Somebody pulled a nasty prank in pulling a fire alarm early Saturday morning at Jayhawker Towers.
It cost eight members of Kansas’ basketball team some much-needed rest prior to a mid-afternoon contest against Kansas State on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“It was pretty frustrating last night. I got about 41/2 hours sleep,” KU senior Kenny Gregory said after scoring 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds in KU’s 92-66 victory at Allen Fieldhouse.
“The fire alarm went off about 3:30 in the morning. We sat in the lobby for an hour. I had trouble getting to sleep before the alarm went off and didn’t fall asleep for good until 5:30. Somebody doing something stupid like that I don’t think there even was a fire.
“Things like that happen. You’ve got to roll with it and be ready to play,” Gregory added.
Gregory was asked if he thought a member of Missouri’s Antlers pulled the alarm. The Jayhawks will play MU in front of the Antlers the Tigers’ always-zealous student section on Monday night in Columbia.
“Nah, I didn’t think about that. I was just thinking about getting some sleep,” Gregory said.
“It might have been them, I don’t know,” quipped Drew Gooden, who lives in the Towers with Gregory, Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich, Mario Kinsey, Bryant Nash, Brent Kappelmann and Chris Zerbe.
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Collison joked. “I doubt it was them. It happens five to 10 times a year. It was annoying.”
Luke Axtell, who missed two threes and scored two points in 15 minutes, has been suffering from back pain.
Kansas State | 36 | 30 | 66 |
Kansas | 53 | 39 | 92 |
Attendance: 16,300
“Luke’s been bothered by his back all week,” Williams said. “He’s gotten treatment twice a day every day since Wednesday. It stiffened on him even during warmups today. I think it’s hard to shoot it effectively like Luke can shoot it if you are not healthy. Hopefully he can get that problem cured and it’ll help him.”
Axtell has missed 11 threes in a row covering five games.
Jeff Boschee made four threes the first half with no misses. He missed all five three-point tries the final half.
“I did not come out thinking I would not miss a shot,” said Boschee, who made seven threes against Kansas State last March in the first half of KU’s Big 12 tourney win over the Wildcats in Kemper Arena. “You always want to help the team get off to a good start. At the same time, look what I did the second half. I did not make a shot.”
Coincidentally, Boschee did not hit a three in the second half of that Big 12 tourney game last year.
Missouri will honor Norm Stewart on Monday night, naming the Hearnes Center court in the former MU coach’s honor. Williams was asked if he thought it was a coincidence MU timed the ceremony on a night KU is in town.
“What do you think?” Williams asked a writer, who said he though MU definitely planned it to fire up the crowd on a night the Jayhawks were in town.
“You are an intelligent young man,” Williams said with a laugh.
Kansas’ 92 points mark the most scored by a KU team against KSU in Lawrence in series history, topping a 91-point total on Feb. 22, 1975. The most points KU has ever scored against KSU is 94 in a 94-65 win on Feb. 12, 2000. The 26-point margin of victory for KU is the largest by KU over KSU at Allen Fieldhouse since Feb. 22, 1975 when KU won, 91-53.
Hinrich (six assists) has 36 assists in four games, most assists in a four-game stretch since Jacque Vaughn’s 39 in a four-game span in January of 1996. Phineas Atchison’s 28 points is the most by a KU opponent this season and most by a foe since Desmond Mason of Okie State struck for 31 on Feb. 7, 2000, in KU’s 86-53 loss in Stillwater. KSU entered the game leading the Big 12 in scoring defense at 59 ppg. KU scored 53 the first half. KU has held 17 straight foes under 50 percent shooting. Gregory’s eight offensive boards marked a career high. Travis Reynolds’ 16 rebounds and eight offensive boards are opponent season highs against KU. He had 10 the second half. Collison’s 5-of-11 shooting night was his first sub-50 percent outing in 11 games. KU’s 12 steals mark a season high. Collison and Hinrich had four apiece.
Three-point goals: 4-9 (Atchison 3-6, Reid 1-3). Assists: 11 (Reid 5, Buchanan 3, Terry, Reynolds, Atchison). Turnovers: 21 (Terry 5, Atchison 5, Reid 3, Buchanan 2, Siebrandt 2, Reynolds, Sulic, team). Blocked shots: 3 (Howell 3). Steals: 7 (Terry 4, Howell 2, Reid). |
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Three-point goals: 9-20 (Hinrich 4-6, Boschee 4-9, Zerbe 1-1, Axtell 0-2, Ballard 0-2). Assists: 23 (Hinrich 6, Boschee 5, Collison 4, Gregory 3, Kinsey, Nash, Harrison, Axtell, Chenowith). Turnovers: 13 (Collison 4, Gooden 3, Boschee 3, Hinrich 2, Axtell). Blocked shots: 4 (Chenowith 2, Collison, Kappelmann). Steals: 12 (Collison 4, Hinrich 4, Nash 2, Gregory, Ballard). |