Lubbock, Texas ? A wave of red-clad fans stormed onto the United Spirit Arena court, nearly bowling over Kansas University point guard Sherron Collins in the process.
“I didn’t think they’d rush the floor. It’s January,” said the stunned Jayhawk freshman.
He stuck out his arms to brace himself against 1,000 or so Texas Tech students who celebrated – in somewhat dangerous fashion – the unranked Red Raiders’ 69-64 victory over the No. 5 Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon.
“Their fans were talking. Their team got the win,” added Collins.
Collins hit a big three-pointer in a 13-1 run that tied the game at 1:41, but missed a trey with 20 seconds left that would have erased a 67-64 deficit.
KU’s Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur missed tips of Collins’ miss. Tech rebounded and flipped the ball downcourt to Martin Zeno, who iced the victory with a breakaway slam at :11.
It was party time for Tech’s student section and certainly some others in the building, too, after Collins and Julian Wright missed threes on the other end as the clock expired.
“You go to Kansas, your job is to not let them (fans) be able to do that,” KU guard Russell Robinson said of storming the court. “Life on the road is very tough.”
Robinson scored five points in KU’s furious 13-1 run that tied the score at 62. He immediately took a seat on the bench as the mob rejoiced.
“Emotions were running. I didn’t want to get on ESPN tonight for the wrong reasons. I sat down and waited for security to take us to the locker room,” Robinson said.
All Jayhawks made it to their locker room without incident.
“The fourth game in conference play, I didn’t expect them to rush the court,” said Rush, whose three with 2:21 left sliced Tech’s 62-57 lead to two points.
Darrell Arthur scored off a feed from Collins at 1:41 to tie it.
“Everybody was walking up to us, pushing. They were yelling, saying dirty stuff. The security guards got us through,” Rush added.
It didn’t look as if the fans would be able to celebrate a big win with KU holding all momentum upon tying the game. However, Jarrius Jackson, who had 15 points off 4-of-10 shooting, drove the lane after a Tech rebound of a missed Darryl Dora three.
Fouled by Mario Chalmers, Jackson hit an inside shot and free throw, giving the Raiders a 65-62 lead at 1:03.
Collins immediately answered with a layup at :57. Then, with Tech still up by one, Jackson missed at :39. Scrappy Alan Voskuil rebounded and scored at :35, providing Tech its 67-64 lead.
“It came down to two possessions getting stops. We didn’t do it,” KU coach Bill Self said.
He liked Kansas’ chances when Collins hoisted his possible game-tying three after a timeout.
“It wasn’t what we had designed, but it wasn’t bad,” said Self, who had hoped to get a quick basket from Arthur to cut the gap to one.
“We weren’t going to get a better look than that. That was a good look. The little guy has some guts,” Self added of the 5-foot-11 Collins, who scored 10 points with seven assists.
Collins had the option of driving if the ball wound up in his hands instead of Arthur’s.
“I tried to drive at first. Coach said, ‘If you can’t get a quick two, shoot the three,'” Collins said. “They cut off the drive. I stepped back a little. I got off the shot. It just didn’t fall. It felt good. I thought it was good. It looked pretty good, too.”
Rush and Arthur lamented not being able to tip in the rebound with plenty of time to play.
“I thought he (Rush) was going to tip it in first,” said Arthur, who had six straight points in the first half as KU led, 16-10. “Then mine rolled out. They got the long rebound and the easy layup.”
“It just rolled down my hands,” Rush said.
Robinson said the “two chippers : that summed up the whole game for us.”
In fact, Self counted 11 missed layups for KU on a day the Jayhawks hit 45.2 percent of their shots to Tech’s 49 percent. KU made six of 15 threes and just two of four free throws, with Tech hitting 15 of 20 charities and six of 16 threes.
“We didn’t play our best,” Self said, noting KU (16-3 overall, 3-1 Big 12 Conference) didn’t overlook Tech (14-5, 3-1). “We got off to a good start. We were up, 8-0. I thought we were excited to play. You’ll not stay up on a team playing at home like that. They will make some baskets.”
Tech ran its patented motion offense to perfection, oft-times slicing up KU’s man and zone defenses for open shots.
“We knew we’d have to defend the entire shot clock. It’s who they are. Their patience was much, much better than our impatience,” Self said.
KU-killer Darryl Dora led the Raiders with 19 points off 7-of-13 shooting, including three of eight threes.
Dora “surprised us,” Robinson indicated. “He is very confident against us. He hit some shots, caught us off guard. Motion is the easiest thing to prepare for but hardest thing to guard.”
“He likes playing Kansas,” Self said. “He made the shot the last time (with three seconds left in double overtime to beat KU two years ago in Lubbock) and made some good ones this time. I know he’s shooting the three. I never would have thought he’d take eight of ’em. He did a good job.”
KU will meet Baylor at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Waco, Texas.