Lackluster Kansas Has Plenty in End

Kansas was confused and embarrassed.

Luckily for the No. 2 Jayhawks, they also were talented enough to survive a lackluster performance and defeat Illinois State, 80-61, Thursday night at Lawrence, Kan.

“We were playing horrible,” said point guard Kirk Hinrich. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen us play.”

The Redbirds (1-1) made only eight of 31 shots from the field in the first half. But Kansas (7-0) shot a miserable 12 of 30 and got an earful from Coach Roy Williams.

“Coach got on us,” said Drew Gooden, who led the Jayhawks with 17 points. “We just had to go out there and pick it up, pick up the intensity.”

With Gooden leading the way, the Jayhawks hit seven of their first eight shots in the second half and quickly took command, although Illinois State cut the lead to 15 a few minutes later.

“They outplayed us in that first half,” Gooden said. “Coach really talked to us.”

At one point in the ragged first half, a disgusted Williams pulled all his starters off the court and inserted second-teamers, who turned a one-point deficit into a five-point lead during their four minutes.

“I think it was a good coaching move,” Gooden said. “The starting five were not playing Kansas basketball. Then the subs came out and only allowed one point in about four minutes. So coach said, ‘See how easy it is?’ ”

Kenny Gregory, Luke Axtell and Eric Chenowith each scored 11 points for the Jayhawks. With six rebounds, Chenowith missed a double-double for the first time in four games.

Shawn Jeppson led Illinois State with 14 points.

“They were a little sluggish in the beginning, but they took it away in the second half,” said Jeppson. “We missed a couple of easy shots.”

Gooden’s free throw ignited a 27-13 run the first 9:10 of the second half and the Jayhawks took a 60-38 lead on Gooden’s short jumper.

The Jayhawks, who shot over 50% in each of their first six games, wound up hitting 29 of 59 for 49%. The Redbirds were 20 of 60.

No. 7 Tennessee 85, North Carolina Asheville 59--Reserve Ron Slay scored 16 points as the Volunteers overcame a slow start in a victory over the Bulldogs at Knoxville, Tenn.

Terrence Woods had 12 points, Marcus Haislip 11, and Vincent Yarbrough had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Volunteers, who completed their five-game season-opening homestand undefeated.

Brett Carey scored 13 points and Andre Smith 11 for the Bulldogs (3-2).

No. 16 Connecticut 72, Houston 60--Johnnie Selvie scored 21 points and Caron Butler had 15 points, six steals and nine rebounds to lead the Huskies over the Cougars at Storrs, Conn.

Selvie had five points in a 7-0 run midway through the second half to give the Huskies (5-1) a nine-point lead in a game that had 11 lead changes.

Albert Mouring added 13 for the Huskies, and Edmund Saunders had 12 points and seven rebounds.

George Williams led the Cougars (2-4) with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Miami (Ohio) 66, No. 17 Temple 58--Jason Grunkemeyer broke out of his shooting slump by scoring 20 points as the RedHawks solved the Owls’ matchup zone and defeated Temple at Oxford, Ohio.

Grunkemeyer, who had missed his last eight three-point attempts heading into the game, went five for seven from behind the arc as Miami (2-3) opened its home season by upsetting a Top 25 team for the second time in three years. The RedHawks defeated No. 18 Tennessee, 68-62, in 1998.

Lyn Greer scored 17 points for Temple (4-2), which played the middle game between two matchups with No. 1 Duke.

WOMEN

Virginia Tech 57, No. 20 Virginia 56--Amy Wetzel scored 17 points, including an eight-foot runner with four seconds left, to lead the Hokies (4-1) to an upset over the Cavaliers (4-3) at Blacksburg, Va.