Had he been playing football, Missouri’s Jeff Hafer would have been lauded for a hard tackle Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.
This is college basketball, however, and Hafer’s high, hard hack on Kansas freshman Drew Gooden was ruled an intentional foul with 12.9 seconds left. It turned out to be the pivotal play in the Jayhawks’ 83-82 victory over the Tigers.
The foul put Gooden on the line where he hit two free throws, erasing an 80-79 deficit. The foul also meant KU maintained possession of the basketball — a possession that resulted in a pair of critical free throws from freshman Kirk Hinrich with 7.6 seconds remaining.
“I knew it was a hard foul. I didn’t know if it was an intentional until I looked up and they signaled it,” said Gooden, who added the intentional foul helped ease the pressure at the free throw line.
“The first one, I felt good, like it was going in. Then it kind of scared me a bit when it rolled around,” noted Gooden, the star of Senior Day after tying his career-high with 20 points, setting a career-high with 13 rebounds and adding four assists.
Gooden’s first free-throw attempt hit the front of the rim, then rattled in. He swished the second.
“I was a little nervous, but I knew we’d get the ball back with the score tied at least and that helped,” Gooden said. “I really wanted to make it. I didn’t want to let the seniors down and the fans down and I wanted to redeem myself for letting Hafer hit some threes earlier.”
Gooden also was miffed by Hafer — who hit four threes and finished with 14 points — for committing and intentional foul on Kenny Gregory in the first half.
“Foul somebody, but don’t take their head off,” Gooden said.
The game was far from over following Gooden’s clutch free throws, though. On the ensuing possession, Hinrich inbounded to Jeff Boschee, who was tied up in the lane with 10.8 seconds to play. Fortunately for KU, the possession arrow pointed the Jayhawks’ way.
Hinrich inbounded deep to frosh Nick Collison, who dished to Hinrich who was hacked at 7.6 seconds.
Hinrich (11 points and six assists in 35 minutes) made both free throws, atoning for a turnover he committed when he kicked the ball out of bounds with 1:16 left and Mizzou up, 80-79.
“There are a lot of ups and downs in the game of basketball,” Hinrich said. “I felt I was going to make the free throws. I think anybody on the team would have made them.”
Following Hinrich’s two makes, KU coach Roy Williams called time so he could instruct the team to foul after Missouri crossed the 10-second line.
The message wasn’t received by Gregory, who guarded Keyon Dooling closely, but didn’t hack him as Dooling launched a three with about four ticks remaining.
Dooling missed badly, Clarence Gilbert grabbed the rebound and scored a two-point basket with one-tenth of a second showing. Eric Chenowith successfully inbounded deep and the game was over.
“After they made the shot and scored there was one-tenth second to play and there was a youngster from Columbus, Ohio, that almost got choked in the middle of Allen Fieldhouse because we were supposed to foul,” Williams quipped. “Kenny, for some reason, ran beside Keyon Dooling for 30 feet and didn’t foul him.
“It’s all we talked about during the whole time out — pick ’em up down the court and as soon as they get to the 10-second line we’re gonna foul them right there so they can’t shoot a three. The kids made a play (on defense) because they made Keyon Dooling miss the shot,” Williams added.
While the furious finish put the spotlight on KU’s freshmen — Collison scored 14 points with six boards — it was senior Nick Bradford who was one of the reasons the Jayhawks improved to 22-8 overall and 11-5 in the Big 12.
Bradford scored all seven points in a 7-2 run that helped KU answer an MU run that cut a 14-point Jayhawk lead to 65-61 at 7:59.
“Nick Bradford competed so hard all day with steals, getting the loose balls,” Williams said of Bradford, who had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting with three steals. “Nick’s all-out, all-over game was sensational.”
Gooden was remarkable in scoring four points off a pair of passes from Hinrich and also feeding Gregory for a layup to open an 18-5 run that gave Kansas a comfy 63-49 lead at 11:19.
MU, however, didn’t give up. The Tigers (17-11, 10-6) hit 14 of 33 three-pointers making it a game down to the wire.
“Threes, threes — it seems all their guys were hitting threes,” Gooden said. “They weren’t going inside. They were hitting threes.”
KU made the inside game a focal point as the Jayhawks’ inside players outscored MU in the paint, 50-24. Even the Hinrich pass to Gooden that resulted in an intentional foul was a set play.
“We tried to keep the focus on getting the ball inside,” Williams said, noting the Tigers had the advantage in perimeter quickness.
KU clinched the No. 5 seed for next week’s Big 12 Tournament and will face Kansas State at 2:20 p.m. Thursday at KC’s Kemper Arena.