Friday, March 28, 2003
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NCAA TOURNAMENT: Collison points way to win

Senior scores career-high 33, grabs 19 rebounds as Kansas beats Duke

By STEVE CARP
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Kansas forward Nick Collison, rear, shoots over Duke's Casey Sanders during the second half of the Jayhawks' 69-65 victory Thursday in the NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinals. AP Photo Duke's Daniel Ewing slam dunks against Kansas during the first half of their NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinal game Thursday. Ewing had 13 points in the game. AP Photo

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- With his team's season in jeopardy and his career on the verge of ending, Nick Collison did what Kansas fans hoped he would: Play like the best player in the country.

The Jayhawks' 6-foot-9-inch senior forward delivered in a big way Thursday with a career-high 33 points and 19 rebounds to lead his team past Duke, 69-65, in the NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinals at Arrowhead Pond.

The victory sets up a 4:05 p.m. showdown Saturday between the second-seeded Jayhawks and No. 1 seed Arizona for the right to go to the Final Four next week in New Orleans. It also will be a rematch of their Jan. 25 meeting in Lawrence, Kan., when the Jayhawks squandered a 20-point second-half lead and fell to the Wildcats, 91-74.

"We thought we had a great matchup inside with Nick so we were looking for him," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "We didn't think (Duke) had the size and experience inside like Nick had."

The Blue Devils had no answer for Collison. He scored 14 of Kansas' final 17 points, including 12 straight, to put his team back in the lead after Duke led 56-54 with just over nine minutes to play.

Collison had no problem being the go-to guy Thursday, especially with guards Kirk Hinrich and Aaron Miles struggling. Hinrich was 1-for-9 from the floor and Miles 2-for-8. As a team, the Jayhawks (28-7) were just 1-for-12 from the 3-point arc, so Kansas needed every point from Collison.

"All night, I tried to be aggressive and make a play," Collison said. "They tried to keep me passive in the first half and not let me get the ball. But I just kept working."

Credit Kansas for getting good spacing and giving Collison room down low to operate. Duke (26-7) tried to get help on Collison, but more often than not, the Blue Devils were too late.

"I told you a couple of days ago Collison's the best player in the country, and he played like it tonight," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It was a great individual performance. He played like a champion and it took that kind of effort to beat our kids, who also played like champions."

The Duke players could only praise Collison.

"He had an amazing game and he wouldn't let his team lose," guard Chris Duhon said.

For a while in the second half, it appeared even Collison couldn't save Kansas. Duke started the half quickly, using a 9-1 spurt to break open a 35-all game. But Kansas managed to stay in it and took the lead for good, 59-57, with 7:10 left to play. Collison had begun his personal 12-point run at that point and even though he would play the entire game, he never ran out of gas.

"With eight minutes to go, I told them we can rest in May," Williams said. "I didn't want them to think in May what could've been in late March."

Kansas held Duke to just three field goals over the final nine minutes. The Blue Devils shot 39 percent from the floor and were just 10 of 26 from 3-point range.

"Points were hard to come by," Krzyzewski said. "I've been to a lot of championship games and this was a championship-level game."