The first half will hold spot in history
Bob Gretz
Kansas City Star
Tuesday, April 5, 1988
From this point on, it will become known in
basketball circles by a very simply name:
"The Half."
What Kansas and Oklahoma did in the first half of Monday night's NCAA championship game at Kemper Arena won't soon be forgotten. For 20 minutes, those two Big Eight Conference brothers hit each other with knockout punch after knockout punch, only to rise again and again from the floor and race into the locker room at halftime tied 50-50.
It was the stuff of a Hollywood script. But it could not have been created in someone's active imagination better than it was in reality Monday night. It was the key to the Jayhawks' 83-79 upset victory over the Sooners that gave them the 1988 national championship.
Oklahoma violated the cardinal rule for all teams that enter a game as a heavy favorite: They did not put away their foe early. They were not able to demoralize Kansas. Sure, the Jayhawks were wondering there for a while. Coach Larry Brown called it concern, because they shot 71 percent in the first half and ended up having nothing for a lead.
But what happened in the first half is that Kansas learned it could play with Oklahoma.
And oh, what a half of basketball it was. Jay Simon who has seen more than 30 NCAA championships during his long career as a sportswriter and sports information director, including all of the nine previous title games played in Kansas City, said the first half was the most exciting and intense basketball he had seen. He also said he would rank Monday night's game ahead of the famed 1957 title game between Kansas and North Carolina as the most exciting. Ed Steitz, the longtime basketball rules secretary, said it was the finest half of basketball he had seen in a championship game.
Among the more memorable moments that came in the opening 20 minutes were:
- The Jayhawks' Kevin Pritchard catching a pass over the top of the Oklahoma press and scoring. Kansas 6-4.
- A half-dozen three-point baskets by Oklahoma's Dave Sieger, all of which seemed to come at critical times in the half. The first came before 3 minutes had been played in the game and cut KU's lead to 10-7.
- A remarkable reverse layup by Kansas' Milt Newton. He came in on the left side of the basket, found an Oklahoma player contesting him, and somehow got his body around to the other side of the basket far enough to throw up a shot that somehow went in. Kansas 16-13.
- On alley-oop dunk by Manning on a pass from Scooter Barry. Kansas 20-16.
- A three-point shot by Mookie Blaylock that tied the score 33-33 with 8:39 to play.
- A three-pointer by Kansas' Clint Normore with just 2 seconds left on the 45-second shot clock. Kansas 36-33.
- King stealing the ball and driving for a dunk. Oklahoma 39-36.
- The Jayhawks' Lincoln Minor stealing an inbounds pass and getting fouled by Blaylock. He made both free throws. Kansas 40-39.
- A steal by Blaylock, setting up another three-pointer by Sieger. Kansas 42-40.
- With 3 minutes to play, Manning going up one-on-one against King. King went up, too, and blocked it cleanly.
- A three-point shot by Newton that tied the score 48-48.
- A twisting layup by Manning, who got King to go up in the air and then drawing a goal. Manning missing the free throw, but it was Kansas 50-48.
- With 22 seconds left in the half, Ricky Grace finding himself free under the basket and scoring. It tied the game.
And seconds later, when the horn sounded and the teams headed to the locker room, a huge sigh of relief could be heard. One of the best 20 minutes of basketball in 50 NCAA tournaments was over.
