Thursday, January 29, 2009
LINCOLN, Neb. — Kansas coach Bill Self said it was nothing.
Self thought a loose ball scuffle between junior guard Mario Little and Nebraska guard Cookie Miller with nine minutes remaining in Kansas’ 68-62 victory at the Devaney Center was meaningless. Junior guard Sherron Collins disagreed.
“That was the biggest thing,” Collins said. “When someone tries to punk us and do something like that, that’s when we come out fighting.”
Photo Gallery
Kansas Basketball vs. Nebraska
A photo gallery of the men's basketball game against Nebraska.
Self and Collins both have evidence to support their opinions. Self would say the game wasn’t decided until eight minutes later when Collins hit four consecutive free throws in the final 30 seconds to put the game out of Nebraska’s reach.
Collins pointed out that it was 44-44 at the time of the mix-up. From then on, Kansas outscored Nebraska 13-7.
But what exactly happened? No punches were thrown. The referees called no fouls. What triggered the officials and Kansas assistant coaches to come out on the floor to separate the players after Little and Miller tangled for the ball at the top of the key? The Jayhawks say it was Miller.
“All I’m saying is he was talking,” Little said.
Little and Collins declined to be any more specific than that. They also didn’t mention that Miller had a reason to be enthusiastic.
The Cornhuskers (12-7, 2-4) had out-played the Jayhawks (16-4, 5-0) until that point and led for nearly the entire game.
The first half belonged to the Cornhuskers. They were ahead by as many as 13 points and held the Jayhawks scoreless for a four-minute stretch in the middle of the half.
Nebraska senior forward Ade Dagunduro scored 13 of his game-high 24 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Cornhuskers went to the locker room with a 34-29 lead.
“I felt very fortunate that we were only down five at halftime,” Self said. “They dominated the first half.”
A major part of Nebraska’s success came from slowing sophomore center Cole Aldrich. As expected, the Cornhuskers double-teamed Aldrich any time he received the ball in the paint.
Aldrich finished with eight points and eight rebounds, but all of it came in the second half.
“He had a bad game,” Self said. “He’d be the first to tell you that. He didn’t play as well as he’s been playing.”
Collins and sophomore guard Tyrel Reed compensated for Aldrich’s sluggish night in the second half.
Nebraska guard Steve Harley made a layup with seven minutes remaining to give his team a 51-50 lead. It was the last time the Cornhuskers led.
Reed answered by making two consecutive three-pointers that sent the Jayhawks off on a 9-0 run. After he made the second shot, the usually reserved Reed even yelled something at Miller.
“I couldn’t tell you what I was saying,” Reed — who had seven points — said. “It was in the heat of the moment. My competitive juices were flowing.”
When Aldrich capped off the run with two free throws to make the score 57-50, the Jayhawks appeared to be pulling away. They kept the seven-point lead intact for the next three minutes.
All Kansas needed to do was take care of the ball to leave the Devaney Center undefeated in conference play. That didn’t happen.
Kansas, which finished the night with a season-high 21 turnovers, had passes from Reed and freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor stolen on the next two possessions.
Nebraska guard Sek Henry turned both turnovers into three-pointers. Nebraska trailed only 63-62.
The Cornhuskers fouled Collins on the Jayhawks’ next trip down the court, and he made both free-throws. Eleven seconds later, Collins made two more after intercepting an in-bounds pass intended for Miller with one hand to seal the victory.
“We got the one stop we needed,” Self said. “That was the ballgame.”
Collins remembered the steal, but was in no mood to talk about it. He wanted to focus on the incident with Miller.
“We aren’t going to take nothing from nobody,” Collins said.
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