COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : Kansas Upsets Indiana : Southeast: The Final Four in Indianapolis will have to go on without the Hoosiers, who are beaten by the Jayhawks, 83-65.

Indiana Coach Bobby Knight covered his eyes because he couldn’t stand to watch his Hoosiers anymore.

Knight had reason to be embarrassed.

Kansas jumped to a 20-point lead only 7 1/2 minutes into the game and ousted No. 3 Indiana from the NCAA tournament, 83-65, in a Southeast Regional semifinal game Thursday night before 23,287 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

“With about five minutes gone in the game, the referee came over and said there was a screw loose in the floor,” Knight said. “I said let’s start again tomorrow.

“I think that was the best suggestion I had in the first half.”

Indiana couldn’t contain Kansas guard Terry Brown, who scored 18 points in the first half, hitting four of six three-point shots as the Jayhawks built a 22-point lead. Brown, who had 11 of Kansas’ first 16 points, made seven of 11 shots in the first half to jump-start the Jayhawks. He finished with 23 points.

Reserve guard Sean Tunstall, who had 15 points, hit two three-point shots in the first half.

“I was really disappointed at the way we got started. I thought we were very tentative,” Knight said.

But Knight didn’t show his temper after Kansas eliminated the Big Ten co-champions, seemingly taking the loss in stride.

“I’m really, really proud of this team,” Knight said. “We’re right where we ought to be. We got beat right about where we ought to get beat. Last year we got beat in the first round and we won 18 games. This year we got beat in the third round and we won 29 games.

“We made a great improvement and that was our objective. I wanted us to get into the regional this year. This is not a team that is capable of getting to the Final Four. There have to be four better teams in America than we are right now, and nobody knows it better than I do.”

It was the biggest victory in the three-year tenure of Kansas Coach Roy Williams, whose team was ousted by UCLA in the second round of the 1990 tournament.

“Other than (North Carolina Coach) Dean Smith, I don’t know of anybody in coaching that I have more respect for than Coach Knight,” said Williams, who spent 10 seasons assisting Smith. “And to beat him means a lot to me.”

Kansas (25-7) took a 26-6 lead in the first half and led, 49-27, at the break. Indiana, which shot only 37% in the first half and trailed by as many as 24 points, got no closer than 11 points.

“We came out passively and they attacked us,” Indiana forward Eric Anderson said. “They just drilled us in every phase. They went hard to the boards and outmuscled us.

“They came out and hit a lot of shots and played really well. We made a lot of mistakes and put ourselves in a very bad position after the first five minutes of the game.”

After trailing by 20, Indiana outscored Kansas, 19-10, to cut the deficit to 11 with 4:14 left in the first half. But the Jayhawks held Indiana to one basket during the rest of the half and pulled away.

But the Hoosiers (29-5) never gave up.

With Damon Bailey scoring 18 points in the second half, Indiana trimmed the deficit to 14 when Calbert Cheaney, who scored 23 points, hit an 18-foot jump shot with 8:40 remaining. Indiana forced a turnover, but Anderson missed a turnaround baseline jump shot with seven minutes remaining and Kansas guard Adonis Jordan, who had 11 points, made a three-point jump shot to give Kansas a 17-point lead with 6:44 left.

“It was time to check the tickets after that,” Knight said.