December 22, 2001
Grand Forks, ND – University of Kansas guard Jeff Boschee was the story on and off the court on Saturday afternoon as the Jayhawks defeated the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, 108-77. Off the court, Boschee was the reason the game was even played as the Valley City, N.D., native made a triumphant return to his home state and the team he grew up watching. On the court, Boschee finished with a storybook game-high 23 points, hitting 9-of-12 shots, 4-of-6 from 3-point range, in 29 minutes of action. Boschee was also the reason the game was played in front of 13,280 fans at Engelstad Arena, the largest crowd to watch a basketball game in North Dakota history. #3 Kansas improved to 9-1 with the win. UND fell to 6-4.
The Sioux played nearly even with the Jayhawks in the game's opening 10 minutes. A Mario Porter 3-point basket gave UND an 11-10 lead with 15:50 to play, and UND trailed by just four, 20-16, with 11:33 to play, but Kansas would go on an 11-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 31-16 lead. The run began with a Boschee 3-pointer and ended when Nick Collison muscled in a layup, was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw.
Kansas would never lose the double-figure lead, but North Dakota got within 10 twice later in the first half. A Josh Johnson 3-point shop pulled UND to within 39-29 with 4:52 to play, but KU answered with a 12-3 run to take their largest lead of the half, 51-32, with 42 seconds remaining. The Sioux's Jeff Brandt hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make the halftime score 51-35.
A 3-point basket by UND's Nigel Jenkins with 13:43 to play in the game pulled the Sioux to within 16, 67-51, but that would be as close as they'd come. Kansas scored the next five points on a 3-point shot by Aaron Miles and a basket by Jeff Carey.
The KU lead was 100-77 after UND's Corey Sheplee hit a 3-point shot with 2:23 to play, but the Jayhawks would score the final eight points of the game to win 108-77.
Kansas had six players finish in double figures. In addition to Boschee’s 23, Collison had 16, Kirk Hinrich had 14, Wayne Simien had 13, Drew Gooden had 12 and Keith Langford had 11. Gooden led the rebounding effort with 10.
UND was led by Jerome Beasley, who hit 6-of-10 shots and all eight of his free throws, to finish with 20 points. He also grabbed 10 rebounds. Brandt finished with 17 and Porter 10. Robert Lolar, a Wichita, Kan., native, came off the bench to hit 3-of-4 shots and finish with nine points.
KU outrebounded the Sioux, 39-31, and the nation's top shooting team hit 60 percent of its shots (45x75).
North Dakota will be back in action on Dec. 29 and 30 when the Sioux host Northern Colorado and Nebraska-Omaha in the team's NCC home openers.
Official Basketball Box Score
Kansas vs North Dakota
12/22/01 1 p.m. at Grand Forks, N.D. - Engelstad Arena
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VISITORS: Kansas 9-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
00 Gooden, Drew........ * 5-12 0-0 2-2 2 8 10 2 12 2 2 1 1 27
04 Collison, Nick...... * 7-11 0-0 2-4 0 5 5 4 16 1 2 0 2 22
10 Hinrich, Kirk....... * 6-8 2-4 0-0 2 2 4 3 14 9 4 0 1 31
11 Miles, Aaron........ * 2-8 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 2 5 9 4 0 1 28
13 Boschee, Jeff....... * 9-12 4-6 1-2 2 1 3 0 23 2 1 0 1 29
02 Harrison, Lewis..... 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
03 Ballard, Brett...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5
05 Langford, Keith..... 5-8 0-1 1-1 0 0 0 2 11 1 3 0 2 18
15 Nash, Bryant........ 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 2
22 Carey, Jeff......... 3-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 2 6 0 0 0 2 11
23 Simien, Wayne....... 5-8 0-0 3-4 1 5 6 2 13 0 2 0 1 13
25 Lee, Michael........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 4
34 Zerbe, Chris........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
50 Kappelmann, Todd.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 45-75 7-12 11-16 12 27 39 17 108 27 18 2 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 20-33 60.6% 2nd Half: 25-42 59.5% Game: 60.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 58.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-10 70.0% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 68.8% 1
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HOME TEAM: North Dakota 6-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Mario Porter........ * 3-9 1-4 3-4 0 4 4 0 10 8 5 0 2 26
30 Jeff Brandt......... * 6-13 2-7 3-4 0 2 2 0 17 0 2 0 1 30
32 Ryan Walker......... * 2-4 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 2 5 3 1 0 0 17
42 Josh Johnson........ * 1-4 1-2 0-0 2 0 2 5 3 1 1 0 0 19
54 Jerome Beasley...... * 6-10 0-0 8-8 0 10 10 2 20 2 0 0 0 34
12 Steve Bradley....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
14 Mike Johnson........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 7
20 Jade Jahner......... 1-3 1-2 2-4 0 0 0 2 5 2 4 0 1 11
22 Corey Sheplee....... 1-2 1-2 0-0 1 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 3
24 Robert Lolar........ 3-4 1-1 2-2 1 1 2 0 9 1 2 0 1 10
34 Nigel Jenkins....... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 1 14
40 Jerrid Sebesta...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 0 8
44 Jared Swanson....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 3
50 Todd Rypkema........ 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 4 2 0 1 0 0 12
52 Jared Wells......... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
Team................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 25-60 9-23 18-22 9 22 31 19 77 20 23 0 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-31 41.9% 2nd Half: 12-29 41.4% Game: 41.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 39.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 13-14 92.9% Game: 81.8% 3
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Officials: Stanley Reynolds, Al Monaco, Brad Ferrie
Technical fouls: Kansas-None. North Dakota-None.
Attendance: 13280
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Kansas........................ 51 57 - 108
North Dakota.................. 35 42 - 77
KU's Jeff Boschee scores a game-high 23 points in his return to North Dakota.
13,280 the largest crowd to watch a basketball game in ND history.