Hinrich receives shiner on left eye

By Gary Bedore     Dec 24, 2000

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo
KU's kirk hinrich sports a nasty bruise and cut under his left eye early in the second half. Hinrich was poked by an Ohio State player during a scramble.

? Kirk Hinrich looked like a guy who’d gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson late Saturday afternoon at Value City Arena.

Hinrich sported a black left eye and scratches on his face, courtesy of an Ohio State player who poked Kansas’ point guard while lunging for the basketball in the first half.

“It’s OK,” Hinrich said of his eye after the Jayhawks’ 69-68 victory over the Buckeyes. “Right after it happened I had trouble seeing. I didn’t have any problems the second half.

“Right now I’m just glad to be going home for Christmas. We’re what? 10-1? That’s pretty good.”

Hinrich wasn’t happy about KU’s 22 turnovers and the fact the Jayhawks nearly squandered a 15-point second half lead against 8-3 Ohio State.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo
KANSAS SENIOR KENNY GREGORY fights Ohio State's Sean Connolly for a rebound before the basketball went out of bounds with 7.6 seconds left. Officials said the ball went off Gregory, giving the Buckeyes one more shot, which failed as the Jayhawks escaped with a 69-68 victory over OSU on Saturday at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Gregory played high school basketball in Columbus.

“Down the stretch they were good. They were trapping and we were a little tentative,” Hinrich said after scoring seven points with five assists in 30 minutes. “We missed some crucial free throws.”

He, Drew Gooden and Jeff Boschee missed the front ends of one-and-one free throw situations in the final minute as KU’s six-point lead dipped to one.

KU’s defense stopped Ohio State on two final possessions to assure a Merry Christmas for all Jayhawks.

“Our defense the last 16 seconds was great,” Hinrich said. “We stuck together, stopped them and that’s a good sign.

“I think it’s good because it’s a victory. How many times have they lost in this building?” Hinrich asked. “Three times?”

The Buckeyes have a 36-4 record during their two-plus seasons at Value City Arena.

KU senior Kenny Gregory, who missed three straight games because of a stress fracture in his right foot, scored 17 points with six rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.

He said his foot felt fine during the contest.

“It felt pretty good,” Gregory said. “Overall with the emotion of the game, it’s not going to hurt you while you are on the court. I didn’t even think about it. It’s pretty sore right now. I’ll just continue treatment and if there’s pain I’ll play with pain.”

Gregory received a technical foul for hanging on the rim in the second half. He was stunned by the call. “Man,” he said. “I thought it was just a regular dunk.”

The technical foul with 7:58 left was KU’s second of the season. Roy Williams picked up a technical against DePaul on Dec. 12.

Nick Collison on KU seeing a 15-point lead shrink to one: “There was a stretch where we broke down and they were getting dunks,” Collison said. “We’ve got to play with poise.”

Foul trouble didn’t help. KU had five players with four fouls Collison, Eric Chenowith, Jeff Boschee, Hinrich and Luke Axtell.

“We had four guys with four fouls. It seemed to take away the chemistry,” Collison said.

Axtell had seven points while playing 13 minutes. He was playing for the first time since Dec. 7 after missing two games because of an ankle sprain.

Freshman guard Mario Kinsey, who missed KU’s last game because of the flu, hit the first three-pointer of his career. He scored five points with three steals in 16 minutes. …Ken Johnson’s five first-half blocks tied for the most in a half by a KU opponent in the Roy Williams era. Kelvin Cato of Iowa State had five blocks in the second half on March 10, 1996. … Ohio State’s 42 free throw attempts were most by a KU foe since Nebraska hoisted 40 free throws in 1989. …. KU’s 30 fouls were the most by the Jayhawks since committing 30 against Virginia in November of 1995.

Kansas 34 35 69
Ohio State 29 39 68

Gregory has no interest in attending a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game at Nationwide Arena, located downtown in his home town.

“I can’t stand hockey. I don’t know why we even got (acquired) a team,” Gregory said. “Now professional basketball would be different. I think Columbus could support an NBA team. A lot of people think this is a small town. It’s really a big city.”

Columbus is the 16th largest city in the United States with about a million people in the metropolitan area.

KU is 10-1 for the first time since the 1997-98 season. … KU is 5-3 against Ohio State. The Jayhawks have won three straight over the Buckeyes. … Roy Williams is 3-0 versus OSU. KU is 31-34 versus Big Ten schools.

KANSAS (69) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Drew Gooden 33 7-13 2-3 3-10 3 16
Kenny Gregory 32 8-12 0-0 1-6 3 17
Eric Chenowith 19 1-8 1-4 3-5 4 3
Kirk Hinrich 30 3-7 0-1 0-5 4 7
Jeff Boschee 29 1-4 2-3 0-1 4 4
Mario Kinsey 16 2-4 0-0 0-1 3 5
Nick Collison 21 5-5 0-0 1-6 4 10
Bryant Nash 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Jeff Carey 7 0-0 0-0 1-1 1 0
Luke Axtell 13 2-4 1-2 1-3 4 7
Team 1-2
Totals 29-57 6-13 11-40 30 69

Three-point goals: 5-13 (Axtell 2-3, Gregory 1-2, Kinsey 1-2, Hinrich 1-3, Gooden 0-1, Boschee 0-2). Assists: 18 (Hinrich 5, Boschee 4, Gregory 3, Gooden 2, Collison 2, Chenowith, Axtell). Turnovers: 22 (Gooden 8, Chenowith 3, Collison 3, Gregory 2, Hinrich 2, Axtell 2, Boschee, Carey). Blocked shots: 4 (Gooden, Gregory, Chenowith, Boschee). Steals: 4 (Kinsey 3, Collison).

OHIO STATE (68) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Zach Williams 20 1-5 1-3 1-1 2 3
Ken Johnson 37 3-9 5-9 2-9 3 11
Brent Darby 21 1-7 2-4 0-2 2 5
Brian Brown 35 5-14 5-9 0-3 4 17
Boban Savovic 34 2-8 10-10 3-5 5 15
Sean Connolly 29 3-5 3-3 1-5 4 11
Shaun Smith 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Cobe Ocokoljic 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Will Dudley 3 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0
Tim Martin 20 2-2 2-4 0-1 1 6
Team 3-4
Totals 17-51 28-42 11-31 21 68

Three-point goals: 6-20 (Connolly 2-4, Brown 2-6, Darby 1-5, Savovic 1-5). Assists: 11 (Savovic 6, Brown 2, Connolly 2, Darby). Turnovers: 16 (Brown 6, Johnson 3, Darby 3, Williams, Savovic, Connolly, Martin). Blocked shots: 6 (Johnson 6). Steals: 8 (Connolly 3, Darby 2, Brown, Savovic, Martin.

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