DAYTON, OHIO ? One of Cal State Northridge’s players had promised Kansas “40 minutes of hell” on Friday night. Instead, the Matadors suffered through 41/2 minutes of hell.
No doubt that stretch before halftime when Kansas outscored the Matadors 17-0 was the turning point in the Jayhawks’ 99-75 victory in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
One way coach Bobby Braswell might have stopped the bleeding would have been to re-insert Brian Heinle and Jeff Parris, his best inside players. But Braswell didn’t because both had already picked up two fouls apiece.
“That’s my philosophy,” Braswell said. “I never had any second thoughts. When guys are in foul trouble we can’t afford for them to pick up a third foul. We’ve done it all season.”
In the final analysis, though, the Matadors could not overcome that 17-0 Kansas blitz before intermission.
“We were a little bit too tentative inside,” Braswell said. “I don’t know if we were worried about fouls or what.”
Heinle certainly didn’t look like the Big Sky Conference player of the year in the first half. The 6-foot-9 senior missed four of five shots and didn’t snatch a single board.
“I was kind of tentative in the first half,” Heinle said. “I was trying to assert myself more in the second half. I knew the team needed me to get going again.”
Heinle finished with 13 points and just two boards after leading the Big Sky in both categories with averages of 20.4 and 9.4 respectively. Heinle missed 13 of his 17 shots and had no luck trying to stop Kansas’ potent inside game.
“They’ve got three great players there, and they kept coming at us,” Heinle said. “We knew what they were going to do and they played as good a game as we’ve seen them play.”
Braswell seconded that notion.
“Tonight we played a good basketball team on a mission,” the fifth-year CSN coach said. “We saw tape of their last six or seven games and this is the best they played.”
Kansas shot nearly 61 percent, outrebounded the Matadors 46-25 and forced the Californians into launching 30 three-point attempts. KU’s starting front line of Nick Collison, Kenny Gregory and Drew Gooden accounted for 61 points and 28 boards.
“They really hurt us on the inside,” Braswell said. “We didn’t play as tough as we needed and they had their way with us.”
Still, Braswell had to feel good about Cal State Northridge’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and the seven seniors who led them to the Promised Land.
“This group of guys are truly been a gift of God to me,” Braswell said. “These guys are really survivors.”
Four Matadors scored in double figures, and all four were seniors. Parris had 18, John Burrell 16, Heinle 13 and Carl Holmes the guard who had made the “40 minutes of hell” statement on Thursday 12.
Cal State Northridge finished with a 22-10 record and it’s rumored Braswell will be moving on, although he soft-pedaled that rumor by saying all he has been thinking about for the last couple of weeks are the Big Sky and NCAA tournaments.
Three-point goals: 13-30 (Burrell 4-7, Holmes 4-8, Heinle 3-8, Carr 1-2, McCain 1-5). Assists: 17 (Carr 10, Parris 3, Burrell 2, Heinle, McCain). Turnovers: 9 (Carr 3, Heinle 2, Holmes, McCain, Busch, Parris). Blocked shots: 2 (Heinle, Parris). Steals: 6 (Carr 4, Holmes, Burrell). |
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Three-point goals: 9-18 (Boschee 4-8, Ballard 2-4, Gregory 1-1, Gooden 1-1, Hinrich 1-4). Assists: 26 (Hinrich 9, Ballard 5, Gregory 4, Boschee 3, Collison 2, Gooden 2, Carey). Turnovers: 15 (Hinrich 6, Collison 2, Boschee 2, Chenowith 2, Gregory, Gooden, Ballard). Blocked shots: 4 (Collison 2, Gooden, Carey). Steals: 5 (Hinrich 3, Gregory, Gooden). |
Cal State Northridge | 37 | 38 | 75 |
Kansas | 52 | 47 | 99 |
Technical foul: Hinrich