Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991 TAG: 9103220437
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
It was supposed to be motion offense and man-to-man defense. It was supposed to be picks and passes and patience.
It was two teams who share seven NCAA championships and 14 Final Four appearances. It was Kansas against Indiana in the NCAA Southeast Regional semifinal.
Only it was like Hawaii-Loa was wearing Hoosiers uniforms on Thursday night.
The 12th-ranked Jayhawks convincingly marched into the regional championship game Saturday against Arkansas by ripping Indiana 83-65 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
The Jayhawks (25-7), in their fourth Sweet 16 in six years, quickly made the Hoosiers' faces as red as Indiana coach Bobby Knight's sideline sweater.
Knight complained Wednesday about his team having to play after 10 p.m. The game actually started at 9:45, and by 10 it was midnight for the third-ranked Hoosiers (29-5), the region's No. 2 seed.
It was 13-2 after 2 1/2 minutes and 26-6 before Indiana started to play.
In the first half, sophomore Calbert Cheaney had 17 of Indiana's 27 points. Kansas, led by guard Terry Brown's 18 points, was up by 22 after only 20 minutes.
"In the first half, [referee John] Clougherty came over to me with about five minutes left and said there was a screw loose in the middle of the floor," Knight said. "I said, `Why don't we start over again tomorrow?'
"In that first half, that was about the best I could do."
The Jayhawks seemingly were getting every bounce, and they consistently found their way through the Hoosiers' usually solid defense for easy baskets.
Kansas had only one throw-away in the first half in building a 49-27 lead. The Jayhawks' other three turnovers were offensive fouls.
"We still felt we could win the game at halftime," said Indiana freshman Damon Bailey, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half. "We just wanted to try and play as well as we could, and if we were going to go down, to go down fighting.
"We wanted to try and make it a 10-point game with five minutes left and take it from there."
But the young Hoosiers, with only one senior in backup Lyndon Jones, couldn't get closer than 13 in the last period. Knight thought Kansas point guard Adonis Jordan's 3-pointer from the top of the key with 6:42 was the crucial hoop, after Indiana had trimmed the difference to 68-54.
"Kansas was aggressive and assertive and came out to play," Knight said. "Aggressiveness is often a compatriot of confidence. Conversely, I was very disappointed in how we started.
"It wasn't two teams going at each other. It was one going at the other."
see microfilm for box score
by CNB