The thought of Kansas University’s senior men’s basketball players choking back tears for any reason other than their own Senior Day celebration was too much for Drew Gooden.
So Gooden, KU’s sophomore forward playing just his second game since a five-game injury sabbatical, came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points in the Jayhawks’ 75-59 victory over Missouri on Sunday at raucous Allen Fieldhouse.
| Missouri | 31 | 28 | 59 |
| Kansas | 30 | 45 | 75 |
Attendance: 16,300
“You want your seniors to go out with a win,” Gooden said after collecting seven rebounds, a steal and an assist in 25 minutes. “If you don’t win today, giving their speeches would be a bad thing. The win changed the whole course of the day.”
It’s a Kansas tradition for its outgoing senior class to be honored with a pregame shower of flowers and take the microphone afterward to address the fieldhouse crowd, and Sunday was no exception.
It’s also a KU tradition for the outgoing senior class to struggle a bit in its final home game at storied Allen Fieldhouse, and again Sunday was no exception.
“Everyone wants to go out with a win,” said sophomore Nick Collison, who had his first double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds. “It’s a big deal. You want to win so much for those guys. All of us were going a little bit harder. Not that we don’t go hard, but we wanted to do everything in our power to make sure they left on a good note. It was just something a little extra.”
The lovefest honoring KU’s three outgoing seniors Kenny Gregory, Eric Chenowith and Luke Axtell even made some of the underclassmen ponder their own collegiate mortality.
“Nick and I were talking about that,” Gooden said. “We were saying that we just finished our sophomore years at the fieldhouse. Your time in college just flies by. We’re already halfway done with our college careers.”
Or more. Gooden admits he has entertained thoughts of leaving KU early for the NBA, but the Senior Day good vibes might be enough to give him pause.
“Hopefully,” Gooden said, “I’ll be here for my senior year, too.”
But first there’s the matter of the rest of his sophomore season.
Gooden feels he was cheated by his five-game benching. He was found to have a fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist and sat out KU’s games against Oklahoma State, Baylor, Iowa State, Colorado and Baylor.
Despite Kansas coach Roy Williams’ concerns that Gooden might be slow to return, Gooden had 17 points and seven boards in 21 minutes against Kansas State on Wednesday, and 19 points and seven boards Sunday against Mizzou.
“I don’t think I had any extra bounce, but I did like getting my legs back from just watching,” Gooden said. “I had goals for myself and as a team. I wanted to win the conference and the Big 12 tournament and go into the NCAA Tournament and do well. I feel two of my personal goals were taken away from me being on the bench. I think being on the bench hurt my chances of being first-team All-Big 12, so I want to do everything I can to reach the other goals.”
Even if it means being a cheerleader again. Relegated to that role for five games by his injury, Gooden figuratively picked up the pompoms again late Sunday.
In the midst of Kansas’ backbreaking run during which the Jayhawks held the Tigers without a field goal for nearly seven minutes in turning a 53-49 lead into a 73-57 edge Gooden scored eight of Kansas’ 10 points.
His stickback with 5 1/2 minutes left gave Kansas a 63-51 cushion, and as he headed to the bench for a breather he stopped in front of Williams on the bench and turned to the crowd, raising his arms to encourage a cacophony from the assembled throng.
The Allen Fieldhouse denizens obliged.
“I just wanted them to be as fired up as the crowd in Columbia,” Gooden said, referring to the wild Tigers faithful who helped Missouri claim a 75-66 victory in the teams’ last meeting. “They had guys in dresses running around getting the crowd hyped. I wanted the same feeling here.”
Kansas, seeded second in next week’s Big 12 tournament, will open the tourney at 6 p.m. Friday. The Jayhawks will face the winner of Thursday’s Nebraska-Kansas State game.
Three-point goals: 8-23 (Gilbert 5-11, Paulding 1-2, Stokes 1-1, Grawer 1-7, Gage 0-1, Rush 0-1). Assists: 8 (Grawer 3, Soyoye, Johnson, Gilbert, Stokes, Bryant). Turnovers: 21 (Soyoye 5, Johnson 3, Rush 3, Gilbert 2, Grawer 2, Bryant 2, Paulding, Gage). Blocked shots: 4 (Johnson 3, Paulding). Steals: 5 (Soyoye, Johnson, Gilbert, Bryant, Rush). |
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Three-point goals: 1-13 (Hinrich 1-3, Chenowith 0-1, Gregory 0-2, Boschee 0-6). Assists: 15 (Collison 4, Hinrich 4, Gregory 3, Boschee 3, Gooden). Turnovers: 14 (Collison 4, Hinrich 4, Gooden 2, Gregory, Boschee). Blocked shots: 4 (Collison 2, Chenowith 2). Steals: 5 (Boschee 2, Gregory, Chenowith, Gooden). |
