Round Two to OSU

By Gary Bedore     Mar 13, 2005

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo
Oklahoma State's Joey Graham (14) smacks Kansas University's C.J. Giles in the face as he scores in the lane in the Cowboys' 78-75 victory. OSU edged the Jayhawks on Saturday in Kansas City, Mo., and will face Texas Tech in the championship game of the Big 12 Conference tournament.

? Keith Langford, who checked out of Lawrence Memorial Hospital on Saturday morning, worked out Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.

Yes, some good news came out of KU’s basketball camp on an otherwise gloomy day — a day Oklahoma State nudged the Jayhawks, 78-75, in a Big 12 Conference tournament semifinal thriller at Kemper Arena.

“I’d say 9.97,” Langford said, asked to rate the condition of his badly bruised left ankle on a scale of 1-10. “I’m definitely ready. I was ready to go if we’d have played tomorrow.”

The Jayhawks won’t be playing today. The Big 12 championship has been reserved for South Division schools Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

“Now, I’ll get a week of practice and have more time to get over this ‘gastric whatever it’s called,'” added Langford, who was hospitalized not for his ankle problem, but a severe bout of the stomach flu.

He worked out Saturday afternoon before the OSU game, the first time he had tested the ankle since injuring it seven days ago at Missouri.

“I thought I’d be able to play today,” said Langford, who left Lawrence thinking there was a chance to go. “I tried to move around, but considering how I’d been feeling and the temperature I had, I didn’t want to risk it.”

He wouldn’t disclose how high his temperature reached the past couple of days. Yet his fever and dehydration were severe enough he had to watch Friday’s quarterfinal victory against Kansas State from the hospital bed connected to an IV.

“I was pretty sick,” Langford said. “It’s not the sickest I’ve been. The sickest I’ve been was after the Syracuse game.”

That ailment after a loss to Syracuse in the national-title game his sophomore season, however, was emotional.

“I liked what I saw today,” said Langford, who sat on the end of the bench in a black suit and slacks as the Jayhawks nearly won despite his absence.

Oklahoma State prevailed after playing nearly perfect ball in scoring on its last 11 possessions.

“A lot of guys made plays. The way the NCAA Tournament is, it takes a little bit of luck, this and that. I think we have a good melting pot (of players) going into the tournament. I’m excited. We’re going into the tournament with the mind-set this is our last loss,” Langford added.

KU, which will learn its seed and location of its first-round NCAA Tourney game at 5 p.m. today when CBS airs its Selection Show, nearly forced overtime Saturday.

But Alex Galindo misfired on a three right before the final buzzer.

“It was right on line, a good shot,” Langford said of the miss that followed five straight three-point makes by KU, a team that opened with nine straight misses from beyond the arc.

Galindo accepted a pass from Michael Lee, who carried out his part of the play by driving to the middle, then passing.

Galindo thought the shot was going to drop.

“It felt great when it left my hand,” said Galindo, who scored five points in 10 minutes. “It felt great. It looked good. It just didn’t go in.”

Oklahoma State’s Joey Graham — who scored 25 points five fewer than Kansas’ Wayne Simien — threw a hand at Galindo before the shot.

“I was on balance, but Joey made me change my shot a little. Joey jumped high. It was still a good look,” Galindo said.

“I think if Keith was here, he’d probably have taken that shot and probably made it, but I did the best I could. I feel good my teammates trust me. I just didn’t have the luck today, and it didn’t go in.”

Lee, who had a season-high 14 points off 6-of-9 shooting, initially was looking for J.R. Giddens, who busted a slump by scoring 11 points off 3-of-5 three-point shooting.

KU coach Bill Self — who believes the Jayhawks (23-6) will be awarded a No. 2 seed today and is who hopes the site of their first-round game is Oklahoma City — had no problem with the way the final possession unfolded.

“We got a great look. We just missed it. If you can get that good a shot knowing you need to shoot a three, you’ve got to be happy,” Self said.

Self was not despondent after the Langford-less defeat.

“We played great. They played great,” Self said of the 23-6 Cowboys, who avenged a two-point loss to KU on Feb. 27 at Allen Fieldhouse. “I feel better about our team than I did coming into the weekend.

14:5OSU’s assist-to-turnover ratio23:11Kansas’ assist-to-turnover ratio64.3Kansas’ second-half field-goal percentage57.1OSU’s second-half field-goal percentage

“This whole weekend was good for us. The K-State game (Friday’s first-round win) is a pressure game with the streak (31 in a row) in people’s minds. Playing without Keith … today was not a pressure game. It was a fun game. I’m certainly disappointed we lost, but I thought we played much better than we have of late.”

The KU seniors emerged down, but not out after the game.

“The only positive I can take from today is we’re not done,” Lee said. “It’s not the end of the season. I will not take any positives because we got outrebounded (32-27), didn’t get it done. I’ve never won a Big 12 tournament since I’ve been in college. We’ve lost every year. But it’s a six-game season now, and it’s what counts the most.”

Giddens said KU was ready for its senior standout to return for what could be a long run in the NCAAs.

“Having Keith back and playing hard is a dangerous combination,” Giddens said. “I’ll still pick the Jayhawks to win it all.”

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