Arizona survives wild Jayhawk rally in Sweet 16 stunner 





 





Box score  

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Freshman Mike Bibby scored 21 points and hit a pair of critical free throws with 18 seconds remaining as fourth-seeded Arizona stunned top-seeded and top-ranked Kansas 85-82 Friday night in the Southeast Regional semifinals. 

THE GAME AT A GLANCE 
Star of the game: Arizona freshman point guard Mike Bibby, who led the team with 21 points and added five assists and two steals.

 

Pivotal stretch: Arizona had a 10-point lead with 1:52 to play before Kansas nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback. Ryan Robertson's three-pointer with 21 seconds to play lifted the Jayhawks within 83-82. Bibby was fouled with 18 seconds left and made both from the line to give the Wildcats a three-point cushion. Despite three tries at the game-tying 3-pointer, KU couldn't convert.

 

What's next: Arizona plays Providence in the Southeast region final on Sunday. 
Arizona (22-9) broke open a tight game in the second half by pushing the tempo under Bibby. He nailed a 3-pointer from the right baseline with 3:28 to play, putting the Wildcats ahead 75-62. 

The Jayhawks (34-2) staged a furious rally, but became the first regional top seed to fall. Arizona advanced to the "Elite Eight" and a meeting with Providence in Sunday's regional final. 

Arizona had a 10-point lead with 1:52 to play before Kansas nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback. Ryan Robertson's 3-pointer with 21 seconds to play lifted the Jayhawks within 83-82. Bibby was fouled with 18 seconds left and made both from the line to give the Wildcats a three-point cushion. 

Kansas had three cracks at the tying three-pointer in the final seconds, but Billy Thomas missed from the left wing, Robertson came up short and Raef LaFrentz's hurried shot from the left corner glanced off the front of the rim at the buzzer. Paul Pierce led the Jayhawks with 27 points, but Scot Pollard was held scoreless. 

"I thought it was a great, great basketball game, two teams that were not about to back down," said Arizona coach Lute Olson. "We jumped on them early, they gave us a great run, and our guys battled back. I thought it was an awfully good basketball game with a tremendous amount of effort and intensity on both ends of the court." 

Kansas defeated Arizona 83-80 in the semifinals of the 1996 West Regional and had won the previous three meetings between the teams. The Jayhawks also were 9-0 against ranked teams before this loss. 

Kansas' defeat insures that no team with one or no losses has reached the national championship final since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. 
ROCK, CHOKE, JAYHAWK? 
Was Kansas' loss to Arizona on Friday a stunner, or merely part of a recent historical trend? You be the judge by taking a look at unmet expectations for the past eight years since KU won the national title in 1988.:
Year Seed Result
1989 -- Missed Tourney
1990 2 L, 2nd rd.
1991 3 L, final.
1992 1 L, 2nd rd.
1993 2 L, Final Four
1994 4 L, Sweet 16
1995 1 L, Sweet 16
1996 2 L, Elite 8
1997 1 L, Sweet 16
"It's been a dream season but we didn't reach our final dream," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "That happens sometimes in life, but no one can have the feelings towards the kids in their locker room that I have towards the kids in my locker room. I'm the luckiest coach in America and I can say right now that on Monday night there will be a coach that will cut down the net... and he can't be as lucky as Roy Williams is." 

"It definitely hurts," LaFrentz said. "All season long we've been pointing toward this time in the season. We felt we had the team to do it this year ... it just didn't work out." 

The Jayhawks led 43-40 just under two minutes into the second half before the Wildcats went on a 21-10 run. Bibby hit a runner and Mike Dickerson, who had 20 points, hit a free throw to tie the game. Miles Simon, who battled foul trouble in the first half, hit consecutive hoops to put the Wildcats on top 47-43. 

Pierce hit a pair of free throws, but Arizona scored eight of the next 10 points to seize a 55-47 advantage with 11:40 to go. The Jayhawks got within 64-62 on a LaFrentz layup with 7:26 remaining but Bibby hit a pair of three-pointers to spark an 11-0 burst. 

Bibby, a 68 percent free-throw shooter, was 5-of-6 from the line and chipped in with five assists. A.J. Bramlett added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats, who won despite missing 10-of-27 free throws and getting outrebounded 44-36. 

"Before the game Coach Olson told us that we had no room for error," Dickerson said. "We knew that going into the game. We had to get all the loose balls, all the long rebounds, which we did. I think that was the key to the game tonight." 

Kansas all-American Jacque Vaughn had an erratic effort, missing 7-of-10 shots and scoring just eight points. He also committed five of the Jayhawks' 20 turnovers. 

"It's definitely a tough loss for us," Pierce said. "We worked so hard all year to get to this point. Unfortunately, we kind of fell short and are a little bit disappointed, but I'm not going to hold my head down."