LINCOLN, NEB. ? Nebraska hit some wide-open threes.
The Cornhuskers hit some well guarded threes.
And the Huskers knocked in at least one trifecta from what seemed just a couple of strides past midcourt in Kansas’ 88-87 victory over NU at Devaney Center.
“(Cary) Cochran’s eyes lit up against our zone. One time he caught it near the Husker symbol on the court and it was all net. I said, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding,”‘ KU junior Drew Gooden said after KU survived a three-point barrage, including a second-half 30-footer by senior bomber Cochran.
“He hit another one right after that and I said, ‘No way.’ They were on fire.”
Cochran hit six threes in 12 attempts, John Robinson six in 11 attempts and Brian Conklin four threes in six attempts.
NU canned a school-record 18 of 37 threes, surpassing the old record of 15 set at Texas earlier this season.
Kansas, at the same time, allowed a school-record number of threes. The old record was 17 threes made by Kentucky on Dec. 9, 1989.
“They’ve got good shooters,” KU senior Jeff Boschee. “Cochran was in a zone. With five minutes to go they are making three after three. It gets pretty tiring. It’s tough to fight through all those screens.”
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Three-point goals: 5-12 (Boschee 3-8, Hinrich 1-1, Langford 1-1, Miles 0-1, Ballard 0-1). Assists: 20 (Miles 6, Gooden 4, Collison 4, Ballard 3, Hinrich 2, Boschee). Turnovers: 9 (Collison 3, Gooden 2, Hinrich, Miles, Ballard, team). Blocked shots: 10 (Collison 5, Gooden 3, Langford, Simien). Steals: 5 (Hinrich 3, Gooden, Miles). |
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Three-point goals: 18-37 (Robinson 6-11, Cochran 6-12, Conklin 4-6, Clemmons 2-3, Muhleisen 0-5). Assists: 21 (Robinson 6, Cochran 5, Clemmons 4, Turek 3, Muhleisen 2, Conklin). Turnovers: 8 (Clemmons 3, Robinson 2, Conklin, Thomas, Simms). Blocked shots: none.Steals: 6 (Robinson 3, Muhleisen 2, Clemmons). |
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| Kansas | 41 | 47 | 88 |
| Nebraska | 41 | 46 | 87 |
Officials: Tom O’Neill, Steve Welmer, Mark Whitehead. Attendance: 14,055.
The Jayhawks, who wrapped up the undisputed Big 12 title on Sunday, showed some toughness themselves.
KU trailed by as many as 12 points, at 67-55 with 13:41 left.
The Jayhawks had to play without Kirk Hinrich from 14:34 to 5:18 as he sat with four fouls. He eventually fouled out with less than a minute left.
What’s more, Nick Collison played just 10 minutes the second half.
Still, KU won with contributions from Brett Ballard, Keith Langford and Jeff Carey.
“It was a very tough game,” Collison said. “Everybody knows we’ve got to keep grinding it out and playing. We’ve gotten better at that over the years, to grind it out.
“We might have been a little lucky tonight. They outplayed us and probably deserved to win. But we had some guys step up like Keith and Brett Ballard who showed how important they are to the team. Keith probably hit the biggest shot of his life.”
Langford stroked a three at :33, erasing an 87-85 deficit and giving the Jayhawks the lead for good.
Block party: Collison had five blocks Sunday after blocking four Husker shots in KU’s 96-57 win on Jan. 9 in Lawrence. He had six blocks in a game last year against NU and also had six against the Huskers his freshman year, his career high in blocks.
“I have no idea what happens. I average five or six blocks against them,” Collison said.
Why Ballard?: KU coach Roy Williams had Ballard running the point late instead of freshman Aaron Miles.
“I think one thing we all know that Brett can really shoot the ball,” Williams said. “Nebraska decided to not play Aaron. We were having to come from behind. It was important to score.
“They decided they were not going to play Aaron or Brett, but Brett can make more (outside shots) and Brett is a little more experienced running around screens.”
NU versus No. 1: Nebraska is now 3-11 all-time against No. 1 teams, 0-7 versus Kansas when the Jayhawks were No. 1. The Huskers lost to top-ranked KU teams in Lincoln in 1952 (69-66), 1990 (98-93) and 1997 (85-65) and also fell to No. 1 KU in Lawrence in 1990 (94-67), 1997 (82-77, OT) and earlier this season (96-57). Nebraska beat Missouri, 67-51, in 1982 for its last win against a No. 1-ranked team.
Big crowd: Sunday’s game marked Nebraska’s second sellout of the season. NU drew 13,530 fans for its 80-69 win over Texas Tech on Jan. 30. Prior to Tech, Nebraska last had a sellout in 1997 when KU fell to the Huskers 84-69.
Stats, facts: The 12-point come-from-behind win was fifth-largest comeback in the Williams era. NU’s 10 threes in the second half tied for the second-most threes made by an opponent in a half in the Williams era and marked the most threes since East Tennessee State hit 10 on Jan. 3, 1995. NU’s eight threes in the first half tied for sixth-most threes by a foe in a half in the Williams era. Gooden has 20 double-doubles and is one shy of tying Raef LaFrentz’s school record total in 1997. Ballard played a season-high 15 minutes. Miles tied career-bests with six made free throws and six rebounds.
