A bear mauling; Kansas 77, Southwest Missouri State 43

By Gary Bedore     Dec 31, 2000

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo
KU's Eric Chenowith rejects a shot against Southwest Missouri State. KU rolled to a 77-43 victory Saturday night at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

? Eric Chenowith had a gut feeling he wouldn’t be starting Saturday night’s Sprint Shootout game against Southwest Missouri State.

“I played pretty bad against Ohio State, and when we came back (from Christmas break) I wasn’t in the first five at practice,” said Chenowith.

He missed his first eight shots as a reserve before rallying for nine points on 4-of-11 shooting with 11 rebounds in KU’s 77-43 victory over the Bears at Kemper Arena.

“It was not that big a deal. I still played well. It doesn’t bother me,” noted 7-foot-1 senior Chenowith, who found out at Saturday morning’s shootaround he wouldn’t be answering the bell against the Bears.

Chenowith scored three points on 1-of-8 shooting in last Saturday’s one-point victory at Ohio State. That game, combined with the fact Nick Collison had been playing well, meant Chenowith would become a reserve for at least one game.

Earl Richardson/J-W Photo
KU coach Roy Williams pleads with his team to be smart with the ball. The Jayhawks rolled past the Bears, 77-43, Saturday night at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

Collison, who scored five straight baskets early in the second half, finished with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go with 10 rebounds.

“I’d rather start, but someone can’t,” Collison said with a shrug after starting his sixth game of the season for the Jayhawks, 11-1 entering Big 12 play.

“I really don’t think it (not starting) bothered me much, but I do like to be out there playing. I get fired up before the game and don’t like to sit down. But someone has to sit and I really don’t mind. Whatever coach wants,” noted the 6-foot-9 sophomore.

KU coach Roy Williams elated that KU’s defense held SW Missouri State to 13 points the second half said he’ll continue to juggle the starting lineup.

“I think Nick Collison has been playing really well and decided to put him in there as opposed to Eric,” Williams said. “It may change the next game and probably will change the next game. Eric, I think, had gotten too tentative.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo
KU senior swingman Luke Axtell fights inside against Daniel Novak. The Jayhawks toppled the Bears, 77-43.

“Still you throw out the Ohio State game the Wake Forest game nobody on our team played well and all our big guys have played pretty well this season,” Williams added, noting the fact Chenowith had a batch of boards versus the Bears. He also had three blocks.

“When I go in, I’m thinking rebound, rebound, rebound,” Chenowith said. “The points are a bonus. Rebounding is my main focus. I was happy with it tonight.”

The Jayhawks on Saturday were able to survive the Bears’ one-man show forward Mike Wallace who scored 24 points on 11-of-20 shooting. The 6-foot-5 Wallace scored 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting the first half. The rest of the Bears hit three of 20 shots as KU took a 44-30 lead into halftime.

“It was a matter of stopping No. 40,” KU point guard Kirk Hinrich said of Wallace. “He had 20 points the first half. We had to stop him to get control of the game.

Wallace was scoring at will the first 20 minutes, though he was getting no support from the rest of the Bears, who fell to 4-6.

Earl Richardson/J-W Photo
Kansas sophomore forward Nick Collison rejects Southwest Missouri State's Charles Gaines. Collison finished with a team-high 17 points.

“We were letting him catch it too easily,” Collison said.

“The second half we made some adjustments. We got some people in his lap,” Williams said. Wallace made two of seven shots the final half for four points.

The Jayhawks used an early 14-2 run to break a 4-4 tie and take an 18-6 lead at 11:52. Luke Axtell iced two of his three first-half threes, while Kenny Gregory had four points in the run.

Oddly, Axtell scored all of his nine points the first half and Gregory his total of 13 the first half.

Wallace responded with four points in a 6-0 spurt and SMS was back in the game, 18-12, at 10:17.

Axtell hit a three and Collison scored a basket as KU upped a 20-14 lead to 25-14 at 8:54. But the Bears’ Wallace hit a basket and Dan Vovak a three to again slice the gap to six at 25-19 at 7:15.

The Jayhawks opened some breathing room when Gregory scored four points and Gooden one in a 5-0 burst that upped a 34-25 lead to 39-25 at 2:11.

Gooden, who also did not score the final 20 minutes, joined Gregory in double figures with 10 points at halftime.

Gooden also drew the ire of Williams the second half by firing up an ill-advised three from the corner during a five-minute stretch of sloppy basketball.

“I feel good except for a six-minute stretch the second half when for some reason we quit using our brains, quit using our heads and didn’t have the effort,” Williams said.

The Jayhawks now have a full week of practice heading into next Saturday’s 8:05 p.m. contest at Texas Tech.


MORE:www.kusports.com

SOUTHWEST MISSOURI STATE (43) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Scott Brakebill 23 1-12 1-2 2-7 4 3
Charles Gaines 19 1-7 0-0 1-4 2 2
Robert Yanders 36 1-5 0-0 0-2 2 2
Luke Dobbins 23 0-4 0-0 0-2 1 0
Mike Wallace 29 11-20 2-5 6-10 3 24
Donnie Williams 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Daniel Novak 27 3-8 0-0 1-3 0 8
Travis Walk 22 0-3 2-2 1-5 1 2
Matt Rueter 21 1-3 0-0 1-2 3 2
Team 1-1
Totals 18-62 5-9 13-36 16 43

Three-point goals: 2-13 (Novak 2-5, Walk 0-1, Yanders 0-2, Dobbins 0-2, Brakebill 0-3). Assists: 10 (Yanders 4, Brakebill 3, Walk 2, Dobbins). Turnovers: 14 (Gaines 3, Yanders 3, Novak 2, Walk 2, Rueter 2, Brakebill, Wallace). Blocked shots: 1 (Rueter). Steals: 6 (Rueter 2, Gaines, Yanders, Dobbins, Novak).

KANSAS (77) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Drew Gooden 23 3-7 4-5 3-10 2 10
Nick Collison 25 8-11 1-3 1-4 2 17
Kirk Hinrich 30 3-7 0-0 0-4 2 6
Jeff Boschee 27 2-7 1-2 1-3 3 7
Kenny Gregory 24 5-7 3-5 2-5 0 13
Mario Kinsey 11 1-3 0-0 0-2 1 2
Brett Ballard 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Bryant Nash 3 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 2
Jeff Carey 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Lewis Harrison 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0
Luke Axtell 19 3-8 0-0 3-6 1 9
Chris Zerbe 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2
Eric Chenowith 23 4-13 1-2 5-11 3 9
Todd Kappelmann 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Team 1-3
Totals 31-66 10-17 16-49 14 77

Three-point goals: 5-15 (Axtell 3-5, Boschee 2-6, Hinrich 0-2, Kinsey 0-2). Assists: 23 (Hinrich 8, Gooden 4, Collison 4, Gregory 3, Boschee, Nash, Axtell, Zerbe). Turnovers: 11 (Kinsey 3, Gooden 2, Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Collison, Carey). Blocked shots: 7 (Chenowith 3, Collison 3, Axtell). Steals: 5 (Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Gooden).

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