KU Notebook: ‘Prowler’ strikes

By Gary Bedore     Nov 20, 2002

That was not Kenny Gregory flying through the air putting back a vicious one-hand slam dunk off a missed shot on Tuesday night.

It was not Paul Pierce.

Nor was it Danny Manning.

Those athletic Jayhawks long ago used up their years of eligibility.

But in an athletic act perhaps not seen since the days of Gregory, junior reserve swingman Bryant Nash soared to rip home a slam dunk off a Kirk Hinrich miss in the first half of KU’s 81-57 victory over Holy Cross at Allen Fieldhouse.

“They call me ‘The Prowler,'” the 6-foot-6, 205-pound Nash said with a grin. “My friends I used to play with on the Texas Blue Chips (AAU team) called me that. I start creeping around and go for the ball. Nobody sees me and I go in and dunk it.”

Nash, who played 16 minutes, also had a vicious conventional dunk off a feed from Hinrich in the second half.

“It,” Nash said, “was a lot of fun. I feel a whole lot more confident this year and hope to contribute a lot to this team.”

Rejection: Wayne Simien had a violent block of a Tim Szatko shot in the second half. The crowd of 16,300 fans went wild after the block, which led to a KU fast break.

“It’s part of the game. He laid it up, brought it up and I got it. I was trying to smash it as hard as I could,” Simien said. “It was definitely a momentum-builder. Something like that gets the crowd into it.”

Sophomore power forward Simien scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 32 minutes. Not bad for a guy who was out with tendinitis in his right ankle in the last exhibition. He said his foot had been feeling great of late and he could have played in the Washburn game but was held out as a precaution.

NIT sellout: Allen Fieldhouse filled up nicely Tuesday despite the fact just 1,017 student tickets had been sold by 5 p.m.

Normally, more than 7,000 students attend games at the fieldhouse.

Tickets for the Preseason NIT were included on the public season-ticket package, but not included on the students’ combination football/basketball ticket package, which is $100 for six football and 16 basketball games.

The public season-ticket holders were charged for two extra games, while the students’ combo package was not adjusted.

“This is separate event. The ticket revenue from this event goes to the NIT,” KU senior associate athletic director Richard Konzem said. “We have to establish a separate ticket price, which is $5 per game.

“Our students buy a combo ticket that includes football and basketball for $100. If we have two games in the NIT, that means $10 of the $100 ticket would go to the NIT. Rather than raise the student ticket price to $110 we left it the same.

“If we have six football games and 16 basketball and that’s 22 games, our tickets come out to about $4 apiece. We couldn’t sacrifice $10 from every (combo) ticket.”

Just 638 student tickets have been sold so far for Friday’s game.

¢

Giddens in fold: J.R. Giddens, a 6-5 guard from Oklahoma City’s John Marshall High, officially signed with KU on Tuesday at a ceremony at the Marshall High school library. It was a joint ceremony, as Adam Liberty, a 6-3 guard, signed with Wichita State.

Giddens averaged 25.0 points and 7.2 boards a game his junior season. He had orally committed to KU in April.

“J.R. was elated to finally sign. He was so happy to finally be a Jayhawk,” Giddens’ mom, Dianna, said, noting several relatives and friends attended, plus the entire Marshall hoops team and some media members.

Mike Sullivan of rivalshoops.com ranks KU’s class of Giddens, Jeremy Case, David Padgett and Omar Wilkes the No. 11 class in the U.S. behind Oklahoma, Arkansas, Maryland, Duke, Pitt, Michigan State, Arizona, LSU, Syracuse and DePaul. Giddens is Sullivan’s No. 37-rated player.

“J.R. is an athletic youngster with great enthusiasm,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “He talks more than anybody I’ve seen. He has a big-time flair for the game, runner, jumper with great athleticism.”

¢

Fingleton eligible in December: A former McDonald’s All American will join Holy Cross’ team on Dec. 23.

He’s Neil Fingleton, a 7-foot-6, 300-pound sophomore from Durham, England, who played in just one game in his one season at the University of North Carolina.

