A routine layup by Nick Collison early in the second half of Kansas’ 81-73 victory over Valparaiso on Wednesday put the Kansas forward in elite company.
Collison’s shot gave him his eighth point of the night and, more importantly, the 1,000th of his career, a mark reached by just 43 other Jayhawks.
“It’s a nice little honor,” he said. “When I came here, it wasn’t something I thought about. It wasn’t a big goal of mine. I wanted to have a good career, and if you have a good career and play a long time you have a chance to do this kind of thing.”
The Allen Fieldhouse crowd gave Collison the 19th player to score 1,000 career points since Roy Williams took over as coach a standing ovation at the next dead ball, and the fans might have been more excited than the forward.
“It’s real nice, though, because there aren’t many people that have done it,” he said. “Other than that, we’ll just move on and try to get ready for conference.”
Drew Gooden, who reached the 1,000-point milestone Saturday against Tulsa, recorded the assist on Collison’s layup.
“I kind of hoped we could have got it in the same game,” Gooden said, “but he got his at home this game and I got mine a game before. I congratulated him. He’s in the 1,000-point club with me now.”
Collison’s milestone gave Kansas its second straight season of two 1,000-point scorers. Eric Chenowith and Jeff Boschee both reached the mark last year.
While Collison’s fourth basket was his most historic, his final field goal, off another pass from Gooden, was the most important, breaking a 68-all tie and putting the Jayhawks ahead for good.
“It would have been nice if we could have done some things earlier to make it not as close,” he said, “but we didn’t, so it was good to win the game and do the things we needed to do to win the game down the stretch.”
Collison finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds, the 13th double-double of his career. He and fellow big men Gooden and Wayne Simien combined for 57 of the Jayhawks’ 81 points, helping to make up for KU’s 3-of-12 shooting from behind the three-point arc.
“It was a tough zone to play against,” Collison said. “They really pressured the wings and you had to get the ball inside or they’re just going to keep putting on more pressure if you pass it around outside. Before the game, we knew it was a big thing that we had to get the ball inside, in the middle, so we knew all along we had to really be a force in there.”
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Three-point goals: 8-32 (Barton 4-11, Stovall 3-7, Ortiz 1-5, Gomes 0-1, Nelke 0-3, Falu 0-5). Assists: 14 (Nelke 4, Barton 3, Stovall 2, Falu 2, Grafs, Ortiz, Berdiel). Turnovers: 15 (Falu 4, Barton 2, Grafs 2, Stovall 2, Gomes 2, Ortiz 2, Nelke). Blocked shots: 5 (Grafs 3, Barton, Nikkila). Steals: 12 (Barton 4, Grafs 2, Falu 2, Nelke, Stovall, Ortiz, Berdiel). |
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Three-point goals: 7-16 (Boschee 3-8, Hinrich 2-5, Miles 1-1, Lee 1-1, Langford 0-1). Assists: 25 (Miles 7, Hinrich 5, Boschee 5, Gooden 3, Ballard 3, Collison 2). Turnovers: 26 (Miles 7, Collison 4, Gooden 3, Hinrich 3, Ballard 3, Boschee 2, Nash 2, Simien 2). Blocked shots: 11 (Collison 6, Hinrich 3, Simien 2). Steals: 11 (Miles 3, Gooden 2, Hinrich 2, Collison, Ballard, Langford, Simien). |
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| Valparaiso | 33 | 40 | 73 |
| Kansas | 40 | 41 | 81 |
Officials: Rick Hartzell, Steven Pyatt, Rob Wolff.Attendance: 16,300.
