New Orleans ? Marquette played perhaps its best game in an 83-69 NCAA Midwest Regional final victory against top-seeded Kentucky March 29 at Minneapolis.
The Golden Eagles didn’t come close to that kind of performance Saturday in a 94-61 national semifinal loss to Kansas University at the Superdome.
KU coach Roy Williams knows his team can’t afford to have a similar dropoff in Monday night’s national championship game.
“I hope there’s some left in us,” said Williams, whose Jayhawks became the first Big 12 Conference team to reach the title game. “I thought Marquette was sensational. We do put together tapes to try to give our team information. I said, ‘Let’s not take too many clips, too many plays from that Kentucky game.’ Because they really did. They were sensational.”
The Golden Eagles were not sensational against the Jayhawks. Kansas outscored Marquette 16-2 on fastbreak points, 18-9 on bench points and held a 52-39 advantage on the glass.
Marquette played Kansas close for the first seven minutes, then the Jayhawks pulled away with an 18-4 run.
When it was over, Williams had earned his first trip to the national finals since 1991. If he can keep the Jayhawks focused for two more days, he could leave the Big Easy with his first NCAA championship.
“I think in college basketball you’re still dealing with 19-, 20-, 21-year-old kids,” Williams said. “Who knows what’s going to be in their mind the next day? So our focus is to play the best we can, practice the best we can tomorrow and hopefully be able to play the best we’ve played the entire season on Monday night.”
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Personal foul: Not everything went perfectly for Williams during Saturday’s game. Senior forward Nick Collison accidentally scratched Williams near his left eye during a timeout.
“I told him he’s the only player I’ve ever had that’s hit me,” Williams quipped. “Player brutality.”
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Go spit: A group that included Williams, wife Wanda, former KU athletic director Bob Frederick, broadcaster Max Falkenstien and former Kansas player and assistant coach Jerry Waugh walked to the end of the River Walk Saturday to spit in the Mississippi River for good luck.
“We had to climb down to the rocks to make sure our deposit was properly credited,” Falkenstien said.
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Etc.: Williams is 418-100 in 15 years at KU, including 34-13 in the NCAA Tournament. … The victory against No. 9 Marquette makes KU 26-26 against Top-10 teams in the Williams era.
