Pierce’s peers remember Hall of Famer’s offense, defense ... and laundry skills at KU
One of Paul Pierce’s greatest performances during his three-year Kansas Jayhawks basketball career came in his last game at Allen Fieldhouse.
Then a junior, the 6-foot-7, 220-pound Pierce scored 31 points in an 83-70 victory over Oklahoma on Feb. 23, 1998. That contest concluded the home portion of KU’s 1997-98 schedule.
“That’s the first thing that comes to my mind. He scored 13 or 15 straight against OU,” said Terry Nooner, a former KU guard who now works as associate head coach of KU’s women’s basketball team. Nooner was asked in an interview with The Star to recall his teammate’s greatest moments in his No. 34 KU jersey.
A sophomore non-scholarship player at the time, Nooner watched from the bench in amazement as Pierce scored 15 straight second-half points to make sure seniors Raef LaFrentz, Billy Thomas and C.B. McGrath completed their college careers with a perfect 58-0 record in games played at Allen.
Pierce, who turned pro after that junior season, went 44-0 in the Jayhawks’ tradition-rich building.
“He was pretty much unstoppable,” Nooner recalled.
Nooner remembers vividly a second virtuoso performance of Pierce — this one in which the now 43-year-old Inglewood, California native, who will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame at 6 p.m., Saturday in Springfield, Massachusetts, was dominant on the defensive end at the end of a game against Nebraska on Feb. 1, 1997.
“The story I bring up with Tyronn Lue,” Nooner said of his childhood friend from Raytown, Missouri who played college basketball at Nebraska before embarking on an 11-year NBA career, “is the year we were 21-0, we beat them (Cornhuskers) here in overtime.
“Tyronn had a great game. They had the ball and were trying to dribble out the clock (in a tie game and take a last-second shot). He was trying to iso (isolate) 1-on-1 on Jacque (Vaughn, KU guard). Danny Nee (NU coach) called time out.
“In the time out, coach Williams (Roy, KU) said, ‘Trap.’ Jacque had him (Lue) turn toward Paul. Paul trapped. He (Pierce) was so mobile Tyronn couldn’t get around him. Paul was so long he (Lue) couldn’t pass (and the possession fizzled). If they would have scored they would have won. We needed that win to go 22-0 (and set the record for best start to a season in KU history),” Nooner added.
Thanks to 11 points in overtime from LaFrentz, the Jayhawks won that game over NU, 82-77. The record-setting win streak, by the way, ended in KU’s next game. Missouri stopped the Jayhawks 96-94 in two overtimes in Columbia, Missouri, dropping KU to 22-1 overall.
Pierce averaged 16.3 points and 6.8 rebounds that season — his sophomore season — for the Jayhawks, who went 34-2 overall, falling to Arizona in the Sweet 16. Pierce averaged 20.4 points and 6.7 rebounds a game his junior season, one in which KU went 35-4 and fell in the second round of the NCAAs to Rhode Island.
“He’s the best player I ever played with,” said Nooner, who will travel to Springfield this weekend to witness Pierce’s induction into the Hall.
“Paul Pierce could do everything — shoot threes, post up, play defense, finish at the rim. He had probably the best midrange pull-up game in the country,” Nooner said. “He’s always been a total, complete player, a gym rat, always working on his game. He always felt he was the best player on the court. No matter what others thought, he believed he was the best,” Nooner added.
Nooner recalls spending time with Pierce not only at practice and in games, but on KU’s campus.
“It was my sophomore year, his junior year. We had a first aid class together at Robinson,” Nooner said of Robinson Center, located across the street from Allen Fieldhouse.
“He always had a ball with him. When class was over, we’d work out in Robinson. Wed play 1-on-1. It was fun. I was a walk-on. He was Paul Pierce. He liked to hoop. I was not scared to play him. We’d go at it. He’s so big and strong. I remember he’d sit in a stance, spread his arms and it was hard to score. With coach Williams’ run and jump stuff, he’d be involved in traps (on defense) a lot.”
Here are some memories of Pierce related to The Star by some of Pierce’s KU teammates.
From Eric Chenowith, who was a freshman during Pierce’s junior year, Pierce’s final year at KU
“He jumped over my high school point guard on an alley-oop. Literally jumped over him,” said Chenowith, whose Villa Park (California) High School squad fell to Pierce’s Inglewood High team in the California state playoffs. “Even at KU we joked about that play.”
