Online Extra: Kansas falls to Ball State in last-minute defeat

By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

MAUI — Call it an upset or the result of parity that now exists
in college basketball.

Whatever.

The point is, there’s at least one team in Hawaii that
isn’t as good as everyone thought — at least for now.

Kansas, which entered the Maui Invitational ranked seventh in
the Associated Press poll and fifth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches
poll, suffered a last-second, 93-91 defeat to Ball State Monday in
the Lahaina Civic Center in front of 2,500 fans.

Although they fought back from a 55-48 halftime deficit — due
much in part to improved defensive execution, the Jayhawks
couldn’t stop Ball State guard Patrick Jackson from slicing
into the lane and laying up the game-winning shot with 0.8 seconds
remaining.

With only a few ticks remaining in the contest, Jackson crossed
over, causing Kansas’ Aaron Miles to fall to the ground and
make a run to the open hoop.

“Needless to say, we broke down when they crossed
over,” said Kansas head coach Roy Williams, who suspected
Miles may have gone down because he was cramping up. “Yes, we
wanted the big guys to come over and help. If we had (NBA star
Dikembe) Mutombo, we would’ve blocked that shot, but we
don’t have Mutombo.”

The loss made Kansas the fifth top-10 team to lose this year and
cost the Jayhawks the chance to face UCLA in what would have been a
highly-anticipated tournament semifinal. Wasted in the losing
effort were Kansas forward Drew Gooden’s 31 points and 10
rebounds.

While Kansas moves to the consolation bracket, the Cardinals,
who hit 13 of 30 three-point attempts, will take on the Bruins
today at 6:30 Pacific Time.

Ball State’s 55 first-half points — 21 of which were
credited to guard Chris Williams, who finished with 24 , were the
most scored by a Kansas opponent in a half in almost four
years.

Kansas tightened defensively in the second half and pulled even
at 68 with 12:43 left in the game. The Jayhawks, who lost star
forward Nick Collison for much of the second half because of
dehydration, put the breaks on Chris Williams, but Jackson and
forward Theron Smith scored 14 and 11 second-half points,
respectively, to keep the Cardinals in contention. Jackson finished
with 23 points and Smith tallied 19.

“I told them (Jackson and Smith) this is their
half,” Chris Williams said of the second half. “I told
them that (Kansas) was going to come out and try to shut me
down.”

Kansas managed to go up by as much as four on a couple of
occasions, including once with 2:58 remaining, but failed to put
Ball State away.

“We had some opportunities,” Roy Williams said,
sighing in the postgame press conference, while Gooden looked down,
placing his forehead flat on the dais table.

Opportunities, Roy Williams probably hopes, that his team
won’t blow in March.