Kansas City
Rockhurst (Exh.)
'Roos Run Past Hawks In Exhibition at New Muni, 95-80
11/1/2013 11:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - The UMKC men's basketball team opened the tenure of head coach Kareem Richardson with an exhibition win over Rockhurst, 95-80 behind 21 points from Kansas City native Frank Williams.
“We did a lot of good things and a lot of bad things,” Richardson said. “It's obviously alarming, with defense being one of our staples that we gave up 80 points. I thought our press was okay, but we gave up too many easy baskets in our transition and half court defense.”
The exhibition was played in front of 2,635 fans at the newly renovated Municipal Auditorium. The new seats, lights, sound and video boards were on full display.
“It was rockin' in here, we could feel that music in the locker room,” Richardson joked. “It is a big time look and you can feel the vibe. That video board is fantastic.”
UMKC came out running the full court press after made buckets, and the two squads traded field goals in the early going. The 'Roos pushed their lead to eight at the 14:41 mark after a layup by freshman Martez Harrison, and then extended it to 14 with 12:06 on the clock thanks to a three by Williams.
Rockhurst came back strong though, cutting the margin to five with 9:46 to play in the half after a couple UMKC turnovers. The 'Roos wouldn't let it get any closer than that the rest of the night though, and pushed it back to double digits for the rest of the half with 6:47 to play. Their largest margin was 15 with 3:36 left on a Nelson Kirksey three-pointer, and they took a 53-39 advantage into the break.
Williams piled up 16 points in the half while the 'Roos drilled 67 percent from the floor. UMKC also had 16 points off nine RU turnovers. The Hawks were led by Andrew Ellwanger with eight points, and shot 43 percent.
The second period saw the 'Roos focus on getting the ball inside and stronger rebounding. It worked as they tallied 24 points in the paint and out-rebounded the guests by 12. Senior center Fred Chatmon had his way inside, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight boards in the half.
The Hawks were held to 34 percent shooting in the half, and after they cut it to eight in the first two minute, UMKC answered with a 6-0 run and led by double digits the rest of the night.
The game saw 58 fouls called. With the new rules that stress calling hand checks, the teams had trouble adjusting most of the night while trying to get a feel for the officials.
The 'Roos had four players in double figures as Williams posted 21, Harrison had 17, Kirksey tallied 16, and Chatmon put up 15 with a game-high nine rebounds. As a team UMKC hit 50.8 percent of its shots, but struggled from the line, hitting only 65 percent.
Kansas City will open the regular season next Friday with the Emporia State Hornets coming to town for a rare 3:05 p.m. afternoon tipoff. The game will be televised on KSMO-TV in Kansas City, and fans are encouraged to use the hashtag #HoopsHookie all week leading up to the contest.
