Adam Spanich, Iowa’s Mr. Basketball in 1995, wasn’t celebrating Iowa University’s shocking victory over Kansas the other night.
“I was hoping Iowa wouldn’t win because I was afraid of what would happen tonight,” Spanich said.
Spanich, a 6-foot-7 Cedar Rapids native and senior guard for Southern Cal, watched his fears come true … and then some.
Kansas bounced back from its first home loss in nearly five years to pancake the Trojans, 107-78, on Saturday night in Allen Fieldhouse.
“That’s exactly what happened,” Spanich said. “I knew it would be extremely difficult to get a victory after what Iowa did. And, you know, I feel like we’re a better team than Iowa.”
Spanich, a reserve noted for his three-point accuracy — he hit seven against Washington last year — missed six of his nine three-point attempts Saturday night, but still finished as the Trojans’ second-leading scorer with 13 points.
“Tonight Kansas was like we’re going to be against our next opponent,” Spanich said. “We’re going to be ticked off and come out and play hard.”
Look out, American University. The Trojans will meet AU on Monday night in the LA Sports Arena.
Southern Cal came to KU with a 6-0 record, and coach Henry Bibby thought the Jayhawks might be pressing in the wake of the Iowa loss.
“We were hoping they’d be a little tight,” Bibby said, “but the crowd got in the game and that made a difference. I knew they’d be on edge. That was a big, big loss for them. But it really made them focus on what they needed to do.”
Then Bibby’s defenders became enablers.
“We knew we couldn’t leave (Ryan) Robertson and (Jeff) Boschee open,” Bibby said. “That was the difference, you could say, leaving those guys open.”
Both Robertson and Boschee were three-of-four from three-point range.
“We knew they could shoot the ball,” Bibby said. “We knew they could knock the open shots down. Our game plan was to not let those guys shoot open shots. We had the game plan we wanted. We just didn’t execute it.”
Failure to execute led to the Trojans being executed by 29 points.
“The basket gets bigger,” Bibby said, “when guys make their shots and you get an eight- to 10-point lead.”
Forward Jeff Trepagnier, who led USC with a career-high 22 points, dubbed the drubbing a wake-up call.
“This is going to make us play harder,” Trepagnier said. “I feel pretty bad.”
If Kansas can play great at home, so can Southern Cal, Bibby reasoned.
“Hopefully, this loss will get our attention,” he said. “Sometimes you get a little cocky when you win five or six in a row. You think you’re pretty good.”
Bibby still thinks his team is pretty good. It’s just that the Trojans were in the wrong place at the wrong time on Saturday night.
“When you come here you’re facing a lot of tradition and the mystique of Dr. Naismith,” Bibby said. “You just don’t come in here and win easily. You don’t do that.”
