Hinrich Works His Magic in Win

Kirk Hinrich heard the chants of “Har-ry Pot-ter!” every time he stepped to the free-throw line at Manhattan, Kan.

Kansas’ skinny, dark-haired junior swingman is getting used to that. What’s important to Hinrich is that he didn’t give Kansas State’s fans any reason to mock his game.

Hinrich made all 10 of his free-throw attempts and scored 26 points Monday night as No. 2 Kansas beat Kansas State, 98-71, in a game marred by four technical fouls and the ejection of Wildcat Coach Jim Wooldridge.

Jeff Boschee added 16 points, and Nick Collison and Drew Gooden each had 15 for Kansas, 20-2 overall and 9-0 in the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks won for the 19th consecutive time in Manhattan and have never lost in Bramlage Coliseum, the Wildcats’ home since 1988.

Kansas State’s last home victory over the Jayhawks came on Jan. 29, 1983, in Ahearn Fieldhouse, and the Wildcats last beat Kansas--then ranked No. 1--68-64 on Jan. 17, 1994, in Lawrence.

“That’s all the media wants to talk about, but we don’t talk about it all that much,” Hinrich said. “Coach [Roy Williams] does bring it up before every game here--but he just says, ‘It’s got to end sometime, but let’s try to extend it one more year.’”

Kansas State (9-11, 3-6), which upset then-No. 9 Oklahoma State, 70-61, on Saturday, has never beaten two top 10 teams in a row. The Wildcats haven’t beaten ranked teams in consecutive games since defeating Oregon State (No. 2) and Illinois (No. 19) in the 1981 NCAA tournament.

Wooldridge drew two technical fouls and was ejected with 11:21 left when he stepped on the court to protest a basket by Collison, who appeared to travel on the play. No call was made.

“The officiating was fine,” Wooldridge said. “It wasn’t a combination of things. There was one play I was upset about, and I reacted.”

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No. 23 Syracuse 76, West Virginia 64--Preston Shumpert scored 20 points, and Josh Pace tied a career high with 12 points for the Orangemen in a Big East game at Syracuse, N.Y.

The win ended a two-game losing streak for the Orangemen (18-6, 7-3), who have not lost three in a row since the 1995-96 season. West Virginia (8-13, 1-8) lost for the 11th time in 12 games despite the return of Coach Gale Catlett, who sat out the last two games because of a viral infection.

The Mountaineers made a game of it even though they committed 27 turnovers and trailed 38-21 at halftime.

WOMEN

No. 24 North Carolina 93, Florida State 63--Nikki Teasley had 22 points in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Coretta Brown added 18 points for North Carolina (17-6, 7-4), which has won three consecutive games since Teasley moved to point guard. Genesi Choice scored 14 points for Florida State (11-11, 2-9), which has lost five in a row and nine of 10.