Devaney Center.
“They worked me over in there. We did some bumps and everything. It was fun,” said KU head coach Williams, emerging from the locker room after the Jayhawks’ 16th win in 17 outings and fourth in conference play against no losses.
KU’s players patiently listened to Williams’ postgame speech, then mobbed him to celebrate the coach’s 200th coaching victory in eight seasons.
“We all jumped around him, gave him a huge and messed his hair up,” said KU center Scot Pollard, who shrugged off a case of the flu to grab 10 rebounds in 30 minutes. “Everybody had a hand on coach’s head.”
Including point guard Jacque Vaughn, who scored 12 points and dished eight assists.
“I had the first hand and last hand,” said Vaughn.
He said the Jayhawks were fired up to win one for the coach, despite the fact Williams didn’t mention his 199 coaching victories all week. He didn’t even mention it AFTER the game, the players mobbing their mentor on their own.
“You know how coach is, how humble he is. He would never say anything about that,” Vaughn said. “We had to congratulate him and let him know how we feel about him. I think he’s definitely deserving. He’s more than my coach. He’s my friend.”
Williams said Sunday’s victory proved memorable, but not because it was his 200th win against 52 losses.
“I like it because it’s No. 16 more than it’s No. 200,” Williams said. “It means something to me, but I think (talking about it) gives coaching too much credit. I like winning No. 16 because it’s instant gratification for these kids.”
For 20 minutes Sunday, victory No. 200 looked like it might have to wait. KU hit 30.3 percent of its shots in the first half, yet managed a 36-35 lead at the break.
Raef LaFrentz, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds — Paul Pierce led all scorers with 25 points — scored KU’s final six points of the half.
“(At halftime), I said the way we played we could be down by 25,” Williams said. “I told them we had to be the aggressor, had to rev our engines. We were running in quicksand. It was a change of attitude more than anything.”
Jerod Haase opened the half with a three-pointer and Pierce hit two straight threes as KU came out smoking the final half. Up 39-37 with 19:17 left, KU went on a 15-2 run and led, 54-39, with 14:10 left. Pierce had eight points in that burst. KU upped that run to 22-6 and led by a game-high 18 points — 61-43 — with 12:16 left.
“Early in the second half, we were pretty doggone good,” Williams said.
Pierce had 17 points, Vaughn seven assists and LaFrentz seven rebounds the final 20 minutes.
However, the Cornhuskers (15-5, 3-2) did not quit before a rare sellout crowd. Led by Erick Strickland and Terrance Badgett, who had six points apiece, NU went on a 21-9 run and lagged, 70-64, with 4:44 left.
However, Pierce hit two free throws and a two-pointer sandwiched around a Tom-Wald free throw and KU led, 74-65, at 3:46. Haase hit a free throw and LaFrentz a basket, upping KU’s lead to 77-65, at 2:56.
Strickland responded with a three, but Vaughn and Haase then hit a pair of free throws apiece and KU cleared the aisles with 1:54 left and an 81-68 lead.
“They made it a six-point game, then Paul made two straight baskets,” Williams said, praising Pierce, who hit 5 of 7 threes and busted a streak of four consecutive single-digit scoring games. He’d hit one of eight threes in three league games.
“He got back in the swing of things,” added Williams, who had Pierce guard Strickland the second half because of foul problems on Haase. Strickland finished with 19 points, 10 in the final 20 minutes.
The Jayhawks heated up to hit 48.5 percent of their second-half shots and finish at 39.4 percent to Nebraska’s 47.2.
“It was a great win for our team,” Williams noted.
And not because it marked win No. 200. “An ice-cream sundae is in my plans, that’s about it,” Williams said.
Actually, Williams didn’t need to stop for a sundae on the way back to Lawrence. Once of his buddies gave him a chocolate malt from the NU concession stand as KU’s coach departed the locker room.
The Jayhawks will next meet Oklahoma State at 8:05 p.m. Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
