KU hasn’t lost at Manhattan since 1982-83

By Chuck Woodling     Mar 1, 2001

? And the beat goes on. And on. And on. And on. And well, it’s becoming an ad nauseum thing for Kansas State 18 straight home losses to arch-rival Kansas.

Perhaps, in the wake of No. 18 the Jayhawks’ workmanlike 77-65 victory on Wednesday night in Bramlage Coliseum this is a good time to rehash the last time K-State defeated Kansas in Manhattan.

Kansas 31 46 77
Kansas State 29 36 65

Attendance: 11,043

On Jan. 29, 1983, Kansas University athletics director Bob Frederick was director of the Williams Fund. Doug Vance, head of KU’s media relations, wouldn’t arrive in Lawrence from Murray (Ky.) State for another three months. Ted Owens was in his 19th although he couldn’t know it and last season as KU’s coach.

On that night in Ahearn Fieldhouse K-State wouldn’t move to Bramlage Coliseum until 1988 a long-forgotten KSU player named Les Craft nailed two free throws with :36 remaining to give the Wildcats a 58-57 come-from-behind victory.

Carl Henry, arguably one of the best garbage-basket players ever to wear a KU uniform, led the Jayhawks with 15 points.

Freshman Kerry Boagni, who would later transfer to Cal State-Fullerton, added 14 and Calvin Thompson, who would become an integral part of KU’s 1986 NCAA Final Four team, scored 10.

At the time, who would have believed Kansas State would not defeat Kansas in Manhattan for the remainder of the century and now two years beyond and counting?

No doubt the burden of the streak weighs heavily on the Wildcats’ players even though first-year coach Jim Wooldridge never mentioned it before Wednesday’s meeting.

“Let me say this, and I mean it sincerely,” Wooldridge said about The Streak. “I know it needs to be reported, but I can honestly say our team and players are so focused on getting better that every one of us has disregarded that. I know I have.”

Still, K-State’s players don’t live in a vacuum. If the coaches don’t mention The Streak, their campus contemporaries do.

“I heard it all week,” junior guard Larry Reid said. “It’s important to us. It’s everything to us.”

Or was Reid just saying what he thought K-State people expected him to say?

Wooldridge believes The Streak is much ado about nothing once the ball is tipped, that The Streak means little once the bell rings.

“I think if (KSU’s players) told you that,” Wooldridge said, “that might just be something kids say.”

Over the last 18 years, the Jayhawks have silenced Bramlage crowds, sent them huffing and puffing up the steep steps KSU’s arena is just a hole in the ground with seats or the Jayhawks have fueled the KSU faithful’s euphoria.

Wednesday night was one of the latter nights. Kansas was so lackluster in the first half that coach Roy Williams pulled one of those five-for-five substitutions that almost always signify his starters are playing like they’re daydreaming through Never Never Land.

KU’s starters woke up in the second half, but the Wildcats stayed close until they reverted to form. K-State is a team that misses on the average six of every 10 shots, and actuaries caught up with them.

From the outset, it appeared Kansas was in one of those moods where it would play only as hard as it had to in order to win its last game of the season in an unfriendly arena. After Sunday’s Allen Fieldhouse finale against Missouri, the Jayhawks will play in very friendly Kemper Arena, then at a neutral site in the NCAA Tournament.

What you saw in the second half is what you’ll probably get in the Big 12 Tournament and in the NCAA Tournament. Williams used just six players and it seems likely he’ll stick to that formula unless Luke Axtell, dressed in jeans and cowboy boots on the bench Wednesday night, can find a panacea for his recurring back woes.

With a rotation of six players, it will be difficult for Kansas to win three games in three days at the conference tournament, but in the NCAAs, with two games in three days, lack of depth will be less of a factor.

With Drew Gooden back in the saddle, this isn’t the homestretch, but the Jayhawks have passed the three-quarter pole and are heading for home.

KANSAS (77) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Nick Collison 27 5-10 3-5 3-6 3 13
Kenny Gregory 36 4-10 1-2 0-5 2 11
Eric Chenowith 24 2-5 4-4 1-5 4 8
Kirk Hinrich 34 3-6 4-5 0-4 3 12
Jeff Boschee 37 4-7 2-2 0-2 2 11
Drew Gooden 21 6-10 5-6 2-7 3 17
Brett Ballard 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3
Bryant Nash 3 0-0 0-1 0-1 1 0
Jeff Carey 6 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0
Lewis Harrison 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Chris Zerbe 2 0-0 2-2 0-0 0 2
Todd Kappelmann 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Team 2-3
Totals 25-49 21-27 8-35 18 77

Three-point goals: 6-12 (Gregory 2-4, Hinrich 2-4, Ballard 1-1, Boschee 1-3). Assists: 18 (Hinrich 9, Gregory 5, Collison, Boschee, Gooden, Zerbe). Turnovers: 15 (Boschee 4, Chenowith 3, Collison 2, Hinrich 2, Gregory, Gooden, Ballard, Nash). Blocked shots: 5 (Collison, Gregory, Chenowith, Hinrich, Gooden). Steals: 3 (Collison, Gregory, Zerbe).

KANSAS STATE (65) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Quentin Buchanan 31 7-16 0-0 2-3 2 15
Travis Reynolds 29 3-7 3-4 5-8 2 9
Kelvin Howell 19 1-5 0-2 1-3 4 2
Larry Reid 32 5-13 6-6 0-3 4 16
Richie Terry 33 4-10 0-0 1-7 1 9
Ivan Sulic 18 1-2 2-2 5-8 3 4
Phineas Atchison 24 1-9 4-6 1-1 1 6
Matt Siebrandt 11 2-5 0-0 0-0 5 4
Rashad Washington 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Donnie Wallace 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Team 2-2
Totals 24-67 15-20 15-35 22 65

Three-point goals: 2-14 (Buchanan 1-3, Terry 1-3, Reid 0-3, Atchison 0-5). Assists: 7 (Reid 3, Buchanan, Reynolds, Terry, Atchison). Turnovers: 11 (Terry 5, Buchanan, Reynolds, Reid, Atchison, Siebrandt, Washington). Blocked shots: 1 (Howell). Steals: 6 (Reid 2, Terry 2, Buchanan, Siebrandt).

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