Nash has malfunction

By Gary Bedore Mar 20, 2004

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo

KU's Wayne Simien (23) snags an Illinois-Chicago alley-oop intended for Marcetteaus McGee.

Kansas City, Mo ? Bryant Nash doesn’t know how it happened, but he put his shorts on backwards Friday night at Kemper Arena.

“J.R. Giddens was giggling like a little girl. Everybody came up to me and said, ‘You’ve got your shorts on backwards,”’ Nash, Kansas University’s senior forward, said after playing four minutes with a uniform malfunction during the Jayhawks’ first-round NCAA Tournament win over Illinois-Chicago.

“It was pretty hilarious. I changed ’em over in the huddle.”

Just like when former Oklahoma State player Doug Gottlieb changed his shorts in a huddle when he had his shorts on backwards in a KU-OSU game several years ago in Allen Fieldhouse, Nash turned his shorts around with his teammates as a shield.

“I told him he had his shorts backwards. It was funny. I’ve never seen anything like that,” KU junior Keith Langford said. “He got them turned around during the timeout.”

Of the incident, Giddens, who erupted for 17 points off 3-of-4 three-point shooting, said: “I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t think he had them on backwards. The camera view sometimes … it’s like a mirror.”

Oh, towel boy: KU junior Wayne Simien was not pleased that he slipped on a wet spot and did the “ballerina splits” during the first half.

He’d caused the wet spot on the previous possession after diving on the court.

“What’s up with that? We’ve got to get some towel boys out there, man,” Simien said.

Simien, by the way, scored 13 points and has 1,006 points for his career. He’s the 47th Jayhawk to pass 1,000.

Superman returns: KU coach Bill Self, on why Simien returned to the game the second half after tweaking the groin that has bothered him all season:

“He’s hurting, certainly, but the thinking was, you’re trying to win today,” Self said. “We are a lot better basketball team when he’s in the game. I didn’t feel safe when they got it to 10 or 11 several times (second half after trailing by 22 first half). Plus, he said he was fine, and the doctors were back there and said he needed to try to play.

“We don’t know what his availability will be for Sunday, but certainly they didn’t think he could hurt it worse by playing tonight. If he wouldn’t have started the second half, it would have been tight, and he wouldn’t have been available at all. We thought we should use him.”

Simien — he said no way he’d miss Sunday’s game — said he would have ice treatment through the night Friday.

Good D: KU used Langford and other defenders on Cedrick Banks, who hit five of 18 shots and scored 15 points.

“They did a good job on him but lost him a couple of times,” Self said. “He runs off screens hard. I thought we did a nice job overall.”

Flag flap: UIC’s yell leaders hoisted three school flags to KU’s one in pregame ceremonies. In what could have been a bad omen, the KU flag fell off its post, taking a few minutes for KU’s yell leaders to repair.
Pacific to provide next test: KU will next meet Pacific, a 66-58 winner Friday over Providence.

Pacific is led by Big West player of the year Miah Davis, a 6-foot senior guard from Bremerton, Wash., who had 19 points in the surprising win over the Friars.

Pacific has won 16 games in a row, the country’s second-longest win streak behind Gonzaga (20).

“To be honest, I think we’re playing the best team,” Self said of Pacific being better than Providence. “We thought that going into tonight, and after seeing the result, it proved that.”