KU Notebook: ‘Prowler’ strikes

By Staff     Nov 20, 2002

That was not Kenny Gregory flying through the air putting back a vicious one-hand slam dunk off a missed shot on Tuesday night.

It was not Paul Pierce.

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Nor was it Danny Manning.

Those athletic Jayhawks long ago used up their years of eligibility.

But in an athletic act perhaps not seen since the days of Gregory, junior reserve swingman Bryant Nash soared to rip home a slam dunk off a Kirk Hinrich miss in the first half of KU’s 81-57 victory over Holy Cross at Allen Fieldhouse.

“They call me ‘The Prowler,'” the 6-foot-6, 205-pound Nash said with a grin. “My friends I used to play with on the Texas Blue Chips (AAU team) called me that. I start creeping around and go for the ball. Nobody sees me and I go in and dunk it.”

Nash, who played 16 minutes, also had a vicious conventional dunk off a feed from Hinrich in the second half.

“It,” Nash said, “was a lot of fun. I feel a whole lot more confident this year and hope to contribute a lot to this team.”

Rejection: Wayne Simien had a violent block of a Tim Szatko shot in the second half. The crowd of 16,300 fans went wild after the block, which led to a KU fast break.

“It’s part of the game. He laid it up, brought it up and I got it. I was trying to smash it as hard as I could,” Simien said. “It was definitely a momentum-builder. Something like that gets the crowd into it.”

Sophomore power forward Simien scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 32 minutes. Not bad for a guy who was out with tendinitis in his right ankle in the last exhibition. He said his foot had been feeling great of late and he could have played in the Washburn game but was held out as a precaution.

NIT sellout: Allen Fieldhouse filled up nicely Tuesday despite the fact just 1,017 student tickets had been sold by 5 p.m.

Normally, more than 7,000 students attend games at the fieldhouse.

Tickets for the Preseason NIT were included on the public season-ticket package, but not included on the students’ combination football/basketball ticket package, which is $100 for six football and 16 basketball games.

The public season-ticket holders were charged for two extra games, while the students’ combo package was not adjusted.

“This is separate event. The ticket revenue from this event goes to the NIT,” KU senior associate athletic director Richard Konzem said. “We have to establish a separate ticket price, which is $5 per game.

“Our students buy a combo ticket that includes football and basketball for $100. If we have two games in the NIT, that means $10 of the $100 ticket would go to the NIT. Rather than raise the student ticket price to $110 we left it the same.

“If we have six football games and 16 basketball and that’s 22 games, our tickets come out to about $4 apiece. We couldn’t sacrifice $10 from every (combo) ticket.”

Just 638 student tickets have been sold so far for Friday’s game.

Giddens in fold: J.R. Giddens, a 6-5 guard from Oklahoma City’s John Marshall High, officially signed with KU on Tuesday at a ceremony at the Marshall High school library. It was a joint ceremony, as Adam Liberty, a 6-3 guard, signed with Wichita State.

Giddens averaged 25.0 points and 7.2 boards a game his junior season. He had orally committed to KU in April.

“J.R. was elated to finally sign. He was so happy to finally be a Jayhawk,” Giddens’ mom, Dianna, said, noting several relatives and friends attended, plus the entire Marshall hoops team and some media members.

Mike Sullivan of rivalshoops.com ranks KU’s class of Giddens, Jeremy Case, David Padgett and Omar Wilkes the No. 11 class in the U.S. behind Oklahoma, Arkansas, Maryland, Duke, Pitt, Michigan State, Arizona, LSU, Syracuse and DePaul. Giddens is Sullivan’s No. 37-rated player.

“J.R. is an athletic youngster with great enthusiasm,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “He talks more than anybody I’ve seen. He has a big-time flair for the game, runner, jumper with great athleticism.”

¢

Fingleton eligible in December: A former McDonald’s All American will join Holy Cross’ team on Dec. 23.

He’s Neil Fingleton, a 7-foot-6, 300-pound sophomore from Durham, England, who played in just one game in his one season at the University of North Carolina.

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