NCAA News Wire
Stanford 60, Kansas 57
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
ST. LOUIS — Stanford rock-chalked the Jayhawks out of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Using a 2-3 zone to keep Kansas from dominating inside and overcoming turnover issues down the stretch, the 10th-seeded Cardinal advanced to the South Regional semifinals with a 60-57 upset at the Scottrade Center.
Forward Dwight Powell scored 15 points, guard Chasson Randle contributed 13 and guard Anthony Brown and center Stefan Nastic each had 10 for Stanford (23-12).
The Cardinal will meet No. 11 Dayton on Thursday night in a matchup of teams no expected to be in Memphis.
Center Tarik Black scored a game-high 18 points for Kansas (25-10) before fouling out with 5:25 left. Freshman guard Conner Frankamp added 12 points, hitting two 3-pointers in the last 30 seconds to fuel a last-ditch rally.
But the Jayhawks shot a miserable 19-of-58 from the field as Stanford played mostly zone and rebounded well out of it, winning the board battle 37-35. That made up for shaky ballhandling in the last seven minutes, when the Cardinal committed six turnovers against full-court pressure.
Freshman forward Andrew Wiggins, Kansas’ leading scorer this season at 17.4 points per game, might have capped his one season in Lawrence with a miserable game. Thought of by some as the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft, Wiggins scored only four points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field and committed four turnovers.
The Jayhawks had a chance to tie the score with just over a minute left, but forward Perry Ellis missed a fadeaway jumper from the left baseline. Stanford maintained its slim lead down the home stretch as Brown hit 5 of 8 free throws in the last 43.6 seconds.
Kansas could have forced overtime, but Frankamp’s fadeaway 3 under duress came up short just before time expired.
Frankamp’s pull-up 3 with 0.6 of a second left in the first half gave the Jayhawks a 24-22 halftime lead. Neither team shot or played particularly well in the half, combining to make only 17-of-53 shots from the floor.
NOTES: Stanford C Stefan Nastic had a string of 16 straight field goals snapped in Friday’s win against New Mexico when he missed his last attempt of the first half. … Kansas F Perry Ellis’ 14 points and 13 rebounds on Friday against Eastern Kentucky gave him his fifth double-double of the season. … Cardinal G Chasson Randle is sixth in school history with 1,617 points entering Sunday’s game, and has another year of eligibility left. … When shooting more than 50 percent from the field, as they did Friday, the Jayhawks are 18-1.
