DAYTON, OHIO ? Thanks to Kansas’ basketball players, the monkey is off coach Roy Williams’ back.
Literally, figuratively, every which way you want to look at it, the monkey has been caged.
“We took great pleasure in knocking that monkey off coach’s back. I threw it on the ground and did an Andre-the-Giant stomp on it,” KU senior center Eric Chenowith said after the Jayhawks’ 87-58 second-round NCAA Midwest Regional rout of Syracuse on Sunday at Dayton Arena.
“That monkey is in bad shape about now. It’s taken a licking, but keeps on ticking,” Chenowith added after scoring 12 points with five rebounds.
Master motivator Williams, who at a recent team meeting showed his Jayhawks tapes of KU’s 1991 and ’93 runs to the Final Four so they’d see how much fun could be had in the postseason, on Saturday needed another idea to relax and/or inspire KU’s players.
The Jayhawks had been one-win-and-done the past three NCAAs and Williams probably felt KU’s inability to advance past the second round was his personal “monkey.” So he sent wife, Wanda, out to buy a stuffed toy monkey at a store called Natural Wonders on Saturday night.
Williams brought the monkey to KU’s team meeting at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at KU’s team hotel. The coach sat in a chair, put the monkey (named Stank ‘Em by KU’s three female managers) on his back and had each player take turns abusing the furry toy critter.
“He’s a clever coach. It was a great idea. We were so stressed about this game, not getting to the Sweet 16 the last three years,” Chenowith said.
He was one of five Jayhawks in double figures, joining Drew Gooden (17), Jeff Boschee (16), Kenny Gregory (15) and Kirk Hinrich (10).
“Jeff Carey did a Ted DiBiase elbow drop on it and Kirk Hinrich did a suplex,” Chenowith grinned after helping KU our-rebound Syracuse 56-23, the fifth-widest margin in NCAA Tourney history.
A suplex?
“I took it off coach’s back, put it in a headlock and slammed it,” Hinrich said after fighting through a first-half thigh bruise for six assists against four turnovers in 31 minutes.
Williams was so pleased with KU’s play in advancing to next Friday’s Sweet 16 meeting against Illinois, he brought the monkey to his postgame press conference.
| Syracuse | 34 | 24 | 58 |
| Kansas | 39 | 48 | 87 |
“I showed the tapes of the ’91 run to the Final Four and ’93 Final Four,” Williams said. “I showed them how much fun those teams had. That was the theme of the weekend fun. I didn’t have any more tapes to play and I wanted to find a way to loosen them up. This is what I came up with.
“I told the guys I was daggum tired of answering questions about second-round losses so it’s me and the monkey and some great, great young men had a great time today.”
The Jayhawks (26-6) had no problem in beating Syracuse’s much-publicized 2-3 zone defense. KU hit 55.8 percent of its shots, including seven of 14 threes.
Syracuse wound up having major problems with KU’s point-zone defense, hitting 30.4 percent and just five of 27 threes.
“We didn’t let that zone bother us,” said Boschee, who hit four of nine threes.
The Jayhawks listened to their coach and fed the ball inside first before dishing outside.
“The game plan always was to get the ball in the middle,” said Collison, who tied a career high with 13 boards. “We weakened the zone by doing that.”
Gooden set a career high with 15 rebounds.
As far as KU’s zone defense, which held Preston Shumpert to 3-of-11 three-point shooting and Damone Brown to 2-of-9 overall shooting, Williams said: “Shumpert and Brown are two guys who can get their own shots. It was a bad (man-to-man) matchup for us. They are so good on the ball.
“Also our depth is not as good. Kirk took a knee to the thigh early in the game and couldn’t move like we normally see Kirk move. We were able to do some good things defensively and Syracuse missed some shots too.”
Not that the Jayhawks were feeling sorry for the Orangemen, who finished the season 25-9.
“Nick Collison had a good point. He said, ‘Coach, we’ve had some games this year teams have made an ungodly number of shots against us from 30 feet,'” Williams said. “He said, ‘I don’t feel sorry for anybody.’ It finally happened for us.”
Syracuse made five of its first 23 shots and missed seven of eight threes as KU opened a 30-13 lead after 14 minutes.
There was just one first-half blip. KU led 39-29 with 47 seconds left before the Orange scored the final five points.
DeShaun Williams (20 points) hit a layup at :33, and KU called time a few seconds later to set up a final play.
Hinrich was stripped of the ball near midcourt by Allen Griffin, who hit a layup and was fouled intentionally by Brett Ballard.
Griffin cashed a free throw. Syracuse, however, did fail to score on its final possession after being awarded the ball.
“They are really aggressive. You’ve got to be strong with the ball,” said Hinrich.
Ballard’s intentional foul was sort of suspect. His idea was not to intentionally hack Griffin.
“I didn’t get much of him. I was a little surprised at the call,” said Ballard, who hit one three-pointer in 14 minutes. “They said I grabbed his jersey.”
KU coach Williams “challenged the guys at halftime to play the best 20 minutes we’ve played all year.”
The Jayhawks responded big time.
Up 41-36 with 18:59 left, KU went on a 20-6 surge that opened an insurmountable 61-42 gap.
During the run, Chenowith, who hit eight of eight free throws, scored six points, while Hinrich had five, Gooden had four points and Boschee three.
“We couldn’t get down on ourselves at halftime. We knew there were 20 more minutes to play,” Gooden said.
“We were not mad. It was a matter of, ‘Can we come out in the second half and show poise?'” said Gregory, who along with fellow senior Chenowith advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time.
“I think we played a great game overall. We worked the ball against their zone, were active in our zone and went to the boards.”
KU took care of the boards, that is for sure.
“We emphasized even though we were in a zone, everybody go to the boards,” Gregory said. “We sent everybody in there and boxed out.”
The Jayhawks did everything well perhaps because they were so relaxed.
“I think it’s important to have fun,” said Williams, who in the past has had the Jayhawks spit in the Mississippi River for good luck in past Final Fours.
“That was the theme of the whole weekend, to make sure the guys gave every ounce of energy they had, yet having fun.
“I try to add some humor to college basketball. Heck, I’ve been picked on pretty good the last three years. I want to have some fun, too,” he grinned.
He and his Jayhawks will have lots of fun at the Sweet 16. The Jayhawks and No. 1 seed Illinois will meet at a yet-to-be-determined time Friday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
“I can’t wait,” Chenowith said. “It’s my first Sweet 16. Our work is not finished.”
Three-point goals: 5-27 (Shumpert 3-11, Williams 2-9, Brown 0-1, McClanaghan 0-1, Griffin 0-5). Assists: 12 (Shumpert 3, Griffin 3, Williams 3, Duany, Thues, Celuck). Turnovers: 6 (Williams 2, Shumpert, Brown, Griffin, Duany). Blocked shots: 4 (Celuck 3, McNeil). Steals: 10 (Williams 4, Shumpert 3, Brown, Griffin, Thues). |
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Three-point goals: 7-14 (Boschee 4-9, Ballard 1-1, Harrison 1-1, Hinrich 1-2, Gregory 0-1). Assists: 17 (Hinrich 6, Gooden 4, Collison 3, Gregory, Boschee, Ballard, Kappelmann). Turnovers: 20 (Collison 6, Hinrich 4, Gooden 3, Boschee 3, Chenowith 2, Gregory, Ballard). Blocked shots: 5 (Gooden 3, Hinrich, Chenowith). Steals: 0 |
