Kansas City barbecue: KU downs Flames

SCRAPPY UIC CAN’T OVERCOME DEFICIT, FOUL CALL

(3/19/04)

KANSAS CITY—Just when UIC thought it had a shot of coming all the way back from a 22-point first-half deficit against No. 15 Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament, its life was ripped away in a blink of an eye.

The Jayhawks (22-8) used a 30-6 run to open a 34-12 lead and were never threatened in a 78-53 victory in front of a crowd of 17,667, mostly comprised of Kansas fans, at Kemper Arena Friday night.

The Flames (24-8), though, looked to be making a run of their own when they pulled within 45-35 on a layup by Aaron Carr with 14:34 left. After Aaron Miles converted a three-point play for Kansas, Josip Petrusic hit a jumper to make the score 48-37.

Then the game turned. UIC’s Armond Williams was called for an intentional foul on Kansas’ Keith Langford (pictured) with 13:10 to play. It appeared that Langford was trying to avoid the contact and scoop the ball around Williams when Williams hit him across the shoulder.

Official Olandis Poole emphatically called for the intentional, leading to two free throws by Langford and the Jayhawks keeping possession.

“It was the ref’s judgment,” Williams said. “I didn’t try to intentionally hurt anyone. The ref called it a hard foul, but I kept my comments to myself. Langford told me he was all right.”

Moments later, freshman J.R. Giddens hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to put Kansas back up by 16 at 53-37.

“The call certainly hurt us,” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. “It was a five-point turnaround. The kids were playing hard out there. I personally thought Armond went for the ball.”

Petrusic hit a jump hook on the Flames’ next possession, but the foul call had stolen what fight UIC had left and then the dunkathon began for the Jayhawks.

“We just put our heads down,” Banks said. “We couldn’t get our heads back into the game.”

Kansas had three of its seven dunks in the 21-2 run that immediately followed the intentional foul. Most of the Jayhawks’ points in the spurt came on runouts as the Flames resorted to taking rushed shots and overcommitting to the offensive glass. Miles hit a runner to put Kansas up 69-39 with 7:32 left, leading to Collins clearing his bench.

Giddens (pictured) showed signs of future greatness by leading the Jayhawks with 17 points on a variety of three-pointers and dunks. Langford and Wayne Simien contributed 13 points for Kansas, which shot 62 percent from the field.

“Kansas played a great game,” Williams said. “They hit some tough shots. It was their night.”

Banks led the Flames with 15 points, but shot just 5-of-18 from the field, while Martell Bailey added 10 points and five assists.

“We did a good job on Banks, but we lost him a couple of times,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We lost him a couple of times in the second half, but after that I thought we did a nice job.”

Both teams were excited in the early going, turning the ball over frequently. The Flames capitalized in the first 3:30 of the game, taking a 6-4 lead on two inside baskets by Justin Bowen (pictured) and a steal and layup by Banks.

“There was a stretch there where we played pretty good defense,” Collins said. “We just couldn’t hit anything.”

Kansas answered with a dunk from Jeff Graves that started a run of 10 straight points. Leading 8-6 after a Langford layup, the Jayhawks, who shot just 33 percent from three-point range during the season, converted two straight three-pointers with hands in their faces – one by Michael Lee and the other by Giddens.

“The three by Mike [Lee] was big,” Langford said. “UIC’s pressure really forced us to take some shots out of character.”

Kansas’ torrid shooting continued as it finished at a 70 percent clip in the first half en route a 38-23 halftime lead. On the other side, the Flames started rushing their offense and taking ill-advised shots, permitting the Jayhawks to build a cushion.

“Kansas run that high-low well, and once they get it in the post, they’re difficult to stop,” Collins said. “If you sink on them [in the post], Giddens drops threes in on you. They’re a disciplined basketball team, and they took advantage of our impatience.”

UIC came out more relaxed at the start of the second half as Banks hit two consecutive threes to key a quick 8-3 run. Bailey’s driving layup pulled the Flames within 41-31 with 18:09 left in the game.

“I felt we could have come back, but they out-toughed us,” Banks said. “We were playing good defense, but we were taking hurried shots on offense.

“We played hard, but we just didn’t execute the way we have been.”