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Postgame Quotes
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- At the end of the game, the sold-out Allen Fieldhouse fans were on their feet. They were showering love on the home team, ranked No. 1 in the country, but most were also celebrating an outstanding effort by the Big Red. After 40 minutes of basketball dictated by the two-time defending Ivy League champion, No. 1 Kansas rallied in the final minute for a 71-66 win over Cornell. The Big Red slipped to 12-3 with the loss, while Kansas remained unbeaten at 14-0.
Senior Ryan Wittman scored 24 points for the Big Red, but senior All-American Sherron Collins had 33 points and made every big play down the stretch to help Kansas extend its home win streak to an NCAA-best 51 games. The Jayhawks' vaunted defense, which hadn't allowed an opponent to shoot 40 percent all season, allowed the Big Red to shoot 44 percent, while the Big Red defense held KU to a season-low .367 from the floor. Senior Jeff Foote added 12 points and six rebounds, while Louis Dale had 10 points and five rebounds off the bench after missing three games with an injured leg. Chris Wroblewski notched nine points, five rebounds and four assists in the loss.
Hidden in the box score were outstanding efforts by Mark Coury (two points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals), who played 24 minutes with Foote in foul trouble, and Geoff Reeves (three points, three steals), as well as the defense of Adam Wire, Alex Tyler and Jon Jaques. They held the Morris twins, Marcus and Markieff, without a field goal on seven attempts and totalled nine rebounds without committing a turnover in 33 quality minutes.
While Collins stole the show for KU, All-American Cole Aldrich had 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots and freshman phenom Xavier Henry added 14 points and six rebounds, but was hounded into a 3-of-13 night shooting the basketball. No other Jayhawk scored more than four points.
“We had the lead for most of the game and I felt that we played very good basketball throughout the game. Our guys gave a tremendous effort on the defensive end and for the most part we were very good on the offensive end as well," said Cornell head coach Steve Donahue. "We had a few shots rim in and out which would usually go down. I thought that Kansas was fired up to play and they respected us. It was just a great college basketball game. I can't talk enough about our guys and the effort they gave. I thought (Sherron) Collins took over at every critical moment and hit big shots.”
The final minute of the game turned into Collins time, especially after the Big Red took the lead with 49 seconds on a Foote basket. He drove the lane for a layup and earned a foul call on the basket. The senior hit the free throw to put the home team up 67-64. After Wittman missed a good look from the top of the key, the Big Red was able to knock the ball off a Kansas player to get the possession back. Wittman then came up with a loose ball and was fouled, making both charity shots to get back within 67-66 with 16 ticks left. Cornell fouled Collins, who again nailed both shots with 15 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Wittman again got off a shot with 10 seconds left that grazed the front rim. Kansas rebounded and Henry was fouled. After opening the game 3-of-7 from the line, the freshman made both shots to put the game out of reach. Kansas was able to celebrate the victory, and both teams spent a significant amount of time getting through the postgame handshakes in a sign of mutal respect.
“They have a terrific big guy that could play for anybody and they can run their stuff," said Kansas head coach Bill Self. "They're poised. They have eight seniors and play like a veteran team should play. They're tough and (Ryan) Wittman is terrific. They are also impressive because they are well-coached.”
The more than 15,000 fans that crowded Allen Fieldhouse got loud a half dozen times in the second half, only to sit right back down after the Big Red knocked down one big shot after anothe. After traiding the lead 11 times in the first half (along with seven ties), the Big Red led from the 1:34 mark of the firest half until 3:55 remained in regulation when Tyrel Reed, Geoff Reeves' high school teammate at Burlington HS in Kansas, nailed his only shot of the game, a 3-pointer that put Kansas up 61-60. Two free throws by Collins extended the lead to three, but Cornell answered with a 4-0 run starting with a backdoor layup by Dale on a feed from Foote and ending with the seven-footer's short jumper with 49 seconds left that gave the Big Red the 64-63 lead.
Cornell led by as many as eight after opening the second half on a 8-3 run to go up 49-41 on consecutive 3-pointers by Reeves and Wittman. That lead was at least three for the next 13 minutes until the Jayhawks stole some momentum as Collins started to get the calls in the lane, getting to the free-throw line 11 times in the final 6:50 of the game. Cornell attempted just 14 shots from the line all night.
Cornell went into the locker room with a 41-38 lead, shocking many casual college basketball observers seeing the score across their ticker. It was also the first time all season that Kansas trailed at halftime. Wittman had 15 points, including three 3-pointers in the final six minutes of the half. The lead traded 11 times, with the Big Red answering each change with an immediate score. The Big Red hit on 54 percent of its shots in the first 20 minutes, while limiting Kansas to 41 percent from the floor. Cornell also stayed even with the Jayhawks on the boards (15-15) and had a positive turnover:assist ratio at the break. Both Foote and Aldrich got in foul trouble and missed much of the last 10 minutes of the half after Foote had eight points, three rebounds and a block in seven minutes of action, while Aldrich had an efficient eight points and a block in six minutes.
Besides Wittman's 15 points and Foote's eight, Dale added eight points and four assists and Wroblewski notched six. Kansas was saved from a larger deficit by its outstanding free-throw shooting, hitting 12-of-13 from the charity stripe. Collins had 14 points on a variety of drives and scoops in the lane, while Henry added nine to go along with three rebounds.
Cornell outhustled the Jayhawks, getting nearly every loose ball in the first half to set the tone. The Jayhawks never led by more than three points until the final seconds, while Cornell kept the crowd quiet by hitting big shots. Wittman and Wroblewski each had 3-pointers and Dale converted a conventional three-point play in the span of 1:14 to turn a one-point deficit into a 27-23 edge, with another Wittman trey building the lead to 30-26 heading into the final media timeout of the first half.
The Big Red return to action when it travels North to face South Dakota on Friday, Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. CT (8:30 p.m. ET) at the DakotaDome. It will be the second-ever meeting between the programs, with Cornell winning a 79-69 decision to open the 2008-09 campaign.
