Sooners relish underdog role

By Chuck Woodling     Mar 11, 2001

? In case you hadn’t noticed, not a single member of Oklahoma University’s men’s basketball team earned All-Big 12 honors.

Not first team. Not second team. Not third team.

Oklahoma 24 38 62
Kansas 30 27 57

Attendance: 19,100

“We don’t have any McDonald’s All-Americans,” said OU’s Nolan Johnson, an all-league honorable mention pick, “so we have to play harder than our opponents every game.”

No one who saw Oklahoma smother Kansas, 62-57, on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament could accuse the Sooners of loafing.

Still, hard work is one thing and talent is another.

“We’re not winning 25 games because we play harder,” OU coach Kelvin Sampson said. “These are good players. Nolan Johnson may not be good enough to make all-conference, but he’s good. Kelley Newton may not be good enough to make all-conference, but he’s a good player.”

Yes, but who are these guys who tied for second place during the regular season and will take a 25-6 record into today’s 2 p.m. championship game against Texas?

They have the same names as the players who bowed to Kansas, 69-61, nearly two months ago in Norman.

“I don’t think any of our kids could even spell Oklahoma then,” Sampson said. “But we got better and better and better a lot better than we were then.”

Kansas had a size advantage over the Sooners their tallest regular is 6-foot-8 Aaron McGhee back in mid-January and the Jayhawks had a size advantage on Saturday.

Yet KU’s trio of big men Eric Chenowith, Nick Collison and Drew Gooden managed just two field goals, both by Collison, in the second half.

“If you look at our team,” Sampson said, “if size wins games why didn’t we lose by 20? We don’t have size, but we have quickness and we’re smart. We play smart.”

Holding Kansas to 27 second-half points had a lot to do with both. Rarely did the Jayhawks have an open look and seldom were guards Kirk Hinrich and Jeff Boschee able to find any of the three big men open inside.

“The key to guarding Kansas,” Sampson said, “is that everybody focuses on the low post, but the guys who dagger you are Hinrich and Boschee outside. Our little guys did a good job guarding them.”

Hinrich, the league’s most accurate three-point shooter, was 2-for-7 behind the arc. Boschee was 3-for-5, but all five of his three-point shots were in the first half.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s Newton was able to unload 12 three-point attempts. Newton, a senior guard, made five, including one with 1:46 remaining that broke a 54-54 deadlock and gave the Sooners a lead they never relinquished.

“It was real sweet,” said Newton, a Kansas City Wyandotte product who transferred to OU last season from Neosho CC. “Just playing here last year was a dream come true. This year it’s real good our team was able to win against Kansas.”

Oklahoma won despite shooting 32.7 percent (17 of 52) and making only eight of 28 three-point attempts. But the Sooners made 20 of 24 free throw attempts.

“We like being the underdog,” said soph guard Hollis Price. “Earlier in the year we were ranked No. 13 and that didn’t do us no good, and we dropped out of the Top 25.”

OKLAHOMA (62) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Kelley Newton 330 5-13 2-2 3-6 2 17
Jameel Heywood 28 2-3 2-3 5-9 3 6
Aaron McGhee 21 3-10 2-3 2-4 1 8
Nolan Johnson 33 4-10 7-8 0-4 4 16
Hollis Price 37 0-8 6-6 1-6 2 6
Tim Heskett 17 1-4 0-0 0-2 1 3
Daryan Selvy 24 2-4 1-2 1-2 4 6
Johnnie Gilbert 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0
Team 1-4
Totals 17-52 20-24 13-37 18 62

Three-point goals: 8-28 (Newton 5-12, Selvy 1-2, Heskett 1-4, Johnson 1-5, Price 0-5). Assists: 7 (Price 5, Heskett 2). Turnovers: 13 (Price 4, Selvy 4, McGhee 3, Heywood 2). Blocked shots: 0. Steals: 6 (Price 3, Newton 2, Heywood).

KANSAS (57) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Drew Gooden 30 2-9 3-4 2-6 3 7
Kenny Gregory 32 5-9 1-1 3-6 5 11
Eric Chenowith 25 3-5 0-1 1-7 3 6
Kirk Hinrich 38 3-11 4-4 0-5 2 12
Jeff Boschee 37 4-9 0-0 0-2 2 11
Nick Collison 27 2-8 4-6 4-8 4 8
Brett Ballard 9 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2
Jeff Carey 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Team 1-1
Totals 20-53 12-16 11-35 20 57

Three-point goals: 5-15 (Boschee 3-5, Hinrich 2-7, Gooden 0-1, Gregory 0-1, Ballard 0-1). Assists: 12 (Hinrich 6, Collison 3, Gooden 2, Gregory). Turnovers: 13 (Gooden 4, Gregory 3, Collison 3, Hinrich 2, Boschee). Blocked shots: 3 (Chenowith 2, Gooden). Steals: 8 (Gregory 2, Hinrich 2, Boschee 2, Gooden, Collison).

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