Anaheim, Calif. ? Kansas guard Kirk Hinrich made about every big shot there was to make in Saturday’s NCAA tournament regional final game against Arizona.
But it was his assist that proved to be pivotal.
Hinrich noticed, in the waning minutes, that guard Keith Langford was in a bit of a funk with scorers Nick Collison and Aaron Miles on the bench. So Hinrich delivered a quick pep talk.
“I told him, ‘Look, we need you to score,'” Hinrich said.
“‘You’ve got to step up now, because we are going to win this game.”
Langford heeded the suggestion. He then played key roles during the final minute, which enabled second-seeded Kansas to hold on for the 78-75 upset of No. 1 seed Arizona at Arrowhead Pond.
First, Langford hit a driving layup through traffic that give the Jayhawks a three-point advantage with 50 seconds left. Then he went shifted to defense and drew a charge on Luke Walton as the Arizona forward drove toward the basket with 43.4 seconds remaining.
Langford attributed his play to Hinrich’s encouragement.
“That meant a lot to me that he came to me and put it on my shoulders,” said Langford, who finished with 13 points.
Langford torched the UA for 27 points in their earlier matchup this season.
“He’s a senior and he did what great seniors do, and that’s provide leadership,” Langford said.
And with that, Langford took advantage of a situation when he saw an opening in the UA’s zone.
“That last possession, I saw a seam and I thought, ‘I’m going to get in there,'” he said. “(Kansas coach Roy Williams) told me to keep attacking.
“That’s a shot that I take a lot, and luckily it went in.”
Without any hesitation, Langford hustled to the other end and planted his feet firmly underneath the basket as the 6-foot-8-inch Walton came slamming through.
“I was tired as all get-out,” said Langford, a 6-4 sophomore. “But I just slid over there and stood right there. He ran right into me.”
Langford’s hustle and mentality toward the end seemed to epitomize the Jayhawks throughout. Junior transfer center Jeff Graves also came up with some huge plays, as did Hinrich, Aaron Miles and reserve guard Michael Lee.
Graves might have had the hustle play of the night when he fought through traffic to tip in a missed three-pointer. That gave the Jayhawks a 72-69 lead.
Plays like that and those by Langford spoke to the determination Kansas had to return to the Final Four for the second straight year.
“If we were going to go out, we were going to go out and give it everything that we had,” said Hinrich, who scored a game-high 28 points. “That was the consensus in there. We weren’t going to leave anything out there.”
The last time the Jayhawks played against Arizona, the Wildcats fought back from a 20-point second-half deficit and beat Kansas by 17 points in January.
Hinrich said he took it personally this time, countering Arizona’s zone by knocking down key perimeter shots.
Hinrich was 6 of 17 from three- point range, 10 of 23 from the field.
“It was like the last time, I had a lot of open shots,” Hinrich said. “The way Arizona plays its zone, it makes it real hard to penetrate. But I had a lot of open shots.
“We just kept our heads down and kept attacking until we got the job done.”
WIBW video: Seniors proud of teams effort
Photos: Celebrations around Lawrence
Hear Roy: Arizona postgame comments
Box score: get the stats