1600: Hawks find Hawaiian paradise

By Gary Bedore     Nov 28, 1996

? Maui truly is paradise for Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.

The Jayhawks, who dumped LSU by 29 points and California by 18 in first- and second-round Maui Invitational games, made it three resounding victories in three nights, punishing Virginia, 80-63, in Wednesday’s finals at the Lahaina Civic Center.

How thoroughly did the Jayhawks dominate?

Not only was Raef LaFrentz named tourney MVP after scoring 15 points and grabbing seven boards versus Virginia, but Scot Pollard (17 points, 13 boards) and Jerod Haase (six points, eight boards, five assists) also were named all-tourney.

What’s more, controversy raged when Paul Pierce (27 points, six boards against the Cavs) was snubbed, giving way to Cal’s Ed Gray and Virginia’s Courtney Alexander (11 versus KU).

You better believe Kansas was impressive in claiming victory No. 1,600 in school history, joining North Carolina and Kentucky as the only schools in history with at least 1,600 wins.

“I just thought we had a great performance the second half,” KU coach Roy Williams said.

Indeed, KU hit 18 of 26 shots the second half for 69.2 percent. The Jayhawks hit 40.7 percent the first half and 54.7 for the game.

KU held Virginia to 28.1 percent shooting the final half and 31.7 for the game.

The two teams were tied 30-30 at intermission with KU blitzing the ACC school, 50-33, in the final half.

“All our kids had a part of it,” Williams said. “Raef really had a great week.”

So did Pierce, who had 15 points against LSU, 17 against Cal to go with his 27-point outing, which wasn’t a career high.

“Somebody said Paul did not make the all-tournament team. Everybody who voted must have been drunk,” Williams said. “When they didn’t announce his name all-tournament I thought they were going to name him MVP.”

Haase, who has probably been KU’s season MVP in helping the Jayhawks to a 4-0 record, keyed an 11-1 run early in the second half that turned a 32-30 deficit into a 41-33 lead with 16:14 left.

Haase had a big steal and layup and also fed Nick Bradford for a violent dunk.

KU continued the surge, upping the run to 25-8 and grabbing a 55-40 lead at 11:59. Haase and Pierce had five points apiece, while Pollard notched six in the frenzied run.

“The second half, we play the way we always play. We use our depth and hope at the end we are fresher,” Williams noted.

Virginia did cut the gap to 57-49 at 9:46, but KU went on an amazing 16-2 run. Pierce had seven of the 13 points in that game-breaking sizz.

Ryan Robertson was also impressive, playing 36 minutes with five points and five assists. Robertson held point-guard deluxe Harold Deane to 14 points on three-of-12 shooting. Shooting guard Curtis Staples had 12 points on four-of-13 shooting. He had trouble shaking KU defender Haase.

“I played Ryan more than I’d have liked, but he did an outstanding job,” Williams said.

“We got the tempo to our liking the second half,” Robertson said. “We had our big guys running the floor and making some shots.”

KU also won the board battle, 47-26. “You outrebound a team like that and you know you are doing something right,” Williams said.

The Jayhawks and Cavaliers played to a 30-30 tie the first half. KU was down two following a Staples three-pointer at :13, however Pollard flipped in a rebound of a Ryan Robertson miss at the buzzer, accounting for the tie.

It looked early as if the expected physical battle between two defensive minded teams wouldn’t materialize.

KU’s Pierce scored nine points as the Jayhawks raced to a 12-7 advantage at 15:40. Pierce hit two free throws to open the scoring, a slam following a steal at 17:59, a three-pointer at 16:36 and a layup following a feed from Robertson on an inbounds play at 15:40.

KU led 14-7 at 12:32 following a Robertson bucket, then went cold.

Virginia went on a methodical, 14-3 run, helped by six Jayhawk turnovers. KU, in fact, had 10 bobbles the initial half.

Staples hit a pair of three-pointers, while four other Cavs had a bucket apiece.

KU trailed 25-22 with 3:11 left in the half. However, Pierce put in a stickback off his own miss and Raef LaFrentz hit a shot from the corner and KU led 26-25 at 1:45.

Pierce scored 11 in the first half on four-of-eight shooting with four rebounds. LaFrentz had nine the first half and Pollard seven. Staples led the Cavs with nine.

In all, KU hit 11 of 27 first-half shots for 40.7 percent and seven of 12 free throws. Virginia hit 11 of 31 shots for 35.5 percent and four of five free throws.

The Jayhawks will next meet San Diego at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.

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