By STEVE BRISENDINE, AP Sports Writer
January 18, 2003
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Kirk Hinrich's first minute foreshadowed his entire game.
He stole the opening tipoff, swooped to the basket -- and blew a layup. Forty seconds later, he swished a 3-pointer from the left corner.
It was like that all night for Kansas' senior guard, who missed several easy shots but still scored 26 points as the No. 12 Jayhawks extended their winning streak over Kansas State to 25 games with an 81-64 victory Saturday night.
``I missed so many chippies,'' said Hinrich, who still shot 9-for-18 from the field. ``I just tried not to get frustrated and to keep playing my game.''
Hinrich played all but the last 2:52 for the Jayhawks (13-3, 3-0 Big 12), who have won 10 straight.
``That wasn't the best game Kirk's had, but he battled all night,'' Kansas coach Roy Williams said. ``Twenty-six points isn't too bad for a bad game.''
Gilson DeJesus scored 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range to lead Kansas State (10-6, 1-2), which hasn't beaten the Jayhawks since Jan. 17, 1994.
The Jayhawks held him to just four points after the half, though.
``We tried to keep the ball out of his hands, and I think we were pretty successful at doing that in the second half,'' Kansas guard Aaron Miles said.
Nick Collison added 16 points and Keith Langford had 14 for Kansas, which extended its conference winning streak to 23. Jeff Graves had 13 rebounds, his fifth straight double-digit rebounding game.
The Jayhawks opened with a 15-0 run, but the Wildcats rallied behind the 3-point shooting of DeJesus and Tim Ellis to stay close until early in the second half.
``They're better, but we didn't play our best basketball at all,'' Langford said. ``The first couple of minutes was probably the best defense we've played all year, but other than that we didn't play real well.''
Kansas State closed the gap to 20-13 on Ellis' basket with just over 11 minutes left in the first half, and the Wildcats trailed by only eight with 17:48 left.
But Collison scored with just under 17 minutes to go and Langford added a basket and two free throws for a 50-36 lead. Kansas didn't let the lead slip below 11 again.
``We have to find a way to get better,'' Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge said. ``There are some things we can take from this, but we're going to have to expand. We can't keep saying, 'Good effort.'''
Ellis, who came in shooting 52 percent from 3-point range, made 2-of-7 and finished with 13 points.
K-State center Pervis Pasco, who came in averaging 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds, picked up his third foul less than seven minutes in and had to sit out the rest of the first half. He didn't score until a putback with 14:50 left. He picked up his fourth foul just over a minute later and fouled out with 10 points and six rebounds.
Kansas' defense forced 18 turnovers -- 12 in the first half -- and held the Wildcats to 39 percent shooting from the field.
The Wildcats missed their first five field-goal attempts -- with two airballs -- before Siebrandt made a hook shot with 14:42 left in the half.
``The beginning of the game was our downfall,'' Wooldridge said. ``You can't spot Kansas a 15-point lead.''
The Jayhawks retired the jersey of former All-American Drew Gooden at halftime. Gooden, last season's Big 12 player of the year, helped the Jayhawks reach the Final Four and was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies after leaving school following his junior year.
Updated on Saturday, Jan 18, 2003 11:25 pm, EST
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