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It turns out that All-Stars is just a name. The Kansas Jayhawks walked past the alleged All-Stars of California Wednesday night in a 98-80 victory. The exhibition game was the first of the year for the ’Hawks and it was a good way to start the 2001 season. Coach Roy Williams was pleased with his team’s win but believes there is still a lot of room for improvement. “I did like some things out there, but I thought we were a much better shooting team than we showed. We’re a good shooting team and we will shoot it better.” The ’Hawks’ two biggest three-point threats were cold. Junior guard Jeff Boschee missed all three attempts from behind the arc and senior guard Luke Axtell was one-for- five. Axtell managed to contribute in other ways. He was a strong presence in the paint and had two put-backs early on. He finished the game with twelve points. Other standouts for the ’Hawks were senior center Eric Chenowith and sophomore forward Drew Gooden. Both players had double-digit figures in points and rebounds. Chenowith led the ’Hawks with fifteen boards while scoring eleven points. Gooden added fourteen rebounds of his own. He put in fourteen points as well. The ’Hawks attacked the All-Stars with a well-balanced offense. Six of the boys in Kansas blue finished the night with ten points or more. Leading the ’Hawks in scoring was sophomore forward Nick Collison. He ended up with fifteen points and was perfect from the charity strike. Coach Williams can look at the rebounding difference in Wednesday’s contest to see why his team had such an easy time. They out rebounded California by a hefty margin and almost doubled the All-Stars’ totals. Williams was pleased with the team’s effort but made a point after the game that the win is not a good indicator of how the season will go. After all the ’Hawks scored 124 points last year against the same team. The Jayhawks will be back in action at the Allen Fieldhouse Saturday night. They take on Emporia State in another exhibition game before starting the season next week in New York against UCLA.

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