Wait is over for Sam Cunliffe, who’s set for KU debut: ‘I like all the excitement’

Finally, after a year of practicing but not playing in games, Arizona State transfer Sam Cunliffe is about to make his regular-season debut for Kansas.

“I’ve got a lot of Tweets, Instagrams, Snapchats, (people) looking for a little change. I tell them, ‘Hey we’ve got a good team as it is. I’m just going to add what I bring.’ I like all the excitement,” Cunliffe, KU’s 6-foot-6, 200-pound redshirt sophomore guard from Seattle said Tuesday.

As it turns out, the first game he’s allowed to play in accordance with NCAA transfer rules is Saturday’s 7 p.m. contest at Nebraska — technically the first game of the second semester of the 2017-18 school year. Cunliffe left Arizona State for KU at semester break a year ago after averaging 9.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 10 games for the Sun Devils.

“It’s been a long 365 days, no doubt about it. He is going crazy, chomping at the bit,” Cunliffe’s dad, Mike Cunliffe, a former long jumper at Washington State and now a high-performance youth track and field coach in Seattle, said Tuesday in a phone interview.

“It’s a good time to come in, I think, now that anxiousness has waned into a focus. Get out there and knock the rust off, get the timing right. Hopefully get it quicker rather than later, then off to the races,” added Mike Cunliffe, who said the family, including Sam’s mother, Michelle, and five of his eight sisters will be huddled around the TV with some other guests at the Cunliffe abode Saturday night in Seattle to watch KU-Nebraska.

That game is in Lincoln, not Allen Fieldhouse. Cunliffe’s home debut will be Monday night against Omaha.

“All my best games in high school were on the road. I know it’s just high school. At ASU my best games were at home. I don’t really care,” Cunliffe said of the venue.

He realizes he’d be extra amped at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Even being out there just sitting (on bench) you kind of get the chills when the game starts. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like,” Cunliffe said of playing in front of 16,300 fans in Allen. “Obviously playing for one of the best schools ever, or best school ever, when you get thrown out there it’s not like you are going to be calm. You’d be insane. As the game goes on, I’ll be fine. I’ll be all right.”

Cunliffe, who averaged 3.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in KU’s four exhibition victories last August in Italy while getting at least a taste of what it’s like to wear a Jayhawk jersey, believes he’s thoroughly prepared for Saturday’s game against Nebraska (7-4, 5-0 at home) and what’s to follow as he begins the next chapter of his college career.

“I think about right now is actually probably the perfect time for me to start playing. I think I’m ready. The past three practices are probably my best three practices since I’ve been here,” Cunliffe said after practice Tuesday.

Is that because he’s focused with his debut just around the corner?

“I think (so), also things have kind of clicked a little bit,” Cunliffe said. “I’ve really been taking seriously the offense: ‘Get it, swing it, move it, if you are open shoot it.’ I feel my shot has gotten a lot better. Coach T has been on me about doing the right mechanics, shooting the right way.”

Coach T is Jayhawks assistant coach Kurtis Townsend, who has been a mentor of sorts to Cunliffe since Rivals.com’s No. 36-rated player in the recruiting class of 2016 made the move to KU last winter.　

“Every day, Coach T has been on me about playing without the ball, doing things for other people, defensively, offensively,” said Cunliffe, who after taking all the pointers to heart believes “this is the best defensively I’ve been in my entire life.”

That’s because as a member of the Red team, or Scout team, he’s been playing almost exclusively on defense at practice.

“Until about a week and a half ago, I’ve been playing defense the whole entire time,” Cunliffe said. “Coach T would watch me, make sure I’m doing the right things in order to get me ready. It didn’t really click in until about two weeks ago where I was getting so annoyed by him just always chirping, chirping.

“I’ve been told so many times, ‘This is what you need to do,’ that I feel I can actually come in (games) and maybe even help them (teammates) with that (defense). I feel I’m a real good rebounder. I could be a great rebounder.”

To this point, Cunliffe — who says his vertical jump is “36, 35, it could be higher for sure. I don’t want to throw out a crazy number out there” — has been known for his offense and athleticism throughout his hoops career. He averaged 21.6 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists his senior season at Rainier Beach High in Seattle.

“I think some of those dunks Lagerald (Vick) gets, lobs, I can get those, too,” Cunliffe said.

Senior Devonté Graham says that above all else, Cunliffe “is an athlete. He can steal extra possessions. Coach (Bill Self) loves guys who can get offensive rebounds, get in lanes. He can shoot it, too. He’s been shooting well in practice.”

Self — whose Jayhawks have lost two straight contests heading into the Nebraska game, one against Cunliffe’s former school, Arizona State, and the other against a Washington team in which he knows several players — cautions to not expect too much too soon from Cunliffe early on.

“I think it’ll take him a while. People should not be thinking Sam will step in and be better than what we have. That’s not fair to Sam,” Self said recently. “Could he be a nice piece (of the puzzle) and give us short minutes? Absolutely.

“I don’t know how much he’ll play right off the bat. It’ll certainly be nice to have another body to go to,” added Self, who has had a rotation of the team’s seven eligible scholarship players and walk-on Clay Young.

KU assistant Norm Roberts said Monday on Self’s weekly Hawk Talk radio show, “Sam gives us a little more size. He’s about 6-6. When we play four guards we will have bigger bodies when he is out there. He’s a terrific offensive rebounder, decent shooter, getting better. We want him to be in attack mode and use as much of his athleticism as he can.

“He’s gotten better defensively and we need that. We can put him on the 2, 3 and 4 man, allow Marcus (Garrett) to guard some 3s as well. He gives us some more depth. Hopefully he lets the game come to him, eases into it,” Roberts added. “It will be a big moment for him (Saturday).”

Cunliffe — who is currently the second-most accomplished athlete in his family; Hannah a senior at Oregon is NCAA champ in the 60 dash — is humbled by the opportunities ahead.

“I talk to him all the time it’s a privilege to play college basketball. It’s a privilege to be playing for Kansas. There’s another level of privilege that comes with that,” Mike Cunliffe said. “He loves Kansas. As a family we are pleased he made the decision to go there.”

Even though it meant sitting out that long year.

“I first got here I was, ‘I really want to play. I really want to play. I really want to play.’ Then I realized how much I had to learn,” Sam Cunliffe said. “When you realize that, you slow down, think, ‘OK, wait, wait, wait I might need some time.’

“I think the year, especially at a place like this school, I think it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I feel I’ve had to learn so much. I feel my mind-set is completely different from when I got here and I am ready to try to (make an) impact as much as I can right now.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Wait is over for Sam Cunliffe, who’s set for KU debut: ‘I like all the excitement’."