Kansas University basketball fans should be prepared for an aerobic workout today at Allen Fieldhouse.
The number of standing ovations, hand clapping and foot-stomping sessions may rival an all-time high before, during and at halftime of the Big 12 Conference battle between No. 9 Kansas (18-5, 8-1 Big 12) and unranked Iowa State (12-8, 2-7). Here’s what’s on tap starting at noon:
l Former KU All-American Raef LaFrentz, the second-leading scorer in school history, will be in attendance for his jersey-retirement ceremony before the game.
l About 190 former KU players, coaches and managers will be introduced at halftime by announcer Max Falkenstien as part of KU’s 105 years of basketball weekend reunion.
l Sophomore forward Wayne Simien is expected to play for the first time in 12 games.
All that, coupled with the normal atmosphere for a Big 12 battle, adds up to a potential party at Allen.
“We retire 18 total jerseys in 105 years, so I think that’s a pretty good reason to have a party,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “Having roughly 190 lettermen come back because they love the University of Kansas and what the basketball program has meant to them … I think that’s a pretty good reason to have a party.
“Whether it sounds corny or not, the love those people have for the university and what the basketball program has meant to them is something I’m hopeful my guys will feel the same way when they are older, too.”
There’s little danger the current Jayhawks will feel too much love to possess a killer instinct today.
Unless the teams meet in the Big 12 tournament, this is the final time Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison will play against their home-state school.
Hinrich, who hails from Sioux City, and Collison, who is from Iowa Falls, are 3-4 versus the Cyclones, and Hinrich said he was fired up.
“A little bit, but not too much,” said Hinrich, who orally committed to ISU when Tim Floyd was coach but reconsidered after Floyd bolted for the Chicago Bulls five years ago.
“I try to not think about all that and just concentrate on what I have to do,” he said. “I don’t think about it being my home-state school so I have to have my best game of the year or anything like that. I go out and play.”
| When: Noon today.Where: Allen Fieldhouse.Television: Sunflower Broadband channels 13 and 15.Records: KU 18-5, 8-1 Big 12; ISU 12-8, 2-7. |
The Jayhawks pounded ISU, 83-54, in the last meeting between the teams on Jan. 6 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. KU raced to a 22-2 lead and never trailed. Collison scored a career-best 31 points.
Hinrich scored only five points off 2-of-11 shooting but did a nice job defensively on ISU shooting guard Jake Sullivan, who scored 13 points off 6-of-17 shooting. Sullivan averages 18.3 points per game.
Since that game, KU has compiled an 8-2 record, Iowa State a 2-6 mark.
“I’m sure they’ve improved,” Hinrich said. “I felt going into the Iowa State game there they’d be a good team and we’d have to play well to beat them, and I don’t feel any different now.”
Williams is wary of the Cyclones, who lost to Texas Tech, 88-73, Wednesday in Ames.
“I found they played a lot of zone against Texas Tech,” he said. “That’s something I didn’t expect, so we’ve got to do more work on the zone offense at practice. Jake Sullivan is a fantastic competitor, a fantastic shooter and if you give him space he can shoot about as deep as anybody I’ve ever coached against.
“Jackson Vroman (6-10 junior forward, 12.3 ppg) had 24 the other night. We had a heck of a game at their place, 22-2 or something crazy like that. I’d like to get off to the same start and I’d also like to have the same finish we had in the second half at Baylor or the second half at Kansas State.
“We have to make sure somebody knows where Jake Sullivan is all the time and we can’t let Vroman get us in foul trouble. He was 12-for-14 (against Tech) so we have to do a better job that that.”
