Redbirds OK for about 20 minutes

By Chuck Woodling     Dec 1, 2000

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo
KU's Nick COllison, right, contests a rebound by Illinois State's Brett Gillian.

Euphoria in the Illinois State locker room at halftime soon gave way to reality.

“We talked about the first four minutes of the second half deciding the outcome,” ISU guard Shawn Jeppson said. “But we missed a couple of easy shots and had a couple of unforced turnovers.”

And Kansas shook off the first-half blahs to pluck the Redbirds, 80-61, on Thursday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

Illinois State trailed 33-25 at the break despite shooting just 26 percent (8 of 31). The Redbirds stayed close by outrebounding the Jayhawks, 26-21, and by forcing nine turnovers.

While it appeared ISU may have benefited from a lack of the Jayhawks’ full attention, Redbirds’ coach Tom Richardson said: “I hope we had something to do with that.”

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo
KU players, from left, Mario Kinsey, Lewis Harrison, Luke Axtell, Nick Collison and Jeff Carey prepare to check in. The mass substitution came early in Thursday's game, when Kansas coach Roy Williams became miffed at his starters.

Asked if he thought Kansas brought its A-game, Jeppson the only Redbird in double figures scoring with 14 points replied: “I don’t think so, but I can’t say because I haven’t seen them that much. I don’t know if they brought it or not. They looked sluggish in the first half, but not the second half.”

Our kids battled. They were undersized a little bit, but we outscrapped them in the first half.”

ISU coach Tom Richardson

Said Richardson: “We talked about the beginning of the second half. We thought they’d come out hard and pound it inside, and they did.”

In the first three minutes of the second half, KU outscored the visitors, 13-2, and raced to a 45-27 lead. ISU never came any closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

“Our kids battled,” Richardson said. “They were undersized a little bit, but we outscrapped them in the first half. They’ve been beating the heck out of everybody and we just wanted to play hard.”

Kansas had won its previous four home games against sub-major competition by an average score of 96-61. Illinois State matched the 61 and held the Jayhawks 16 points below the 96.

“We came out thinking we’d play with a high level of intensity,” said 6-foot-3 guard Traves Wilson, a transfer from Arizona. “We just got up on ’em and we pressured them into turnovers. Our team is capable of playing with them, but we kind of broke down.”

Kansas has played five more games than the Redbirds, but Richardson didn’t consider that a factor.

“If we had played them and we both had 10 games,” he said, “I don’t know if it would be any different.”

It might have been a little different if Tarise Bryson, the Redbirds’ leading scorer, hadn’t been battling the flu.

“He’s been under the weather and hasn’t practiced much,” Richardson said. “He’s a much better player than he showed. He doesn’t usually miss too many open shots.”

Bryson, a 6-1 senior guard, didn’t start but logged 24 minutes off the bench. He missed eight of his nine shots, including five of six from three-point range and settled for seven points.

Richardson used 14 players and 10 of them scored.

“I like our team,” the second-year ISU coach said. “I like our toughness. We’re deep. If we play hard like this, we’ll win more than we lose.”


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ILLINOIS STATE (61) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Traves Wilson 20 3-8 1-3 1-7 4 8
Shedrick Ford 25 1-6 4-4 0-3 2 6
Andy Strandmark 22 1-7 4-4 1-6 3 6
Randy Rice 21 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 0
Shawn Jeppson 22 6-9 1-1 1-3 2 14
Cedric Knight 14 3-6 1-1 5-6 4 7
Ishmael Joyce 13 1-2 2-3 0-1 4 4
Dirk Williams 13 1-2 0-0 1-6 2 2
Tarise Bryson 24 1-9 4-7 0-1 1 7
Rich Beyers 15 2-5 1-1 0-0 3 5
Chad Mazanowski 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0
Jason Hammock 6 0-3 0-0 2-3 00 0
Brett Gillan 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2
Dan Luczywko 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0
Team 0-1
Totals 20-60 18-24 11-38 28 61

Three-point goals: 3-18 (Jeppson 1-3, Wilson 1-4, Bryson 1-6, Ford 0-1, Rice 0-1, Hammock 0-1, Beyers 0-2). Assists: 8 (Ford 2, Rice 2, Bryson 2, Strandmark, Joyce). Turnovers: 16 (Joyce 4, Ford 2, Rice 2, Hammock 2, Luczywko 2, Strandmark, Knight, Beyers, team). Blocked shots: 1 (Beyers). Steals: 10 (Rice 2, Jeppson 2, Williams 2, Knight, Joyce, Mazanowski, Beyers).

KANSAS (80) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Drew Gooden 26 7-12 3-5 3-7 2 17
Kenny Gregory 21 5-7 1-4 0-1 0 11
Eric Chenowith 22 4-8 3-6 2-6 3 11
Kirk Hinrich 27 1-1 2-2 1-5 3 5
Jeff Boschee 29 3-9 0-0 0-1 2 7
Mario Kinsey 11 1-4 202 0-0 3 4
Brett Ballard 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Nick Collison 23 3-7 3-6 2-9 1 9
Jeff Carey 8 2-2 0-0 1-3 2 4
Lewis Harrison 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0
Luke Axtell 20 3-8 3-4 1-8 2 11
Bryant Nash 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0
Chris Zerbe 1 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 1
Todd Kappelmann 1 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0
Team 1-3
Totals 29-59 18-31 12-45 19 80

Three-point goals: 4-12 (Axtell 2-6, Hinrich 1-1, Boschee 1-4, Gregory 0-1). Assists: 20 (Hinrich 8, Boschee 3, Gregory 2, Collison 2, Gooden, Kinsey, Carey, Harrison). Turnovers: 14 (Chenowith 2, Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Harrison 2, Gooden, Kinsey, Ballard, Collison, Carey, Axtell). Blocked shots: 8 (Collison 4, Chenowith 2, Boschee, Kinsey). Steals: 9 (Boschee 4, Axtell 2, Gooden, Gregory, Hinrich.

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