Tulsa
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Kansas
Men's Hoops Falls To No. 2 Kansas, 93-85
12/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 29, 2001
By DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Taking charge after Tulsa erased a 15-point lead in the final minutes, Kirk Hinrich had two baskets and three crucial rebounds as No. 2 Kansas held on for a hard fought 93-85 victory Saturday night.
The Jayhawks (10-1) held a seemingly comfortable 73-58 lead, but then went into a 1-for-12 shooting slump. When Charlie Davis worked around Drew Gooden for a basket, it capped a 24-9 run by Tulsa (9-2) and forged an 82-82 tie with 2:49 left.
Then Hinrich, a 6-foot-3 junior guard hit a 10-footer with 2:18 left, then rebounded Antonio Reed's miss and hit a short jumper to give Kansas an 86-82 lead.
After Hinrich rebounded a miss by Reed a few seconds later, Gooden converted a free throw for an 87-82 lead with 58 seconds to go.
"I think the players and coaches knew we could play with Kansas," Tulsa coach John Phillips said. "When we were down 14 (actually 15), it would have been easy for them to give up. But they didn't do that. They turned it up a notch."
Guards Dante Swanson and Reed each had 23 for Tulsa, and Greg Harrison had 19.
"We kept going hard tonight," Harrington said. "But we didn't do what we wanted to do, and that was to win."
Swanson got Tulsa's run started with a four-point play when he was fouled by Bret Ballard while sinking a long 3-pointer from the corner.
Reed's driving layup made it 81-80 with a little more than 3 minutes left, then Hinrich made a free throw for an 82-80 lead.
The Golden Hurricane hit five of their first seven shots from the floor but still trailed 14-13 because the Jayhawks shot 6-of-7.
Reed, eclipsing his season average in the first five minutes, connected on his first four 3-pointers and had 16 in the first half.
The Jayhawks, who were favored by 11 points, hit an 0-for-7 spell midway through the first half and the Golden Hurricane took a 25-20 lead on Greg Harrington's tip-in.
"That's a good team. They really played hard," Gooden said. "I think they ought to be ranked in the Top 20."
