Jayhawks Are a Second-Half Smash

It didn’t look like Kansas until the second half, when the Jayhawks, especially their preseason All-Americans Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz, lived up to their No. 2 ranking at New York.

The two players took over in the second half Friday night and led Kansas to a 73-58 victory over Florida State in the championship game of the Preseason NIT.

LaFrentz and Pierce were each held to two points in the first half as the Jayhawks (6-0) trailed 28-20 at halftime.

Pierce had 21 points in the second half and LaFrentz had 15 and the two combined to score 23 of Kansas’ last 31 points as it pulled away to win its 12th consecutive game in the Preseason NIT.

“In the first half we were real sluggish,” LaFrentz said. “In the second half we started to pick it up and push it and took it from there.”

The Jayhawks were given a scare by Arizona State in the semifinals, finally prevailing 90-88 in overtime.

Things looked even worse over the first 20 minutes against the Seminoles (4-1).

Kansas shot just 28% in the first half and committed 15 turnovers. In that half, the Jayhawks couldn’t seem to find LaFrentz, an All-American last season as a junior, and he took only three shots. Pierce, a junior, just couldn’t find his shooting range, going one for eight from the field.

Pierce, the tournament MVP, finished with 17 rebounds.

No. 6 Purdue 82, Massachusetts 69--Chad Austin’s 20 points led the Boilermakers to a victory over the cold-shooting Minutemen in the semifinal round at the Great Alaska Shootout at Anchorage.

The Boilermakers were 30 of 34 from the free-throw line, and shot 53% from the field. Massachusetts managed only 32% shooting.

Purdue had a balanced attack, with five players in double figures. Brian Cardinal had 15, Brad Miller 14, and Mike Robinson and Jaraan Cornell 10 each.

No. 11 Connecticut 82, Arizona State 61--Freshman guard Khalid El-Amin rebounded from a poor outing in the Preseason NIT semifinals by scoring 29 points in the third-place game as the Huskies defeated the Sun Devils at New York.

Bobby Lazor led the Sun Devils with 22 points, Jeremy Veal had 17 and Mike Batiste 10.

Richard Hamilton added 19 points and Kevin Freeman had 10 for the Huskies.

No. 19 Louisville 58, Illinois 57--The Cardinals had to rally from a 13-point third-quarter deficit to defeat the Fighting Illini and advance to the championship of the Puerto Rico Shootout at Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Louisville (2-0) didn’t take the lead until 2:19 remained when Nate Johnson took an lob pass for a layup that made it 58-57.

Both teams came onto the court wearing white uniforms--which was Illinois’ privilege since it was considered the home team. After a sometimes confusing first quarter, the Cardinals changed to their red uniforms.

No. 22 Georgia 94, Texas 76--Freshman Jumaine Jones had 21 points and 14 rebounds, and the Bulldogs capitalized on 22 turnovers to beat the Longhorns at Athens, Ga.

Michael Chadwick scored 20 and G.G. Smith and Ray Harrison each had 17 for Georgia (5-1).

Nnadubn Muoneke led Texas (2-3) with 20 points.

OTHER GAMES

Scott Johnson scored 20 points as South Florida defeated Washington State 61-59 in overtime in the first round of the Thanksgiving San Juan Shootout at Caguas, Puerto Rico . . . Pat Garrity scored 32 points, including 10 of Notre Dame’s final 13 points to lead the Fighting Irish to a 88-69 victory over visiting Sam Houston State . . . DaShay Jones scored 15 points in leading Tennessee to a 69-46 victory over Appalachian State at Knoxville, Tenn., the Vols’ fifth consecutive win and their best start in 15 years . . . Mateen Cleaves scored 19 points and Charlie Bell added 17 Friday to lead Michigan State to an 89-61 victory over Central Michigan in the opening round of the Spartan Classic at East Lansing, Mich.