Kansas' Postseason Hopes Dashed By Northern Iowa
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Updated: 11:51 PM Mar 20, 2010
Kansas' Postseason Hopes Dashed By Northern Iowa
Ali Farokhmanesh hit another big 3-pointer with 34 seconds left and Northern Iowa pulled off the biggest upset in the NCAA tournament, beating top overall seed Kansas 69-67 in the second round on Saturday.
Posted: 7:09 PM Mar 20, 2010
Reporter: 13 News
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OKLAHOMA CITY - Too many turnovers and trouble on the offensive glass are going to be on the mind of Jayhawk players as the University of Kansas men's basketball team saw its season end to at the hands of the Northern Iowa Panthers Saturday at the Ford Center. UNI upset Kansas 69-67 to advance to the Sweet 16.

A crowd of 15,587 saw Kansas finish the year with a 33-3 record, and Northern Iowa advance to regional play in St. Louis with a 30-4 mark.

KU coughed the ball up 15 times leading to 21 UNI points, while the Panthers also got 18 points off second chance points. With the Jayhawks never finding an offensive rhythm, it was too much to overcome.

Things seemed to start off good on KU's first possession when Cole Aldrich took a feed in the post and converted a strong post move over UNI's seven-foot Jordan Eglseder for a 2-0 lead.

However, the mood quickly changed as Northern Iowa rattled off 10 straight points with five coming from Eglseder and head coach Bill Self was forced to call for an early timeout with 17:32 on the clock. Self's instructions in the huddle seemed to work as Kansas went on a mini 7-2 run to close the gap to 12-9 in favor of UNI.

Using a dizzying array of jumpers from mid and long range, Northern Iowa proved difficult to guard. Kansas was never able to reclaim a lead, but did cut the margin to two when Sherron Collins slashed to the hole for his only bucket to cut it to 25-23 with 6:35 to play.

Ali Farokhmanesh then scored eight straight for UNI while the Jayhawks went cold. At halftime, KU trailed 36-28. Farokhmanesh led all first-half scorers with 11, followed by Eglseder with 10. Kansas got seven from Marcus Morris and Aldrich, with Aldrich grabbing seven boards.

Kansas turned the ball over eight times in the period leading to 11 Panther points, while the Jayhawks only converted for three points off four UNI miscues.

Not much changed after the half until about the 10 minute mark when Kansas started to turn up the pressure and slowly chip at the lead. Up 52-41, UNI inexplicably started hoisting long-range threes, missing most of them, as Kansas edged closer.

In the final minute Kansas looked to have finally gained momentum, as it had clawed all the way back to within one with the score 63-62.

Farokhmanesh - also the hero of the Panthers first round game - then hit a long three to regain a four point lead. He tacked on two more free throws in the closing seconds to seal it.

Aldrich finished with his 37th career double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Marcus Morris led Kansas with 16 points and Collins added 10 in his final college game.

Farokhmanesh posted a game-high 16 points thanks largely to four three-pointers. Eglseder scored 14 and Jake Koch added 10.

Kansas shot 44.4 percent from the field compared to just 40 percent for UNI. The Panthers hit 9-of-26 threes and 16-of-19 free throws, while KU converted just 6-of-23 treys and 13-of-18 from the line.

Kansas Postgame Notes

Kansas' Loss To Northern Iowa...

...End Kansas' season at 33-3.

...Make KU 24-8 as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

...Give Kansas its first neutral game loss of the season (6-1) and make KU 15-1 away from home in 2009-10.

...Make Kansas 1-1 against Northern Iowa and 53-13 against current membership of the Missouri Valley Conference.

...Make Bill Self 202-43 while at Kansas, 409-148 overall and 25-11 in NCAA Tournament games, including 15-6 while at Kansas.

...Make Kansas 2,003-796 all time.

Notes

-- Sherron Collins ended his career with 1,888 points which ranks fifth on the all-time KU list. He also finished with 552 assists and joins only Darnell Valentine as the only two players in KU history to have more than 1,800 points and 550 assists.

-- Cole Aldrich blocked one shot to bring his school-record season total to 124 and his career total to 252. He ends the season six shy of the KU career record held by Greg Ostertag (258 from 1992-95).

-- Aldrich moved up the KU all-time scoring list. His 1,038 points rank 46th. He passed Bill Bridges (1,028 from 1959-61) and Jerry Gardner (1,030 from 1960-62).

-- Aldrich collected his 37th career double-double to tie Nick Collison (2000-03) for fifth on the KU all-time list. He had 13 points and 10 rebounds against UNI.

-- Aldrich's 10 boards moved him into eighth place on the KU single season rebounds list with 354. He passed Bill Bridges who had 353 rebounds in 1961.

-- Kansas' only lead of the game was when it was 2-0 to start the game.

-- Kansas' nine assists were a team season low. The previous low was 10, done three times.

-- Kansas used just eight players for the first time since the Texas game on Feb. 8.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Ali Farokhmanesh hit another big 3-pointer
with 34 seconds left and Northern Iowa pulled off the biggest upset
in the NCAA tournament, beating top overall seed Kansas 69-67 in
the second round on Saturday.

Northern Iowa (30-4) won the tempo tug-of-war, grounding the
high-flying Jayhawks with in-their-jersey defense, then withstood a
furious rally to become the first team to beat a No. 1 seed in the
second round since UAB and Alabama did it to Kentucky and Stanford
in 2004.

The ninth-seeded Panthers led early and made just enough plays
late to pull off the biggest win in their history.

Kansas (33-3) trailed nearly the entire game, finally pulling
close in the closing minutes behind its fullcourt pressure. The
Jayhawks never made it all the way back, though, bowing out early
in what was supposed to be another title run.


Latest Comments

Posted by: Jerri Location: Topeka on Mar 22, 2010 at 05:39 PM

Thank you for your posts, microb4 and Mark. I thought I was the only one who noticed JB's biased reporting. I hope K-State wins it all !!!
Posted by: Mark Location: Kansas on Mar 22, 2010 at 06:42 AM

I agree MicroB4. JB and Mark both don't like to talk about KU unless something good happens to them. As far as K-State goes, they never say anything about K-State unless its something against them!
Posted by: Al Location: Wichita on Mar 21, 2010 at 03:34 PM

I am glad the Panthers won.
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