Chenowith remembers Pierce being a bit overweight early in Pierce’s high school career.
“I remember playing AAU, Bob Gottlieb, Doug’s dad, would hold Sunday workouts. Tony Gonzalez was there; Paul would come down (from Inglewood to Villa Park, California) to play. He had a little baby fat. He burned it off when he came to KU, after he got in a good strength and conditioning program and all that. Toward the prime of his career, he really was in incredible shape thanks to nutrition, stretching and conditioning,” Chenowith added.
On a lighter note … “Paul taught me how to do laundry,” Chenowith related, laughing. “It was my first week at school at Jayhawker Towers. I was going into the laundry room with a batch of clothes. Paul said, ‘You have no idea what you are doing do you?’ I said, ‘Nope.’
He said, ‘Man, the whites go in hot water to get them all bright; wash the brights in cold water to save the color.’ I said, ‘Can I put both in the drier together?’ He said, ‘yeah.’’’
On the court, Chenowith says Pierce, “dominated every single day in everything. He was incredible.”
From Nick Bradford, who was one year behind Pierce in school, playing with him two seasons
“My biggest memory is playing 1-on-1 against him every day. He helped me get better,” Bradford said.
Also …. “The biggest thing is the Oklahoma game. He went on a 15-0, 16-0 run, then Kelvin Sampson (OU coach) came over (to KU bench) and tapped him on the butt (as Pierce checked out of game). Everybody knew it was his last game and he picked the best way to go out.”
From Scot Pollard, who was a junior and senior when Pierce was a freshman and sophomore
“He was so young. He just turned 17 when he got to KU. We called him ‘Bambi’ because he was all elbows and knees and hadn’t grown into his body yet,” Pollard said. “As soon as you saw him on the court you could tell he was special. We knew superstardom was on the way. We saw a guy with a great work ethic, one who matured as a teammate before our eyes.”
Pollard is the only person to have been a teammate of Pierce in both college and the NBA.
Pollard played with Pierce on the 2008 Boston Celtics team that won the NBA title as well as the 1995-96 and ’96-97 KU teams that went 63-7 overall with two Big 12 titles, an Elite Eight appearance and Sweet 16 berth.
“I was reunited with him in Boston (2007-08 title season) after playing against him for a decade,” said Pollard, who played for Detroit, Sacramento, Indiana, Cleveland and Boston in an 11-year NBA career. Pierce played for Boston for 15 seasons, Brooklyn one, Washington one and the Los Angeles Clippers two in a 19-year NBA career.
“In Boston he was the same great guy, the same worker, the same gym rat. He would play 1-on-1 against anybody, even the staff members. After practice he never wanted to leave. He just worked all the time. People always said Paul’s body never looks like it’s in shape,” Pollard added of the small forward’s frame. “There are a lot of great players whose body type isn’t ripped up and shredded. Paul is one of those.
“He’s really strong. Out of all the guys I played against, Paul is one of the hardest guys to knock the ball out of his hands. You don’t see him get the ball knocked out of his hands. I’ll cut to the end: He was a great teammate.”
Pollard continued: “People know. It was the truth. That became his nickname. I know Shaq (O’Neal) named him that (The Truth). He didn’t talk but when he did he backed it up and that’s the truth,” Pollard added.
From Ryan Robertson, a teammate of Pierce during Pierce’s entire career at KU and also in the Legends of the Phog KU alumni game on Sept. 25, 2011 in Allen Fieldhouse
“We were getting beat (at Legends exhibition game held before 16,300 fans in Allen). During one of the timeouts, Paul said, ‘I never lost a game in this building. That means something to me. I want everybody to pick up their intensity level. Let’s try to win.’ That inspired me. I didn’t want to let down Paul. It carried so much weight for me,” Robertson said.
Pierce wound up hitting a three with five seconds left to give his Blue team an 111-108 lead over the White squad. Mario Chalmers ended up beating the buzzer with a three to send both teams — and the fans — home happy with an 111-111 tie.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 6:40 AM with the headline "Pierce’s peers remember Hall of Famer’s offense, defense ... and laundry skills at KU."
