March 22, 2003
By Brian Gomez, TheSunDevils.com
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Arizona State men's basketball team discovered Saturday night what two other teams learned in years past when they faced an angry Kansas squad in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Motivated by a sloppy performance Thursday against No. 15-seeded Utah State, fourth-ranked Kansas came out with a vengeance at the Ford Center. The No. 10 Sun Devils had the misfortune of getting caught in a Kansas tornado.
The Jayhawks shot 67.8 percent (40-for-59) from the field, they dominated the glass and they held freshman forward Ike Diogu in check in a 108-76 victory that brought ASU's season to an end.
"Kansas played extremely well and we didn't play as well as we have been playing, but a lot of that was due to Kansas because they put a lot of pressure on us defensively, they took us out of some things we wanted to do and they made it tough for us," said Sun Devil head coach Rob Evans, who had never had an opponent shoot that well against any of his teams in his coaching career. "We weren't as sharp as we needed to be on the defensive end of the floor to beat a team like Kansas."
Evans tried everything he possibly could in an attempt to slow down the Jayhawks, who were 22-for-29 (75.9 percent) from the field in the second half, however, nothing seemed to work against a team that mixed an aggressive defense with a rabid transition game. Kansas (27-7) also overpowered ASU (20-12) by scoring 56 points in the paint.
"Kansas came at us and they were more of the aggressor," said Sun Devil senior forward Tommy Smith, who had 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field. "When they took the fight to us, we kind of got ourselves in a hole. Against a good team, it's pretty hard to dig your way out."
The Jayhawks were gunning right from the start with a 27-8 run out of the gates. The Sun Devils trailed by as many as 16 points late in the first half until they went on a 9-4 run over a two-minute stretch to cut the deficit to 40-27 with 2:49 left before the break.
But Kansas scored four unanswered points in the closing minute to take a 47-31 lead at intermission. The Jayhawks shot 60 percent (18-for-30) from the field in the first half.
"We got into our running game and we kept going at them," Kansas senior guard Kirk Hinrich said. "We made things happen, and that's a key to our offense. We were in it from the start and we were in control."
Like they did Thursday in their opening-round win over Memphis, the Sun Devils got on a roll early in the second half. Smith capped ASU's 6-2 run in the opening 2:17.with a dunk on a pass from senior point guard Kyle Dodd.
But then the wheels came off minutes later when the Jayhawks went on a 20-4 run over a five-minute stretch to grab a 75-45 lead with 12:04 left. Kansas later led by as many as 39 points in the second half.
"We didn't get back in transition," Smith said. "They would catch the ball and they would be gone. We felt like we were a step behind, like we would start taking off and they were already at halfcourt."
One of the few bright spots for the Sun Devils in their worst postseason loss in school history was the play of sophomore point guard Jason Braxton, who had a career-high-tying 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Braxton scored all but two of his points during a second half in which he often penetrated through the lane and took the ball to the hoop.
Diogu finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for ASU, which turned the ball over only 11 times and lost the battle on the boards, 40-31. The Sun Devils struggled from nearly everywhere, shooting 40.6 percent (28-for-69) from the field and 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from three-point range.
Five Jayhawks scored in double figures, as Hinrich led the way with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, including a 3-for-4 effort from beyond the arc. Senior forward Nick Collison had 22 points, sophomore guard Keith Langford added 19, sophomore guard Aaron Miles tossed in 18 and sophomore guard Michael Lee scored 10.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
By JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY - The Kansas Jayhawks are off and running again, all the way West and into the round of 16 for the third straight year.
Seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich sparked the Jayhawks right from the opening tipoff Saturday night in a 108-76 win over Arizona State, an offensive showcase light years removed from their first-round struggles against Utah State.
"I just thought we were sensational," said coach Roy Williams, who will take the Jayhawks to the regional semifinals for the ninth time in his 15 seasons.
Second-seeded Kansas (27-7), a Final Four team a year ago, heads to the West Regional semifinals in Anaheim, Calif., against Duke.
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"Against Memphis, we were the aggressor and we took the fight to them. Against Kansas tonight, they came at us and they were more the aggressor." -- Tommy Smith |
Collison scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds, and Hinrich scored 24 as the Jayhawks topped 100 points for just the fifth time in the school's 98 NCAA tournament games.
The Jayhawks shot 68 percent from the floor, outrebounded Arizona State 41-31 and constantly kept up the offensive pressure against the overwhelmed Sun Devils.
"Not only did we make shots, I really loved the way we attacked," Williams said.
"I don't know that we were looser. I think we were more intense, more focused," he said.
Jason Braxton scored 17 for the 10th-seeded Sun Devils, who were in their first NCAA tournament since 1995.
The Big 12 regular-season champions wasted no time returning to form as one of the nation's highest-scoring offenses after their tough 64-61 win over Utah State in the opening round.
Kansas did just about anything and everything it wanted, running and gunning throughout. They hit 14 consecutive shots during a second-half run that made what was already a rout look even worse.
Guard Aaron Miles said the Jayhawks came out ready to pour it on with a lighting-quick transition game.
"Arizona State, they might have prepared for it, but we executed well," said Miles, who had 18 points.
Arizona State was stunned by the Jayhawks' quickness.
"They would catch the ball and they would be gone," center Tommy Smith said. "It seemed like we'd be a step behind. We'd be taking off and they were already at halfcourt."
It was easy pickings from the start.
Collison scored on a layup for the game's first points, Hinrich swished a 3-pointer from the right corner for a 5-0 lead and the Jayhawks never looked back.
The Sun Devils tried to contain Collison by playing man-to-man but it was futile.
"We've been seeing a lot of zones," Collison said. "What a team feels like is their best chance to win is to play what they're used to. I think that's what they had in mind, but we played well against it."
Collison dunked, converted a three-point play and started a three-way give-and-go with Miles and Keith Langford that Langford finished with a tomahawk dunk for a 16-4 lead.
Hinrich swished another 3-pointer from the corner and a jumper by Miles made it 34-12 with 6:37 left in the half.
The Sun Devils, meanwhile, didn't show any of the offensive form they had in a 84-71 first-round win over Memphis.
Arizona State started four seniors but the experienced lineup looked shaky. The Sun Devils fired up several airballs and had nearly as many turnovers (eight) as field goals (11) in the first half.
"Against Memphis, we were the aggressor and we took the fight to them," Smith said. "Against Kansas tonight, they came at us and they were more the aggressor."
Ike Diogu, the Pac-10 freshman of the year, held his own on the offensive end against Collison with 10 points in the first half. But he was no match defensively for Kansas' savvy senior, the Big 12's career scoring and rebounds leader.
In the second half, Arizona State missed four of its first five shots, before cutting it to 49-37 on Smith's dunk. But Collison dunked on the other end, hit a fallaway jumper and the Jayhawks had the lead back up to 60-41 with 15 minutes to play.
That's when frustration finally set in for Arizona State. Coach Rob Evans was hit with a technical for complaining about the officiating. Miles made both free throws for a 70-45 lead and it was cruise control the rest of the way.
"I'm ready to go," Collison said. "I'm ready to get to the Final Four."