Thursday, January 29, 2009
LINCOLN, Neb. — Clinging to a one-point lead with less than one minute to go, Sherron Collins drove to the basket and drew the most controversial foul of Kansas’ season. It was also the Jayhawks’ most important.
It’s no surprise that Collins, junior guard, wouldn’t give up the ball. He’s the Jayhawks’ leader, and when he feels like making a big shot it usually swishes through the net.
Collins crossed over to his left and used his bulky body to shield defenders. Nebraska’s would-be hero Sek Henry, guard, who brought the score to 63-62 with a pair of threes, jumped in and clearly blocked the ball. But a whistle sent panic through the Devaney Center and the rafters echoed with boos and obscenities.
Henry and the crowd were angry and confused until the PA announced that it was guard Ryan Anderson who was whistled for hitting Collins’ head on the drive.
“Anderson hit me right across the head. Wasn’t no doubt,” Collins said. “The block was clean, but that wasn’t Anderson.”
The explanation didn’t satisfy anyone wearing red, but the play was simple from Collins’ view. When he started the drive he anticipated drawing a foul and getting his two points from the line rather than the paint. And that’s exactly what he did.
The junior calmly placed his toe at the free-throw line and sank a pair to put Kansas up 65-62.
Still a one-possession game, Nebraska ran down court into its offense. Junior guard Mario Little, who played a career high 30 minutes, kicked an entry pass with 17.4 seconds left. It didn’t seem like much, but forcing the Huskers under the basket was a huge swing in momentum.
Henry was the inbounds man.
“I was really looking for Ade (Dagunduro), but the way the guy was defending me, I didn’t think it was open,” Henry said. “Cookie (Miller) was my last option.”
Instead of an easy bounce pass to Dagunduro, Henry had to chuck a deep pass across half court toward Miller.
It would have been a success just to force an inbounds pass that far away from the basket, but Collins wasn’t satisfied with a nice play. He wanted a perfect one.
So Collins shadowed Miller into the backcourt and channeled his free safety skills from high school to intercept the pass.
“I was just thinking about where Cookie was coming from,” Collins said. “I knew if I chinned it then I’d probably get a foul.”
Miller immediately fouled, which sent Collins to the free-throw line once more. Kansas coach Bill Self said it’s a good thing they called a foul because he thought Collins was about to lose control.
Collins disagreed. However, his second straight pair of free throws made it a non-issue.
Nebraska coach Doc Sadler pointed to the free-throw line as a big difference in the outcome.
“We go 14 times, they go 27 and make 19. They outscored us by 11 free throws,” Sadler said. “We just can’t overcome that.”
Collins didn’t score from the field in the final 10 minutes, but his four free throws iced the game. The final seconds could have gone a lot of different ways, but Collins’ play and a little luck ensured that Kansas stayed perfect in Big 12 play.
“We were fortunate, just in the span of 20 seconds, to have a lot of things go right,” Self said.
— — Edited by Heather Melanson
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